Germany dug itself out of depression by rearming and expanding their armed forces (both of which violated the Versailles Treaty that ended WWI) Unemployment.

Europe Goes to War

Germany Rearms Germany dug itself out of depression

by rearming and expanding their armed forces (both of which violated the Versailles Treaty that ended WWI)

Unemployment fell to zero, Germany boomed and was ready to put Hitler’s expansion plans to work

Germany Invades the Rhineland The German military

entered the Rhineland (an area in Western Germany they were supposed to be banned from)

Great Britain and France had not forgotten about the large cost of WWI and did not do anything to stop the Germans

1936- Hitler and Mussolini sign an alliance and create Axis powers (Later joined by Japan)

Axis powers (Germany, Italy, Japan)

Germany Expands Germany occupied Austria in 1938 Germany takes the Sudetenland (an industrial region

of Czechoslovakia) in 1938 British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlin and French

President Edouard Daladier offered Hitler a policy of appeasement (giving in to a competitor’s demands in order to keep the peace) at the Munich Conference in 1938

They thought that giving Hitler the Sudetenland would stop his conquest of Europe

Hitler promised the Sudetenland was all he wanted but six months later he invaded the rest of the country and divided it up among his allies

End of Appeasement After Hitler invaded

Czechoslovakia, France and Great Britain prepared for war, knowing Hitler did not plan on ending his conquest for more territory

France and GB pledged their support for Poland if Germany invaded them

Hitler and Stalin Align Not wanting to fight a two front war,

Hitler agreed to a ten year non- agression pact with the Soviet Union

A secret document of the Pact divided up the independent Eastern European countries between Germany and the USSR

USSR and Germany hated each other but had much to gain by not fighting one another

Invasion of Poland On September 1, 1939 Germany

invaded Poland On September 3, 1939 Great Britain

and France declared war on Nazi Germany

Invasion of Poland

The Blitzkrieg While invading Poland the Germans used their

new method of attack known as the Blitzkrieg (Lightning War) • Fast, concentrated air and land attack that took the

enemy’s army by surprise German army was more prepared and had

better weapons than the Polish, French, and British Armies

Poland was under German control in less than a month

Imposed German laws and persecuted Polish Jews

Maginot Line Fortified line of defense built by the

French protecting them from the Germans along the German border

Weaknesses: Guns only faced Germany, wall did not protect against Belgium

Germany Attacks On April 9, 1940

Germany launched a blitzkrieg against the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg and controlled all of them within 3 weeks

Germany then invaded France through Belgium so they avoided the Maginot Line

Invasion of France

Dunkirk (Dunkerque) German forces split the

French and British forces in half and trapped many troops in the northern town of Dunkirk, France

Facing heavy artillery from the Luftwaffe (German Air Force), 340,000 troops escaped capture by boarding 900 naval vessels and fleeing to GB

Fall of France After Dunkirk, Germany moved south

to Paris which was abandoned by the Government

On June 22 the French surrendered to Germany

The Resistance General Charles de

Gaulle led the Free France revolution against Germany

Free France would sabotage German operations in France and distribute anti German leaflets

Battle of Britain After the Fall of

France, Hitler planned his next invasion: Great Britain

In August 1940 the Luftwaffe unleashed the greatest air attack ever seen upon GB

Day after day as many as 1,000 planes rained bombs on Britain

Taking the War to Civilians At first the Luftwaffe bombed aircraft

factories, oil storage tanks, ports, radio installations, and airfields

In late August German planes started to bomb London and civilians

The bombing of London would target civilian population centers to break their will to resist and would continue until May 1941

Both sides targeted civilians and caused a total war

Defense of Great Britain Britain's Royal Air

Force (RAF), greatly outnumbered, defended its homeland against the Luftwaffe

By the end of the air raids 20,000 people in London were killed and 70,000 injured