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Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany
He joined a struggling group called the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazi). He proved to be a powerful public speaker and organizer that he quickly became party's leader. Calling himself Der Fuhrer, he promisde to bring Germany out of chaos. -
Benito Mussolini's fascist government in Italy
By 1921, he had established the Fascist Party. Fascism stressed nationalism and placed the interests of the state above those of individuals. To strengthen the nation, power must rest with a single strong leader and a small group of devoted party members. In Oc t 1922, he marched on Rome with followers "Black Shirts" -
Mein Kampf
In his book Mein Kampf, Hitler set fourth the bawsic beliefs of Nazism that became the plan of action for the Nazi Party. Nazism waws based on extreme nationalism. Aryans were the master race. He also believed it need more living space. -
Japanese Invasion of Manchuria
Leaders shared a belief in the need for more living space for a growing population. Ignoring protests of more moderate Japanese officials, the militarists lauched a surprise attack and seized control of the Chinese province of Manchuria. Within several months, Japanese troops controlled the entire province, that was rich in naturual resources. -
Storm Troopers
Becuase of war debts and dependence on American loans and investment, Germany's economy was hit hard. By 1932, 6 million weere unemployed. Many men who were out of work joined Hitler's private army, the storm troopers (Brown shirts). -
Third Reich
He was appointed chancellor (prime minister). Once in power, he quickly dismantled Germany's decomocratic Weimar Republic. In its place he established the Third Reich or Third German Empire. According to Hitler, it would be the "Thousand-year Reich" -
Hitler's military build-up in Germany
Hitler pulled Germany out of the League in 1933. In 1935, he began a military buildup in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. -
Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia
Mussolini's first target was Ethiopia, one of Africa’s few
remaining independent countries. By the fall of 1935, tens
of thousands of Italian soldiers stood ready to advance on
Ethiopia. When the invasion began, however, the League’s
response was an ineffective economic boycott—little more
than a slap on Italy’s wrist. By May 1936, Ethiopia had fallen and appealed the League for assistance -
Hitler invades the Rhineland
He sent troops into the Rhineland, a German region bordering France and Britain that was demilitarized as a result to the treaty of Versailles. -
Francisco Franco
In 1936, a group of Spanish army officers led by General Francisco Franco, rebelled against the Spanish republic. Revolts broke out all over Spain, and the Spanish Civil War began. The war aroused passions not only in Spain but throughout the world. About 3,000 Americans formed the Abraham Lincoln Battalion and traveled to Spain to fight against Franco. -
Hitler's Anschluss
Austria was Hitler’s first target.The Paris Peace Conference following World War I had created the relatively small nation of Austria out of what was left of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The majority of Austria’s 6 million people were Germans who favored unification with Germany. On March 12, 1938, German troops marched into Austria unopposed. A day later, Germany announced that its Anschluss, or “union,” with Austria was complete. -
Munich Agreement
Both France and Great Britain promised to protect Czechoslovakia. Then, just when war seemed inevitable, Hitler invited French premier Edouard Daladier and British prime minister Neville Chamberlain to meet with him in Munich. When they arrived, the fuhrer declared that the
annexation of the Sudetenland would be his last terr. demand. To avoid war, Daladier and Chamberlain chose to believe him. On Sep30, they signed the Munich Agreement, which turned the Sudetenland over to Ger w/o a single shot -
Joseph Stalin's totalitarian government in the Soviet Union
After Lenin died in 1924, Stalin took over. He made both agricultural and industrial growth the prime economic goals. He established a totalitarian gov that tried to exert complete control over its citizens. In a totalitarian state, individuals have no rights, and the gov suppresses all opposition. -
Rome- Berlin Axis
Such limited aid was not sufficient to stop the spread of
fascism.The Western democracies remained neutral. Although the Soviet Union sent equipment and advisers, Hitler and Mussolini backed Franco’s forces with troops, weapons, tanks, and fighter planes.The war forged a close relationship between the German and Italian dictators, who signed a formal alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis.After a loss of almost 500,000 lives,Franco’s victory in 1939
established him as Spain’s fasciscist dictator -
Nonaggression Pact
As tensions rose over Poland, Stalin surprised everyone by signing a nonaggression pact with Hitler. Once bitter enemies, on August 23, 1939 fascist Germany and communist Russia now committed never to attack each other. Germany and the Soviet Union also signed a second, secret pact, agreeing to divide Poland between them. With the danger of a two-front war eliminated, the fate of Poland was sealed. -
Blitzkrieg
The German Luftwaffe(air force) roared over Poland, raining bombs on military bases, airfields, railroads, &cities. At the same time, Ger tanks raced across the Polish countryside, spreading terror and confusion. This invasion was the 1st test of Ger newest military strategy, the blitzkrieg, or lightning war. Blitzkrieg made use of advances in military technology to take the enemy by surprise & then quickly crush opposition w/overwhelming force. -
Britain and France declare war on Germany
On September 3, two days following the terror in Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany. -
Phony war
The blitzkrieg had given way to what the Germans called the sitzkrieg (“sitting war”), and what some newspapers referred to as the phony war. After occupying eastern Poland, Stalin began annexing the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Late in 1939, Stalin sent his Soviet army into Finland. After three months of fighting, the outnumbered Finns surrendered. -
Hitler's invasion of Denmark and Norway
Suddenly, on April 9, 1940, Hitler launched a surprise invasion of Denmark and Norway in order “to protect [those countries’] freedom and independence.” But in truth, Hitler planned to build bases along the coasts to strike at Great Britain. -
