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Union with Austria
The Paris Peace Conference following WW1 had created a relatively small nation out of Austria. The rest of the people left in Austria were German people. These people favored unification with Germany. So on March 12, 1938 German troops marched into Austria and a day later Germany announced that Germany and Austria have come together as one union. -
Bargaining for the Sudetenland
Czechoslovakia also had about 3 million German Speaking people along the western border regions; this land was called the Sudetenland. Hitler wanted to take over Czechoslovakia so he would have more living space for Germany and so he could take control of Czechoslovakia’s natural resource. Hitler began accusing the Czechs were abusing the Sudeten Germans and Hitler began grouping up soldiers along the Czech border. Finally on September 30, 1938 they signed the Munich Agreement which turned the S -
Soviet Union declares neutrality
Poland had a large German speaking population, so Hitler began his act of declaring that the Germans in Poland were being mistreated, however he didn’t attack because of the threat of a two front war between Russia-Germany-Allies. However in surprise to everyone, Stalin signed a nonaggression attack declaring that Russia would not attack Germany in the event of an invasion in Poland. Secretly they also signed a pact declaring to split Poland after an invasion -
Blitzkrieg in Poland
On September 1, 1939 the German Air Force flew over Poland dropping bombs on military bases, airfields, railroads, and cities. At the same time German tanks drove around the countryside of Poland causing terror and confusion. This invasion was the first test of the great military strategy known as Blitzkrieg or lightning war. Germany’s new military strategy worked great as it only took them only 3 weeks long to put down France, Britain and its allies. -
The Phony War
The Phony war was when the French built a system of fortification to keep out German Troops. But only a few miles away the Germans were doing the same thing. Germans called this the Sitzkrieg or the sitting war. This lasted until April 9, 1940 when Hitler attacked Denmark and Norway. -
Fall of France
At the onset of the war, France created the Maginot Line to protect them from an expected German attack. However, with the threat of the Maginot line, Germany decided to simply go around the formidable defenses, they attacked through neutral Belgium. The attack was crippling for the French who concentrated their forces at the line. France was taken in just 6 short weeks and French troops fled to Britain. -
Battle of Britain
Knowing that the German Navy was nothing compared to that of the British Royal Navy, Germany decided upon a new strategy; Blitzkrieg. They attacked night and day with bombers and fighters over London. The Germans had a huge advantage of numbers, however the recent invention of radar on the side of the allies made the British able to accurately attack the oncoming enemy planes even at night. The success of the British defenses caused Germany to give up on their air raids of Britain, and the event
