-
Austria and Czechoslovakia Fall
Hitler met secretly with his top military advisers. He declared that in order for Germany to prosper and grow they needed the land of its neighbors. His plan was to absorb Austria and Czechoslovakia into the Third Reich. When one of his advisors protested that annexing those countries could provoke war, Hitler replied, "The German Question' can be solved only by the means of force, and this is never without risk." -
Union with Austria
Austria was Hitler's first target. On March 12, 1938, German troops marched into Austria unopposed. A day later, Germany announced that is Anschluss, or "union," with Austria was complete. The US and the rest of the world did nothing. -
Bargaining for Sudetenland
After Austria, Hitler turned to Czechoslovakia. There were about 3 million German-speaking Czech's that lived in a region called Sudetenland, they were the main defense against German attack. Early on, France and Great Britain promised to protect the Czech's. Then, Hitler invited Edouard Daladier and British prime minister Neville Chamberlain to meet him in Munich. On September 30, 1938, they signed the Munich Agreement, turning the Sudetenland over to Germany without a single shot fired. -
The Signing of the Munich Agreement
After Chamberlain signed the Munich Agreement, he returned home, sure that there wouldn't be war. Chamberlain's satisfaction was not shared by Winston Churchill, Chamberlain's political rival in Great Britain. In Churchill's view, by signing the agreement, Daladier and Chamberlain had adopted a shameful policy of appeasement, or giving up principles to pacify an aggressor. Churchill basically said they would have to chose between war and dishonor, so there will be war. -
The German Offensive Begins
As dawn broke on March 15, 1939, German troops poured into what remained of Czechoslovakia. At nightfall Hitler gloated, "Czechoslovakia has ceased to exist." Hitler then turned his land-hungry graze to Poland. -
The Soviet Union Declares Neutrality
In the spring of 1939, Hitler began is routine on Poland. Many people thought Hitler would be smart enough to not make the same mistake again because that could cause conflict between Germany and Poland. As Poland was getting angry, Stalin signed a nonaggression pact with Hitler. On August 23, 1939 Germany and Russia agreed to never attack each other. Germany and the Soviet Union also signed a secret pact, agreeing to divide Poland between them. -
Blitzkrieg in Poland
On September 1, 1939, the German Luftwaffe, or German air force, dropped bombs all over Poland. At the same time, German tanks rolled around the Poland countryside causing confusion. This invasion was the first test of Germany's newest military strategy, the blitzkrieg, or lightning war. Blitzkrieg made use of advances in military technology, such as fast tanks and more powerful aircraft, to take the enemy by surprise and then quickly crush all opposition with overwhelming force. -
The Phony War
After the fall of Poland, French and British troops on the Maginot Line, a system of fortifications built along France's eastern border, sat staring into Germany. On the Siegfried Line, German troops stared back. The blitzkrieg had given way to what the Germans called the sitzkrieg, sitting war, and also known as the phony war. Suddenly on April 9, 1940, Hitler invaded Denmark and Norway. Hitler turned against the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, which were overrun by the end of May. -
The Fall of France
The German offensive trapped 400,00 British and French soldiers as they fled to the beaches of Dunkirk. After this, Italy entered the war on Germany's side and invaded France from the south as the Germans closed in on Paris from the north. On June 22, 1940, at Compiegne, as William Shirer and the rest of the word watched, Hitler handed French officers his terms of surrender. After France fell, a french general Charles de Gaulle fled to England, where he set up a government-in-exile. -
The Battle of Britain
In the summer of 1940, the Germans began to assemble an invasion fleet along the French coast. Germany also launched an air war at the same time. The Luftwaffe began making bombing runs over Britain. The goal was to gain total control of the skies by destroying Britain's Royal Air Force. Hitler had 2,600 planes at his disposal. On August 15, approximately 2,600 German planes ranged over Britain. Every night for two months, bombers pounded London.
