-
Union with Austria
German troops marched into Austria unopposed. A day later, Germany announced that its “union,” with Austria was complete. The United States and the rest of the world did nothing. -
The Soviet Union Declares Neutrality
Hitler wanted Poland, but had to take a different approach because an attack on Poland might bring Germany into conflict with
the Soviet Union and would provoke a declaration of war from France and Britain. They both had promised military aid to Poland. Stalin surprised everyone by signing a nonaggression pact with Hitler. Fascist Germany and communist Russia now committed never to attack each other. Germany and the Soviet Union signed a secret pact, agreeing to divide Poland between them. -
Blitzkrieg in Poland
The German air force, roared over Poland, raining bombs on military
bases, airfields, railroads, and cities. At the same time, German tanks raced across the Polish countryside, spreading terror and confusion.This invasion was the first test of Germany’s newest military strategy, the blitzkrieg, or lightning war. -
The Phony War
After the fall of Poland, French and British troops on the Maginot Line, sat staring into Germany, waiting for something to happen.The Siegfried Line a few miles away German troops stared back. Stalin began annexing the Baltic states. Stalin sent his Soviet army into Finland and the Finns surrendered. Hitler launched an invasion of Denmark and Norway “to protect those countries freedom and independence.” But Hitler planned to build bases along the coasts to strike at Great Britain. -
Moving Cautiously Away From Neutrality
Roosevelt persuaded Congress to pass a “cash-and-carry” provision that allowed warring nations to buy U.S. arms as long as they paid cash and transported them in their own ships. Roosevelt argued that providing the arms would help France and Britain defeat Hitler and keep the United States out of the war. Isolationists attacked
Roosevelt for his actions. -
The Axis Threat
Americans were jolted by the news that Germany, Italy, and Japan had signed a defense treaty, the Tripartite Pact. The three nations known as the Axis Powers.The Tripartite Pact aimed at keeping the United States out of the war. Each Axis nation agreed to come to the defense of the others in attack. This meant that if the United States were to declare war on any one of the Axis powers, it would face its worst military nightmare, a two-ocean war with fighting in both the Atlantic and the Pacific. -
Bargaining for the Sudetenland
Hitler then turned to Czechoslovakia. Hitler charged that the Czechs were abusing the Sudeten Germans, and he began massing troops on the Czech border. Both France and Great Britain promised to protect Czechoslovakia. But they wanted to avoid war so badly, that both countries agreed to Hitler's terms and hoped that this was the truth about this being his "last territorial demand". They signed the Munich Agreement, which turned the Sudetenland over to Germany without a single shot being fired. -
The Fall of France
The German offensive trapped almost 400,000 British and French soldiers as they fled to the beaches of Dunkirk on the French side of the English Channel. More than 800 vessels ferried about 330,000 British, French, and Belgian troops to safety across the Channel. A few days later, Italy entered the war on Germany side and invaded France as the Germans closed in on Paris.Hitler handed French officers his terms of surrender. -
The Battle of Britain
Germany's goal was to gain total control of the skies by destroying Britain’s Royal Air Force and Hitler had 2,600 planes at his disposal. Every night for two solid months, bombers pounded London. With the help of radar, British pilots accurately plotted the flight paths of German planes. The RAF shot down over 185 German planes. Six weeks later, Hitler called off the invasion of Britain indefinitely. -
Building US Defenses
Roosevelt asked Congress to increase spending for national defense. In spite of years of isolationism, Nazi victories in 1940 changed U.S. thinking, and Congress boosted defense spending.Congress also passed the nation’s first peacetime military draft. Under this law 16 million men between the ages of 21 and 35 were registered. Of these, 1 million were to be drafted for one year but were only allowed to serve in the Western Hemisphere.
