WWII

 (1933)Adolf Hitler announced that he would rearm the country.  He also took Germany out of the League of Nations.  (1936)German troops marched into the Rhineland.  Rome-Berlin Axis- In October 1936, Hitler and Mussolini created an alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis.

 Shortly after the Axis Powers were formed, Japan and Germany promised to work together.  They signed an agreement called the Anti-Comintern Pact, pledging to stop the spread of communism (on paper).

 (March 1938)Hitler declared Austria to be part of the Third Reich, which was a direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles.  No union between Austria and Germany was to be permitted.  Great Britain and France sent protests to Hitler, but he ignored them.  The League of Nations took no action.

 More than 3 million Germans lived in the Sudetenland, a region around the western rim of Czechoslovakia.

 Many Germans living in this area wanted a union with Germany.  As a result, the Nazi Party grew in strength there.  September 1938-Riots broke out and Czechoslovakia placed the region under martial law.  Hitler then announced he would invade and annex the Sudetenland to protect fellow Germans.

 (September 1938) Hitler invited British prime minister Neville Chamberlain and French premier Edouard Daladier to meet with him in Munich (Mussolini was also present).  The meeting was designed to ease tensions in Europe.

 Chamberlain and Daladier accepted Hitler’s demand that the Sudetenland be joined with Germany.  Britain and France feared Germany’s military strength and were presently suffering through an economic depression.  Appeasement- The policy of trying to keep the peace by accepting some of the demands of the aggressor.

 Germany began to occupy the Sudetenland.  Abandoned by its allies, Czechoslovakia was left defenseless.  The U.S. also tried to avoid the conflict.  (March 1939)German troops invaded Czechoslovakia, six months later it was wiped off the map.  (April 1939)Mussolini invaded Albania.  The League of Nations failed to be effective.

 After Hitler took over Czechoslovakia, British and French leaders could no longer ignore the fascist dictators.  Britain and France began preparing for war. Nazi-Soviet Pact (German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact)-This agreement publicly stated that Germany and the Soviet Union would not attack each other. Each would remain neutral if the other went to war.

 Secretly, Hitler and Stalin had agreed to divide eastern Europe into spheres of influence.  Germany was to take western Poland, while the Soviet Union was to have a free hand in the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, as well as eastern Poland.  The Western nations had lost a possible ally in the East, while Germany had arranged for the Soviet Union to be neutral.

 Danzig was a free city protected by the League of Nations.  Poland and Germany both had rights to use the port of Danzig.  A strip of land about 90 miles long and 55 miles wide, (Polish Corridor) this territory allowed Poland access to the port of Danzig (formally part of Germany prior to WWI).

 Hitler announced the annexation of Danzig to the German Reich.  At the same time, his air force began a massive attack on Poland.  Nazi tanks sped across the border and swiftly drove toward Warsaw and the Polish heartland.  Two days later Great Britain and France kept their promises to Poland and declared war on Germany.

 Blitzkrieg- “lighting war” (Hitler’s invasion of Poland) Europe’s Reaction  British forces landed on the northern coast of France and blockaded Germany’s ports.  French forces fortified the Maginot line.  The Allies increased troop movement and arms production, but were relatively weak against Nazi Germany.

 The French army expected stationary battles (like in World War I).  However, German planes bombed and machine-gunned civilians who tried to escape the attack on France.

 June 14, 1940-Germans entered Paris and the French armed resistance fell, causing the cabinet to resign  German troops were to occupy northern France and a strip of territory along the coast, extending into Spain.  The French navy was to be disabled as well.

 The French who continued to fight the Germans formed the Free French Government.  The organization set up headquarters in London and the United States.  Headed by General Charles de Gaulle

 The Luftwaffe (German Air Force) tried to soften up Britain for an invasion.  During September 1940 and May 1941 fighting continued between the Luftwaffe and the RAF (Royal Air Force).  43,000 British civilians died in nighttime air raids.

 Germany was unable to win the Battle of Britain.  However, Germany still continued to blockade British trade.  There was still a chance that Britain could be starved into surrendering (war of attrition).

 Neutrality Acts- passed between 1935 and 1937, the United States had stated its wish to remain neutral in future wars 1) Americans could not sell war equipment to warring nations or sail on their ships. 2) American ships were restricted from entering war zones.

 Many people worried that Nazi Germany would destroy not only Europe, but also civilization itself.  On the other hand, most Americans believed that Europe’s wars should not concern the United States.  Their opinion began to change as fears grew that the Nazis could potentially take over the world.

 1939-A revised Neutrality Act allowed American firms to sell munitions to warring nations on a cash-and-carry basis.  Great Britain still controlled sea routes between the U.S. and Britain, therefore the effect of this law was to allow the sale of arms only to Great Britain.

September 1940  FDR moved 50 old American warships to Great Britain.  Congress passed the first national draft law in the United States during peacetime March 1941  Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act, allowing the president to supply war materials to Great Britain on credit.

 In August 1941, Roosevelt and Churchill met aboard a British battle ship off the coast of Newfoundland (Canada).  They created a statement of British and U.S. democratic goals.