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Adolf Hitler's Rise to Power in Germany
GERMANY
-end of WW1 Hitler was jobless soldier, 1919 join struggling group (National Socialist German Worker's Party/ Nazi party, had no ties to socialism
-pwrful public speaker/organizer, becamse "der fuhrer", promise bring G out of chaos -
(Face of Totalitarianism)
FASCIST ITALY
• Extreme nationalism
• Militaristic expansionism
• Charismatic leader
• Private property with strong government controls
• Anticommunist
NAZI GERMANY
• Extreme nationalism and racism
• Militaristic expansionism
• Forceful leader
• Private property with strong government controls
• Anticommunist
COMM. SOIVET UNION
• Create a sound communist state and wait for world revolution
• Revolution by workers
• Eventual rule by working class
• State ownership of property -
Benito Mussolini's fascist government in Italy
ITALY
-unemployment and inflation led to bitter strikes; upper/middle classes demand leadership, Muss appeal to national pride/ fears of eco collapse/comm
-1921 Fascist party: stress nationalism and lace interests of state above individual, strengthen nation: pwr in single leader and small group of party members
-1922 "black shirt" followers in Rome march; Italian king appoint him as head of gov b/c army/police/ gov officials support
-extend control to every aspect of Italian life -
Mein Kampf
-"my struggle" establish basic beliefs of Nazism
-Nazism: brand of fascism, based on extreme nationalism: had dreamed of uniting all German-speaking people in an empire
-enforce racial purification: blue eyes, blond haired Aryans from master race, inferior races (Jews, Slavs, nonwhites) serve Aryans
-national expansion: G need more lebenstraum (living space) -
Japanese Invasion of Manchuria
Nationalistic military leaders were trying to take control of the imperial government of Japan. These leaders share with Hitler a belief in the need for more living space for a growing population. Ignoring the more moderate Japanese officials, the militarists seized control of the Chinese province of Manchuria in 1931. In months, Japanese troops controlled the entire province (region twice of TX, natural resources). League of Nations condemn but Japan simply quit -
Storm Troopers
The Great Depression helped the Nazis come to power. Because of war debts and dependence on American loans and investments, Germany’s economy was hit hard. By 1932, some 6 million Germans were unemployed. Many men who
were out of work joined Hitler’s private army, the storm troopers (or Brown Shirts). The German people were desperate and turned to Hitler as their last hope. -
Third Reich
By mid 1932, the Nazis had become the strongest political party in Germany. In January 1933, Hitler was appointed chancellor (prime minister). Once in power, Hitler quickly dismantled Germany’s democratic Weimar Republic. In its place he established the Third Reich, or Third German Empire. According to Hitler, the Third Reich would be a “Thousand-Year Reich”—it would last for a thousand years. -
Hitler's military build-up in Germany
The failure of the League of Nations to take action against Japan did not escape the notice of Europe’s dictators. In 1933, Hitler pulled Germany out of the League. In 1935, he began a military buildup in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. -
Hitler invades the Rhineland
1936 , he sent troops into the Rhineland, a German region bordering France and Belgium that was demilitarized as a result of the Treaty of Versailles. The League did nothing to stop Hitler. -
Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia
Meanwhile, Mussolini began building his new Roman
Empire. His 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. The League of Nations reacted with brave talk of
“collective resistance to all acts of unprovoked aggression.”
When the invasion began, the League’s response was an ineffective economic boycott. By May 1936, Ethiopia had fallen. Haile Selassie (ousted emperor) -
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. About 3,000 Americans formed the Abraham
Lincoln Battalion and traveled to Spain to fight against
Franco. Martha Gellhorn, “that Spain was the place to stop fascism.” Among the volunteers were African Americans still bitter about Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia the year before. -
Rome-Berlin Axis
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 fascist dictator. -
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. The United States and the rest of the world did nothing. -
Munich Agreement
About 3 million German-speaking people lived in the western border regions of Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland. Hitler wanted it for living space and natural resources and charged that Czechs were abusing Germans. France and Great Britain promised to protect Czechoslovakia. Hitler invited French premier Édouard Daladier and British prime minister Neville Chamberlain in Munich. Hitler declared that the annexation was last demand. (appeasement—or giving up principles to pacify an aggressor) -
Joseph Stalin's totalitarian government in the Soviet Union
RUSSIA
-1922 civil war: want for democracy to communist state
-1924 V. I. Lenin died, Joseph Stalin create model comm. state: agricultural and industrial growth prime eco. goals, abolish privately owned farms, collectives (large gov-owned farms worked by hundred of families)
-1928 first of 5 yr plans, all eco activity under state
-1937 second largest industrial power
-kill 8-13 million
-1939 totalitarian gov tried exert comp. control over citizens, individuals no rights, gov suppress opposition -
Nonagression Pact
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. F and B promise help to Poland. -
Blitzkrieg (lightning war)
The German Luftwaffe, or German air force, bombs on Poland military bases, airfields, railroads, and cities. At the same time, German tanks raced across the Polish countryside. Blitzkrieg used fast tanks and more powerful aircraft—to take the enemy by surprise and then quickly crush all opposition with overwhelming force. On September 3, Britain and France declared war on Germany. -
