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The First Move
Hitler met with his top advisers to declare his plan to expand German by taking the land of neighboring countries. -
The Take Over of Austria
Most of Austria consisted of Germans who were in favor of unifying with Germany, so on this day German troops marched into Austria. A day later Hitler announced the take over with no oppose from anyone. -
Bargaining For The Sudetenland
Hitler believed that the Czechs were abusing the Sudeten Germans, so he began putting troops on the Czech border. Hitler later invited French premier Edouard Dallier and British prime minister Neville Chamberlain to meet him in Munich. Due to Dallier and Chamberlain's desire to avoid war, they signed the Munich Agreement, that turned over Sudetenland over to Germany without any war. -
Capturing All of Czechoslovakia
On this morning, German troops stormed into Czechoslovakia and claimed what had remained of it. Hitler gloated that," Czechoslovakia had seized to exist." -
Declaring Neutrality With The Soviet Union
Once again, Hitler began his familiar routine of claiming that the Poles were mistreating the Germans in Poland. However, if Hitler began an attack on Poland he would start a conflict with Poland's Eastern neighbor, the Soviet Union. Due to the fact that Hitler knew going into a two-fount war would lead to defeat, Hitler and Stalin signed a nonaggression pact. Germany and Russia agreed to never attack each other, but signed another pact secretly, agreeing to divide Poland evenly between them. -
The Blitzkrieg In Poland
The German Luftwaffe(air force) flew over Poland raining bombs over all of their military bases, airfields, railroads and cities. Meanwhile, German tanks were rushing through the countryside causing even more terror. This new strategy of war was called the Blitzkrieg, or lightning war. This tactic worked well because it involved advancements in military technology and caught the enemy by surprise, giving them almost no time to eat or fight back. -
The Start Of World War II
Two days after Germanys Blitzkrieg on Poland, France and Britain declared war against Germany. The Blitzkrieg worked so well in Germanys favor that a tremendous amount of destruction was caused before France, Britain or their allies could put up any defense. Soon after, the Soviet Union attacked Poland from the east, taking some of their territory. By the end of September, Poland no longer existed and World War II had officially begun. -
The Phony War
At the end of 1939, French and British troops sat along the Maginot line built against Frances eastern boarder starring into Germany, waiting for an attack. Meanwhile,on the Siegfried Line, a few mines away, the German troops starred back. The Germans called this the Sitzkrieg, or the "sitting war," which newspapers called the phony war. During this time, Stalin was annexing the Baltic states. He then sent his troops into Finland and after three short months, the outnumbered fins surrendered. -
A Surprise Invasion
A sudden attack on Norway and Denmark was launch on this day. Hitler claimed that he did this in order "to protect [those countries'] freedom and independence", but his real plan was to build bases lengthier coasts to help strike Great Britain. Hitler then took over the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg by the end of May. This was the end of the"phony war." -
The Fall of France
Hiter sent his tanks through a region of wooded ravines in northeast France called the Ardennes. This avoided the British and French troops because they thought the Ardennes were impassable.The Germans cornered about 400,00 British and French Soldiers, who winded up fleeing to the beaches of Dunkirk. In about a week about 800 makeshift vessels ferried about 330,000 soldiers to safety. A few days later, Italy joined the war on Germanys side and invaded France from the south -
France Surrenders
William Shirer and the rest of the world watched Hitler hand French officers his terms of surrender. Germany then controlled all of northern France, and southern France was run by Marshall Philippe Petain who set up a nazi-controlled government in Vichy. Frances General, Charles De Gaulle then fled to England, where he set up a government- in-exileand where he claimed that, "France has lost a battle, but France has not lost the war." -
The Battle of Britain
In the summer of 1940, Germany began to put together an invasion fleet along the coast of France. Since Germany naval power was not nearly as strong as Britain's, Germany also launched an air war at the same time. The German Luftwaffe started bombing Britain countless times. The goal was for Germany to have control are all the skies by destroying .Britain's Royal Air Force. There were points of over 2000 planes bombing Britain in a single day. This continued on for months. -
Britain Fights Back
New technology allowed the Britain RAF to put up a fight after the long going attacks from Germany. A new device called a radar allowed British pilots to accurately plot the flight paths of German aircrafts, even in the dark. On this day, Britain shot down over 185 German plans while only losing 26 of theirs. Hitler called off the attack on Britain indefinitely six weeks later. German and British planes still continued to bomb each other an attempt to break civilian morale.
