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The Austrian Anschluss
Hitler threatened the Austrian Chancellor and forced him to give Austrian Nazi’s government posts. From this, the chancellor attempted to hold a vote to unify Germany and Austria, which scared Hitler. In March, Hitler’s troops responded and invaded Austria. An anschluss is the same thing as a unification, which the troops announced would be going on between Germany and Austria. -
The Munich Conference
Britain and France agreed to appeasement which is what Hitler wanted. Their appeasement meant that they gave into Hitler’s demands so that their countries could avoid war with Germany. His demand was that he wanted Czechoslovakia to give up the Sudetenland or they would have to fight Germany on their own.
Appeasement then failed, Germany invaded Czechoslovakia, and turned it into two countries which are now Slovakia and the Czech Republic. -
Hitler Demands Danzig
Hitler had began to state demands of him wanting Danzig, a Polish city that was 90% German. This made Britain and France think that war was certain to happen, which wasn't an issue for them because they decided that they would support Poland if that be the case. Germany still prepared to invade Poland in May, 1939, but began negotiating with the USSR to prevent future war with them. -
The Nazi-Soviet Pact
This treaty that was signed on August 23, 1939 brought peace between the Soviets and Germans, which basically protected the Germans from war with Britain, Poland, and France. This treaty also confused the world because Nazism and Communism were supposed to oppose one another, but instead they were playing for the same team. -
The Invasion of Poland
On September 1st, 1939, Germany invades Poland. They unleashed blitzkrieg, which meant lightening war, on the Polish which they could not handle. This style of fighting used a mass number of tanks and aircrafts to break through the enemy lines. On September 27th, Poland's capital was captured and by October 5th, the Polish military was defeated. -
The Fall of France
At this time, Western Europe was quiet and waiting for the Germans to attack. They had the Maginot Line from WWI which was where their troops waited for the Germans to attack. This allowed Germans to concentrate on one country before another s well as go around the Maginot Line. He invaded the Netherlands with a blitzkrieg which distracted the French and British and made them run to help. They only left few troops behind, so they were easily taken over, and they were trapped in Belgium. -
The Evacuation of Dunkirk
At this point, the Germans had captured all but Dunkirk in France. For some unknown reason, Hitler delayed his forces for 3 days to invade here, which gave the British time to build and evacuate. They rescued 338,000 troops in "Operation Dynamo." This later became known as "The Miracle at Dunkirk." -
The Battle of Britain
On August 23rd, the Germans accidentally bombed London, which made the British bomb Berlin fort he first time ever. Infuriated, Hitler decided he wanted to make the British people surrender and continue bombing them until they did. He tried, but with lots of help, the British began winning battles against the Germans and scaring Hitler into not invading Britain. On October 12, 1940 he canceled the invasion.