Transcript War in Europe Chapter 16.2

War in Europe
Chapter 16.2
• Austria and Czechoslovakia Fall
• Hitler meets with Austrian chancellor Kurt
von Schushnigg – Hitler bullies Kurt to
appoint Austrian Nazis to key government
posts
• When the Chancellor returns home he has
a change of heart, tells Hitler
Hitler’s Reaction
• March 12, 1938 German troops marched
into Austria, force Chancellor to resign
• The U.S. and the rest of the world did
nothing
• The Sudetenland
• Czechoslovakia next target
• After WWI Sudetenland along with 3
million German-speaking people had been
joined with Czechoslovakia
The Sudetenland
• Germany began accusing the Czechs of
mistreating the German people
• Mass killings of women and children not
true
• Munich Pact
• Hitler told French Premier Edouad
Daladier and Prime Minister Chamberlin
that the Sudetenland would be Germany’s
last demand for land.
Sudetenland Continued
• Sept. 30, 1938 signed Munich Pact with
hopes of stopping another war
• Winston Churchill political opponent of
Chamberlin, saw the Munich Pact as
appeasement or giving up principles
German Offensive Begins
• Poland – German speaking people
• Soviet Union neighbor of Poland
• Hitler and Stalin sign Non-aggression Pact
Aug. 23, 1939 in which they agree not to
fight each other
• They also decide to divide Poland
between them
Blitzkrieg in Poland
• Blitzkrieg means lightning war
• Heavy air and artillery bombardment, next
paratrooper landings
• Infantry on both sides with enemy in the
center
• Tanks
• Sept. 1, 1939 Germany uses blitzkrieg in
Poland
Poland
• German attack successful in Poland
• Sept. 3, 1939 France and Great Britain
declare war on Germany
The Phony War
• Period of time after Sept. 3, 1939, waiting for
Germany to attack Great Britain
• British, French and German troops sitting waiting
for something to happen
• Soviet Union first to act, starts annexing regions
the Soviet Union had lost during WWI
• April 7, 1940 German newspaper announces
that Germany is ready
• Surprise invasion Denmark and Norway
• Next, Netherlands, Belgium & Luxembourg
France
• The Fall of France
• Germans cut off France and allies, pushed
them back to the beaches of Dunkirk on
the English Channel
• In less that one week these soldiers were
taken across the Channel. Total number
was 340,000
Italy
• Italy enter the war on German side
• March into France, Germany on the other
side
• France falls June 17, 1940
• General Charles de Gaulle
• Fled to England, set up a government in
exile
Battle of Britain
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Luftwaffe (German Air force)
2,600 planes at German hands
Aug. 15, 1940, 1,000 planes over England
Every night for two months bombing
Battle of Britain went through summer to
fall
• Targets first airfields, next cities and
civilians
RAF (Royal Air Force)
• Fought back with help of radar, it was new
• Sept. 15, 1940 RAF shot down 56 German
planes, RAF lost only 26
• The German ire assault stopped against
Britain
• Made civilians mad not scared