Hitler's invasion of the Netherlands
Hitler turned against the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, which were overrun by the end of May. The phony war had ended. -
Germany and Italy's invasion of France
The German offensive trapped almost 400,000 British
and French soldiers as they fled to the beaches of Dunkirk on the French side of the English Channel. In less than a week, a makeshift fleet of fishing trawlers, tugboats, river barges, pleasure craft-more than 800 vessels in all-ferried about 330,000 British, French, and Belgian troops to safety
across the Channel. -
Marshal Philippe Petain
A few days later, Italy entered the war on the side of Germany 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 world watched, Hitler handed French officers his terms of surrender. Germans would occupy the northern part of France, and a Nazi-controlled puppet government, headed by Marshal Philippe Petain, would be set up at Vichy, in southern France. -
The Battle of Britain
In the summer of 1940, the Germans began to assemble an invasion fleet along the French coast. Because its naval power could not compete with that of Britain, Germany launched an air war at the same time. The Luftwaffe began making bombing runs over Britain. Its 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, 2,000 German planes ranged over Britain, every night for 2 months. -
Pearl Harbor attack
A Japanese dive-bomber swooped low over Pearl Harbor- the largest U.S. naval base in the Pacific. The bomber was followed by 180 Japanese warplanes launched from 6 aircraft carriers. By the time the last plane soared off around 9:30 A.M., the devastation was appalling. In less than 2 hours, the Japanese had killed 2,403 Americans & wounded 1,178. The surprise raid had sunk or damaged 21 ships, including 8 battleships-nearly the whole U.S. Pacific fleet. 300 aircrafts damaged. -
Battle of the Atlantic
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hitler ordered submarine raids against ships along America’s east coast. The German aim in the Battle of the Atlantic was to prevent food and war materials from reaching Great Britain and the Soviet Union. Britain depended on supplies from the sea. The 3000mile shipping lanes from North America were her lifeline. Hitler knew that if he cut that lifeline, Britain would be starved into submission. For a long time, it looked as though Hitler might succeed. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The Luftwaffe did nightly bombing raids over the city. Nearly every wooden building was set ablaze. Soviet officers in Stalingrad recommended blowing up the city’s factories &abandoning the city. Stalin ordered to defend his city no matter what the cost. Germans pressed in on Stalingrad, conquering it house by house in hand-to-hand combat. By Sep they controlled 9/10th. next winter, Soviets saw the opportunity to begin counterattack, closed around city. Jan 31 Ger surrender&Soviets lost 1.1mil -
Operation Torch
Because of lack of troops, they launched Operation Torch, an invasion of Axis-controlled North Africa, commanded by American General Dwight D. Eisenhower. In November 1942, some 107,000 Allied troops, the great majority of them Americans, landed in Casablanca, Oran, and Algiers in North Africa. From there
they sped eastward, chasing the Afrika Korps led by General Erwin Rommel, the legendary Desert Fox. After months of heavy fighting, the last of the Afrika Korps surrendered in May 1943. -
US Convoy System
The Allies responded by organizing their cargo ships into convoys. Convoys- groups of ships traveling together for mutual protection, as they had done in WW1. The convoys were escorted across the Atlantic by destroyers equipped with sonar for detecting submarines underwater. They were also accompanied by airplanes that used radar to spot U-boats on the ocean’s surface. With this improved tracking, the Allies were able to find and destroy German Uboats faster than the Germans could build. -
Unconditional surrender
Roosevelt, Churchill, and their commanders met in Casablanca. At this meeting, the two leaders agreed to accept only the unconditional surrender of the Axis powers.That is, enemy nations would have to accept whatever terms of peace the Allies dictated. The two leaders also discussed where to strike next. The Americans argued that the best approach to victory was to assemble a massive invasion fleet in Britain and to launch it across the English Channel into Ger. -
Bloody Anzio
One of the hardest battles the Allies encountered in Europe was fought less than 40 miles from Rome. This battle, “Bloody
Anzio,” lasted until the end of May 1944 and left about 25,000 Allied and 30,000 Axis casualties. During the year after Anzio, German armies continued to put up strong resistance. The effort to free Italy did not succeed until 1945, when Germany itself was close to collapse. -
D-Day
The Allied invasion, Operation Overlord, D-Day. Shortly after midnight, three divisions parachuted down behind German lines. They were followed in the early morning hours by thousands of seaborne soldiers-the largest land-sea-air operation in army history. Despite the massive air and sea bombardment by the Allies, German retaliation was brutal, particularly at Omaha Beach.By September 1944, the Allies had freed France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. -
The Battle of the Bulge
Hitler hoped that a victory would split American & British forces & break up Allied supply lines. Tanks drove 60 miles into Allied territory, creating a bulge in the lines that gave this desperate lastditch offensive its name. As Germans swept westward, they captured 120 American GIs near Malmedy. The battle raged for a month. When it was over, the Germans had been pushed back, and little seemed to have changed.
The Germans had lost 120,000 troops, 600 tanks and assualt guns, and 1600 planes -
Harry S Truman
On April 12, 1945, while posing for a portrait in Warm Springs, Georgia, President Roosevelt had a stroke and died. That night, Vice President Harry S. Truman became the nation’s 33rd president. -
Death of Hitler
In his underground headquarters in Berlin, Hitler prepared
for the end. On April 29, he married Eva Braun, his longtime companion. The same day, he wrote out his last address to the German people. In it he blamed the Jews for
starting the war and his generals for losing it. The next day Hitler shot himself while his wife swallowed poison. The bodies were soaked with gas and burned. -
V-E Day
On May 8, 1945, the Allies celebrated V-E Day—Victory in Europe Day. The war in Europe was finally over.