Britain and France declare war on Germany
Following the terror in Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany. The blitzkrieg tactics worked perfectly. Major fighting was over in three weeks, before France, Britain, and their allies could mount a defense. In the last week of fighting, the Soviet Union attacked Poland from the east, grabbing some of its territory. The portion Germany annexed in western Poland contained almost two-thirds of Poland’s population. By the end of the month, Poland ended, WW2 began. -
Phony War
For the next several months 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, waiting. On the Siegfried Line a few miles away German troops stared back. The blitzkrieg had given way to what the Germans called the sitzkrieg (“sitting war”), and what some newspapers referred to as the phony war. -
Hitler's invasion of Denmark and Norway
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. After occupying eastern Poland, Stalin began annexing the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania and Finland. -
Hitler's invasion of the Netherlands
Next, Hitler turned against the Netherlands,
Belgium, and Luxembourg, which were overrun by the end of May. The phony war had ended -
Marshal Philippe Petain
On June 22,
1940, at Compiègne, 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 Pétain, would be set up at Vichy,
in southern France. -
Germany and Italy's invasion of France
The German offensive trapped f side of English Channel. 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 Compiègne, 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 Pétain, would be set up at Vichy, in southern France. -
Battle of Britain
Because its naval power could not compete
with that of Britain (invasion fleet on F coast), Germany launched an air war with Luftwaffe, destroy Royal Air Force. Hitler had 2,600 planes. August 15- 2,000 German planes. Every night for two solid months, bombers pounded
London, summer/fall. Concentrate on airfields/crafts, then cities. With radar, British pilots accurately
plotted the flight paths of German planes, in darkness.
On September 15, 1940 shoot 185 down, lost 26. 6 wks end battle. -
Pearl Harbor attack
Japanese dive-bomb Pearl Harbor—the largest U.S. naval base in the Pacific. The bomber was followed by more than 180 Japanese warplanes from six aircraft carriers. For an hour and a half, the Japanese planes were barely disturbed by U.S. antiaircraft guns and blasted target after target. Japanese had killed 2,403 Americans and wounded 1,178, had
sunk or damaged 21 ships, including 8 battleships—nearly
the whole U.S. Pacific fleet. 300 aircraft damaged, only 3 carriers not -
Battle of the Atlantic
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
3,000-milelong shipping from US. German wolf packs
had destroyed a total of 681 Allied ships in the
Atlantic, 87 in first 4 months. -
U.S. Convoy System
The Allies responded. Convoys were groups of ships traveling together for mutual protection, as they had done in the First World War. 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. -
Battle of Stalingrad
Luftwaffe—the German air force—prepared the way with nightly bombing raids over the city. Nearly every wooden building in Stalingrad on fire, By the end of September, they controlled nine-tenths of the city. Then another winter set in. The Soviets saw the cold as an opportunity to begin a massive counterattack, closed around Stalingrad, trapping the Germans in without supplies. German commander surrendered on January 31, 1943. 1,100,000 lost, Soviet army toward W. to G now -
Operation Torch
While the Battle of Stalingrad, Stalin pressured B and US to open a “second front” : invasion across the English Channel to divert troops from the Soviet front. Churchill and Roosevelt didn’t think the Allies had enough troops to attempt an invasion on European soil. Launched Operation Torch, an invasion of Axis-controlled North African, General Dwight D. Eisenhower. In November 1942, 107,000 Allied troops, in Casablanca, Oran, and Algiers in North Africa. May 1943 Afrika Korp surrender -
Unconditional Surrender
Even before the battle in North Africa was won, 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. -
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 four months—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
Allies gathered nearly 3 million British, American, and Canadian troops. Normandy in northern France. Operation Overlord. After seven days of fighting, the Allies held an 80-mile strip of France.landed a million troops, 567,000 tons
of supplies, and 170,000 vehicles in France. On July 25,
General Omar Bradley unleashed massive air and land
bombardment at St. Lô, providing General George Patton go Paris. By September 1944, the Allies had freed France,
Belgium, and Luxembourg. -
The Battle of the Bulge
8 German tank divisions broke through weak American
defenses along an 80-mile front. Hitler hoped that a victory
would split American and British forces and break up Allied
supply lines. Tanks drove 60 miles into Allied territory,
gave this desperate lastditch offensive its name, the Battle of the Bulge. Germans captured 120 American GIs near Malmédy. lost 120,000 troops, 600 tanks and
assault guns, and 1,600 planes. recapture the Belgian port of Antwerp -
Harry S. Truman
President Roosevelt did not live to see V-E Day. On
April 12, 1945, while posing for a portrait in Warm Springs, Georgia, the president had a stroke and died. That night, Vice President Harry S. Truman became the nation’s 33rd president. -
Death of Hitler
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 new wife swallowed poison. In accordance with
Hitler’s orders, the two bodies were carried outside, soaked
with gasoline, and burned. -
V-E Day
A week later, General Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender of the Third Reich. On May 8, 1945, the Allies celebrated V-E Day—Victory in Europe Day. The war in Europe was finally over.