Chapter 28: World War II

Chapter 28: World War

II

Again the Road to War 1933-1939

What were Hitler's foreign policy aims? Was he bent on conquest, or did he simply want to return Germany to its 1914 boundaries?

Why did the League of Nations fail?

Why did Britain and France adopt a policy of appeasement in the 1930s? Did the West buy valuable time to rearm at Munich in 1938?

Why is the Spanish Civil War sometimes called a prelude to World War II?

WWII 1939-1945

March, 1938: Hitler annexes Austria into the 3rd Reich

Hitler's demands at the Munich Conference are meet, and Germany annexes the Sudetenland. Five months later Germany takes the rest of Czechoslovakia.

After Czechoslovakia is seized, Hitler & Josef Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union sign a nonaggression treaty Hitler is now free to attack Poland, and avoid a two front war.

WWII began on September 1, 1939 when the Nazi blitzkrieg was unleashed upon Poland

The Fall of Poland: The War Begins

Hitler's SS officers staged a fake invasion of Germany dressed as Polish soldiers. Hitler used this as an excuse to invade his weaker eastern neighbor.

At dawn 9/1/39, thousands of German tanks of the Wehrmacht rumbled across the Polish border, while the German airforce, the Luftwaffe struck deep into Polish territory, destroying the entire Polish airforce on the ground, along with railroads, supply stations, and telephone stations.

By 9/3/39, German forces were 50 miles into Poland, and the Polish military was in retreat.

 Polish forces resisted, but were no match for the highly trained mechanized German forces. Thousands of Polish soldiers died in old fashioned charges on horseback against tanks and dive bombers

The most devastating weapons were the Panzer Divisions, & the Stuka dive bomber A. Panzer Divisions were tank brigades supported by mobile artillery and infantry that could move quickly B. Stuka's were terrifying dive bombers

Polish forces were to the capital of Warsaw, where they held our for a month, buy eventually surrender to Hitler.

Eastern Poland was then invaded by the Soviets

The world is stunned by how rapidly Poland disappeared from the map

Great Britain & France declare war on Germany.

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