German Expansion

By OTort

  • Austria and Czechoslovakia Fall

    Austria and Czechoslovakia Fall
    Hitler met secretly with top military advisers. The plan was to absorb Austria and Czechoslovakia into the Third Reich.

  • Completing the Anschluss with Austria

    Completing the Anschluss with Austria
    German troops marched into Austria unopposed. One day later, they announced its Anschluss(union) with Austria was complete and no other country in the world took action when hearing this news.

  • Munich Agreement

    Munich Agreement
    Hitler then planned to annex Czechoslovakia. France and Great Britain promised to protect Czechoslovakia.The British and Germany signed the Munich Agreement, turning Sudetenland over to Germany without a single shot fired.

  • Taking Land From Neighbor Countries

    Taking Land From Neighbor Countries
    German troops took over the rest of Czechoslovakia and then Hitler began to think about taking land from Poland too, its Eastern neighbor.

  • Lies for Land

    Lies for Land
    Hitler charged that Germans in Czechoslovakia were being mistreated by the Poles and needed protection. He said this to make getting their land easier.

  • No More Two-Front War

    No More Two-Front War
    Germany and Russia committed to never attack each other. They signed a second secret pact, dividing Poland between them. Hilter did not have to worry about a two-front war again.

  • Blitzkreig

    Blitzkreig
    German Air Force bombed Poland and invaded. This was called the 'blitzkreig', a strategy used by performing air strikes to obtain their land.

  • War Declared

    War Declared
    Poland, Great Britain, and France declared war on Germany. At the end of this month, WWI begun.

  • Hitler Strikes

    Hitler Strikes
    Hitler launched a surprise invasion of Denmark and Norway.

  • No More Allies

    No More Allies
    Hitler turned against Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg which were overrun by the end of May.

  • Battle of Britain

    Battle of Britain
    Germans began to assemble and invasion fleet along the French coast. They could not compete with the naval power of Britain so they launched an air war.

  • Taking Over France

    Taking Over France
    Hitler handed French officers his terms of surrender. Germany would now occupy the northern part of France.

  • Germans Shot down

    Germans Shot down
    The RAF shot down over 185 German planes. Six weeks later, Hitler called off the invasion of Britain indefinitely.