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Germany's Anschluss with Austria
In this event, the small country of Austria, which primarily consisted of Germans who favored the unification of Austria with Germany, formed its “Anschluss”, which means “union” with Germany. -
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Germany's Annexation of the Sudetenland
Hitler wanted the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia for more living space and for the natural resources that the mountainous border provided, and thus claimed the Czechs were “abusing” the 3 million German-speaking people that lived in the Sudetenland and began to form his troops on the Czech and German border. -
The Munich Pact
September 30, 1938, Hitler’s “last territorial demand” of the Czechs was that they give the Sudetenland to Germany without a single shot fired (a peaceful agreement). Chamberlain and Daladier were more or less forced to sign the agreement to avoid war. -
Hitler's Annexation of Czechoslovakia
After Hitler gained the Sudetenland, his troops flooded into the remaining parts of Czechoslovakia, taking complete control. -
The Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
Was a pact signed on August 23, 1939 in which Germany and Russia agreed to never attack eachother. The pact secretly agreed between the two countries, that they would divide Poland between themselves. -
Germany's Invasion of Poland
On September 1st, 1939, the German military decimated Poland with its new military technology including faster tanks, powerful air support, etc. The strategy was called the “blitzkrieg”, or lightning war, because Germany was to quickly invade and crush all opposition by surprise. Poland was helpless to say the least. -
The Phony War
The Phony War took place on April 9, 1940, in which Hitler invaded Denmark and Norway “to protect [those countries’] freedom and independence”, when in reality, he just wanted to use their coastlines to build bases to attack Britain -
The Miracle at Dunkirk
This was an event in which 400,000 British and French troops were trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk between the English Channel and German forces. 800 vessels carried 330,000 of the troops to safety across the channel. -
The Fall of France
June 22, 1940 was the date on which Hitler handed his terms of French surrender to the French officials after Germany invaded from the North and Italy invaded from the South. -
The Battle of Britain
In the summer of 1940, Hitler used his armory of 2,000 German planes to attack Britain, bombing it’s airfields and crushing it’s airforce. The reason for such a strong air assault was that Germany’s navy had no chance of besting the naval power of Britain. After the invention of “radar”, Britain was able to successfully fight off the German onslaught, causing Hitler to back off of his invasion of Britain indefinitely.
