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Chapter 26 – World War II “The War Begins”

World War II Memorial Washington, DC


Steps to War
• Hitler ignores the Versailles Treaty
• Hitler knew the west would not raise a
hand to stop him, he was right
• March 7, 1936 he took back the Rhineland
• Great Britain allowed Hitler to take back
the Rhineland
• Appeasement – European nations would
satisfy reasonable demands in exchange
for peace.
The Rhineland
Nazi Soldiers Retake The Rhineland
Major Industrial Region along the Rhine River
“You have only to look at the map to
see that nothing we could do could
possibly save Czechoslovakia from
being overrun by the Germans.”
- British PM Neville Chamberlain, writing to his
sister in 1938.

Appeasement
Munich Conference
• British, French, German and Italian
representatives
• Reached an agreement to allow Hitler
to have his demands
• Hitler got Sudetenland and the
Czechs were abandoned by the west.
• Neville Chamberlain – Prime
Minister of Britain claimed he had
negotiated “Peace for our time”
Winston Churchill
– Great Britain
Sudeten
Woman
Unable to
conceal
her misery
as she
salutes
Hitler
motorcade
Hitler Invades Poland
• Hitler demanded the Polish port of Danzig
• Great Britain offered to protect Poland
• France & Britain tried to negotiate a deal with Soviets to protect
Poland

• August 23, 1939 Hitler and Stalin


agree on a treaty:
Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact:
• Stalin gets control of Eastern Poland
• Sept. 1, 1939 Hitler invades Poland
Sept 1, 1939
Hitler
Addresses Reichstag
German Soldiers Enter Poland
September 1939
German Blitzkrieg 1940

Poland Destroyed
German soldiers march through
Warsaw, Poland.
• German Blitzkrieg – THE BLITZ
“lightning war” using
armored columns called
panzer divisions with air
support
• Panzer Tanks = 300 per division
• Sept. 1939 - In 4 weeks, Poland
Surrenders, then…
• April 1940 – Denmark, Norway,
Yugoslavia
• May 1940 – Netherlands,
Belgium and then France!
German Stuka dive-bombers fly over Yugoslavia during the
German invasion of Yugoslavia, which began on
April 6, 1941.
Dunkirk

Click on picture to view video


Hitler Takes Continental Europe
• French sign an
armistice on June
22, 1940 with
Germany.
• Britain was his last
target to defeat
• US stands by under
FDR isolationism
• FDR wanted to go to
war, but did not
have public support
Hitler Gloats

Click on picture to view the video


The Battle of Britain
• German Luftwaffe (LOOFT vah fuh) =
German air force led bombing raids of
Britain
• Hitler’s 1st mistake:
mistake Frustration led to a
change of targets in Britain from military
to civilian targets
• Move backfires – British people show
remarkable resolve and determination
• British military able to respond w/out attacks
• By September Hitler postponed British invasion
German Luftwaffe (LOOFT vah fuh)
Hitler Invades Soviet Union
• June 22, 1941 – Hitler breaks
non-aggression pact, invades
USSR
• 1,800 mile long front
• Early winter and fierce Soviet
fighting halted German advance
• 2nd big mistake for Hitler –
creates a 2 front war
Pearl Harbor
• December 7, 1941 – Japanese aircraft
bomb US Pearl Harbor base in Hawaii
• Japanese had launched assaults
throughout Asia with great success
• Japanese viewed Americans as soft, a
surprise attack would give them Pacific
control
• 4 days after Pearl Harbor – Hitler
declares war on US. Believes US action
in Pacific would make them weak in
Europe
Pearl Harbor is Attacked

Click on picture to see video


Axis vs. Allies
• ALLIES: Great Britain, USA, and USSR
agree to fight until the Axis Powers
surrender unconditionally
• AXIS: Germany, Italy, Japan
• FDR and Winston Churchill (Britain) meet
in US and plan massive attacks in Europe
• US first attacks in Africa vs. Italian and
German troops
• May 1943 US/British troops force
German/Italian surrender in Africa
4/5 of the World at War
Stalingrad
• Most terrible battle of the war
• Stalingrad – major industrial center in
USSR
• Germans finally stopped after fierce
fighting in winter conditions
• The entire German Sixth Army (their
best) surrenders at Stalingrad
• Hitler gives up on plans of winning in
Russia
Battle of Stalingrad
General Eisenhower with troops.
Training in Britain.
D-Day: History’s greatest naval invasion
• June 6, 1944 Allied forces under command of US general
Eisenhower landed on Normandy beaches of France
• Within 3 months the Allies had landed 2 million men and ½
million vehicles
• Allies broke through German lines beginning the push towards
Germany
B-26 Drops Bombs on Germany
Hitler Surrenders
• January 1945, Adolf Hitler moves into
a bunker 55 feet deep under Berlin
• Hitler blamed Jews for the war
• April 28th Mussolini shot and killed by
Italian resistance fighters
• April 30th Hitler commits suicide in
bunker
• War in Europe was over

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