Transcript The Nazi-Soviet Pact

Kissinger CH: 14
Essential Question: What limited Nazi success during
Operation Barbarossa?
 Hitler turns to the USSR
 Hitler offer to Stalin the opportunity to help defeat Great
Britain.
 Stalin knew that once Britain was defeated Hitler would
attack the USSR.
 Stalin attempts to continue to prepare the USSR for war.
 Increase in tensions between Germany and the USSR
 German invasion of Romania Aug. 1940 which Stalin believed
to be in the USSR sphere.
 Finland in Aug. 1940 allowed German troops to pass though.
 Tripartite Pact Sep. 1940 stated that any country that joined
Britain the others would declare war on that country.
 October 1940
 Ribbentrop’s letter to Stalin claiming rise in tensions was a
misunderstanding
 Offers a meeting, Stalin accepts and sends Molotov to Germany
 November 10, 1940
 Molotov meets with Ribbentrop
 Ribbentrop’s offers the USSR to join the Tripartite Pact
 Says that at the end of the war they would divide the world
 USSR would gain access to the sea
 Italy would gain North Africa
 Japan would gain Southeast Asia
 Germany would reclaim former African colonies
 Molotov was not satisfied
 Stalin assumptions about Hitler
 Offer of Tripartite meant Hitler would wait.
 Avoid a two front war.
 Japanese-Soviet non-aggression pact 1941
 Soviet Union will not have to worry about eastern
boarder.
 Japan could focus on the South Pacific
 The Balkan countries were key to attacking the
USSR.
 Hitler wanted to build bases in southeastern
Europe and wanted to make sure the British would
not interfere.
 Hitler invaded Yugoslavia and Greece April 1941.
 Yugoslavia fell in 11 days. Greece surrendered in 17
days.
 Hitler’s plan to invade the Soviet Union was called
Operation Barbarossa.
 Early Sunday morning, June 22, 1941, Hitler began the
blitzkrieg invasion of the Soviet Union.
 The Soviet Union was not prepared.
 The Germans gained 500 miles inside the Soviet Union.
 As the Russians retreated, they burned and destroyed
everything in the enemy’s path.
 What is this military strategy called?
 When did the Russians use this strategy before?
 Scorched Earth policy – used successfully against Napoleon
 By September 8, Germans had surrounded Leningrad
and isolated the city.
 German bombs destroyed warehouses where food was
stored.
 Desperately hungry, people began eating cattle and
horse feed, cats, dogs, crows, and rats.
 1 million people starved to death, but Leningrad did
not surrender.
 Hitler moved on to Moscow, the capital of the Soviet
Union, on October 2.
 By December, the Nazis advanced on the outskirts of
Moscow.
 Soviet General Georgi Zhukov counterattacked.
 As temperatures fell, the Germans in summer
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uniforms, retreated.
Their fuel and oil froze.
Tanks, trucks and weapons became useless.
Hitler ordered the troops, “Not to Retreat”
The Germans held the line against the Soviets
about 125 miles west of the capital.
It cost 500,000 German lives.