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The Austrian Anschluss
Hitler called for the unification of all German-speaking people, including those in Austria and Czechoslovakia. Hitler threatened to invade Austria unless Austrian Nazis were given important government posts. Hitler sent troops into Austria in March and announced the unification or Austria and Germany. -
The Munich Conference
Hitler announced German claims to Sudetenland, and area of Czechoslovakia. The Czechs strongly resisted Germany's demands. Representatives of Britain, France, Italy and Germany agreed to meet to decide Czechoslovakia's fate. Britain and France agreed to Hitler's demands, a policy that became known as appeasement. -
Hitler Demands Danzig
Hitler demanded that the city of Danzig be returned to German control and requested a highway and railroad across the Polish Corridor. Poland refused Hitler's demands since Britain and France would come to its aid. Hitler ordered the German army to prepare to invade Poland and also ordered his foreign minister to begin negotiations with the USSR. -
The Nazi-Solviet Pact
When German officials proposed a nonaggression treaty to the Soviets and Stalin agreed. He believed the best way to protect the USSR was to turn capitalist nations against each other. The treaty shocked the world. Hitler made the deal to free himself for the war against France, Britain and Poland. The deal also included to divide Poland between Germany and the Soviet Union. -
The Invasion of Poland
Germany invaded Poland and two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany. Poland resisted Germany's onslaught, but its army was outdated. the Polish army rode horses and carried lances against German tanks. The Germans also used a new type of warfare called blitzkrieg. Blitzkrieg used larges numbers of massed tanks to break through and rapidly encircle enemy positions. The Polish army could not repel the attack. By October 5, 1939, the Germans defeated the Polish military. -
The Fall of France
After WWI the French had built a Maginot Line on the German border. The French and British waited behind the line for Germans to attack. This became disastrous to the French. Hitler decided to go around the Maginot Line and invade Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg while doing so. When the British and France heard, they raced up to north Belgium leaving the eastern border open for German attacks. Germany smashed through French borders and this left Britain and France trapped in Belgium -
The Evacuation of Dunkirk
After the Allied forces were trapped in Belgium the only way out was by sea. All but one port, Dunkirk, had been captured by the German forces. As Hitler's forces began to close in on Dunkirk he suddenly ordered them to stop. This gave British time to strengthen their lines and begin evacuation. The evacuation saved about 338,000 British and French troops, but they left many supplies back at Dunkirk. Three weeks later Hitler accepted the French surrender and installed a puppet government. -
The Battle of Britain
The German air force began to attack British ships on the English channel the laughed an all out air force battle to destroy the Royal Air Force. Germany accidentally bombed London, Britain's capital. the British responded with bombing Germany's capital the following night. Hitler's goal was to terrorize the British into surrendering. The British inflicted more losses on the Germans than they suffered. The skill and new technology helped the British. Hitler canceled the invasion of Britain.
