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The Austrian Anschuluss
The Austrian Anschuluss started on March 12, 1938. In February 1938 Hitler threatened to invade German-speaking Austria unless Austrian Nazis were given important government posts.Austria's chancellor gave in to this demand, but then tried to put the matter of unification with Germany to a democratic vote. Fearing the outcome, Hitler sent troops into Austria in March and announced the Anchluss, or unification, of Austria and Germany. -
The Munich Conference
The Munich Conference happened on September 29, 1938, Britain and France agreed to Hitler's demands, a policy that came to be known as appeasement. In other words, they made concessions in exchange for peace. Supporters of appeasement believed that Hitler had a few limited demands.Czechoslovakia was told to give up the Sudetenland or fight Germany on its own.When Chamberlain returned home, he promised "a peace with honor... peace in our time," but he also began to speed up British rearmament. -
Hitler Demands Danzig
On March 31, 1939, Britain announced that if Poland went to war to defend its territory, Britain and France would come to its aid. This declaration encouraged Poland to refuse Hitler's demands. In May 1939, Hitler ordered the German army to invade Poland. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany. World War 2 had begun. The Polish capital fell to the Germans on September 27.By October 5, 1939, the Germans had defeated the POlish mili -
The Nazi-Soviet Pact
The nonaggression pact, signed by Germany and the USSR on August 23, 1939, shocked the world. Communism and Nazism were supposed to be totally opposed to each other.Leaders in Britain and France understood, however, that Hitler had made the deal to free himself for war against their countries and Poland. They didn't know that the treaty also contained a secret deal to divide Poland between Germany and the Soviet Union. -
The Invasion of Poland
On September 1, 1939, German invaded Poland. Two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany..World war 2 begun.The Polish army rode horses and carried lances against German tanks. In addition, the Germans used a new type of warfare called blitzkrieg or "lightning war". Blitzkrieg used large numbers of massed tanks to break through and rapidly encircle enemy positions. By Oct 5, 1939 the Germans had defeated the Polish military. -
The Evacuation of Dunkirk
The British got the time to strenghten their lines and begin the evacuation.Some 850 ships of all sizes from navy warships to small sailboats operated by civilian volunteers headed to Dunkirk from England, many of them making the 48-mile trip multiple times.Ffrench,Dutch,and Belgian ships joined British ones in "Operation Dynamo".The British had hoped to rescue about 45000 troops.Instead when the operation ended on June 4 an estimated 338000 British & French troops had been saved. -
The Fall of France
After World War 1, the French had built a line of concrete bunkers and fortifications called the Maginot Line along the German border. The french preffered to wait behind the Maginot line for the Germans to approach.To get around the Maginot line, they would have to invade the Netherlands, Belgium &Luxemburg first which is exactly what they did. On may 10, Hitler launched a new blitzberg.Germans easily smashed through the French lines, and then turned west across northen France to Eng. channel. -
The Battle of Britain
On August 23,German bombers accidentaly bombed London.This attack enraged the British,who responded by bombing Berlin the following night.Infuriated, Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to stop its attacks on British militiary targets & to concentrate on bombing London.During the battle,Germany lost 1773 aircraft while British lost 915 fighter planes along with 449 pilots.
