-
Period: to
WWII
-
Nazis take the Sudetenland (1937)
Why this happened? Germans were complaining that Czechoslovakia was discriminating against them.
What happened? Trying to avoid taking the Sudetenland with force, Hitler, advised my Mussolini had a four person conference with Adolf Hitler, Neville Chamberlain, Edouard Daladier and Benito Mussolini. On September 29th, 1938 these four people signed the Munich Agreement that gave Hitler and the Nazis the Sudetenland.
What affects/outcomes did this have? Hitler promised not to take any more land -
Ribbentrop/Molotov Pact (1939)
Why this happened? Hitler wanted a non-aggression pact with Soviet-Russia because he was planning to see a two front war, and he didn’t want his army to be split like in WWI. So he made a non- aggression pact with Soviet-Russia. Hitler was hoping to acquire Poland without the use of force. -
Ribbentrop/Molotov Pact (1939)
What happened? On august 23, 1939 Ribbentrop and Molotov signed a pact that said Nazi Germany and Soviet-Russia would not attack each other for a duration of 10 years. Any problems they had were to be worked out without the use of violence. This pact only lasted two years when the Nazis attacked Soviet-Russia on June 22, 1941.
What affects/outcomes did this have? When Nazis attacked Poland the war had begun two days later when the British declared war on the Nazis. The Nazis avoided 2 front war -
Germany's Invasion of Poland (1939)
Why this happened? Hitler wanted to gain more land especially land in the east, they justified this by the harsh limitations from the Treaty Versailles, they did this successfully with Austria and Czechoslovakia. -
Germany's Invasion of Poland
What affects/outcomes did this have? It started WWII and Britain and France declared war. -
Germany's Invasion of Poland
What happened? On August 31, 1939 Hitler took a prisoner from one of the concentration camps, put him in a Polish uniform and shot him on the border of Poland and Germany. This was a staged act that was suppose to look like a Polish attack on a German radio station. Shortly after Germany performed and attack known as Blitkrieg (“lightning war”). The British said if Germany withdrew from Poland they would not declare war, they did not and the war began on September 1, 1939. -
German Blitzkrieg (1939-1940)
Why this happened? They wanted more land, to protect resources being imported, and to have a safe passage way into the North Atlantic. -
German Blitzkrieg
. On May 13 they first entered France and soon conquered it. They put some of France under Belgium’s military authority and left the rest unoccupied. This tactic consists of quick unexpected air strikes and taking of airfields.
What affects/outcomes did this have? Germany was able to invade and conquer many countries using this tactic. -
German Blitzkrieg
What happened? The first attack was on Poland, which started with a staged act that was used for an excuse to attack Poland. After wiping out Polish forces, the Germans quickly moved on to Norway and Denmark. Using the Blitzkrieg offense Germany was able to quickly invade Denmark and conquer it in a short four hours. On April 9, 1940 Germany invaded Norway using the same tactic and finished conquering both of these countries in 3 months. They then conquered the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembou -
Battle of Britain (1940)
Why this happened? Germany wanted to quickly conquer there one big enemy left in Western Europe, but they came into the battle cocky and with little planning.
What happened? It was intense air fight between Germany and Great Britain, with Britain’s morale high they were able to defeat Germany. This was Germany’s first defeat in WWII.
What affects/outcomes did this have? It forced Germany to postpone their sea invasion on Great Britain. -
Nazi Invasion of the Soviet Union (1941)
Why this happened? Hitler wanted to gain more living space for the Germans.
What happened? Germany first invaded on May 1, 1941 and encircled Soviet forces multiple times savage fighting until they conquered many cities. They planned operation Typhoon to take the capital but were moving barely slowly and ordered a regroup on August 31.
What affects/outcomes did this have? This regrouping of armies aloud the Soviet Union to gain reinforcements that included 1000 tanks and aircrafts -
Pearl Harbor (1941)
Why this happened? Japan and the United States couldn’t come up with negotiations, and Japan wanted to keep expanding. United States placed an embargo on them so they planned a secret attack.
What happened? Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. After two hours 2,400 Americans were killed and over 1,000 more were wounded. 21 ships and 188 airplanes were destroyed or damaged.
What affects/outcomes did this have? So many Americans were infuriated by Japan’s attack that the United States left policy -
Wannsee Conference (1942)
Why this happened? Hitler had a hatred for Jews and tended to blame all the nation’s problems on them. They needed to decide what they wanted to do with the Jewish people.
What happened? 15 men met in Wansee, Germany to discuss what they were going to do with “The Jewish Problem” this conference is also known as the “final solution”. Heydrich started of the conference with a long speech and discussion of how they would get rid of over 11 million Jews in Germany and which Jews would be included -
Allied Invasion of Africa (1942)
Why this happened? The United States were hoping to push German and Italian forces out of North Africa under military power of Dwight Eisenhower. This would keep Germany’s expansion contained to Europe, block off shipping lanes, and give the allies a good place to start when moving to Italy -
Allied Invasion of Africa
What happened? The U.S. made an agreement with France that if given one months notice that France would not interfere with the United States landing in North Africa.The U.S. already had ships on their way to Africa. The U.S. seemed to be outmatched, but with the help of the allies pushed back the Italians and Germany and forced them to retreat. The U.S. could have taken all the German troops (Rommel’s troops) but missed the opportunity. -
Allied Invasion of Africa
What affect/outcomes did this have? The Americans had a lot of casualties. This kept Germany’s expansion contained to Europe, block off shipping lanes, and give the allies a good place to start when moving to Italy. -
Battle of Stalingrad (1942)
Why this happened? Hitler wanted to take over Joseph Stalin. So he attacked Stalingrad, Soviet-Union fought back because they didn’t want to lose the city named after their leader. Also the Volga River was good for supply.
What happened? Germany first attacked the Volga River and the city. The Nazis took most of the city, but the Soviets began to fight back and after months of fighting Germany finally surrendered on February 2. -
Battle of Stalingrad
What affects/outcomes did this have? Since this was one of the biggest and most bloody battles of WWII the Germans took a big toll and were never able to quite recover from the battle. This was a turning point in the war. -
Operation Gomorrah (1943)
Why this happened? Hamburg was a major city in Germany so the allies, aspiring to capture Germany began their operation there.
What happened? On July 24, 1943 the allies began a planned aerial attack on Hamburg. This operation lasted until August 3, 1943.
What affects/outcomes did this have? This operation came to be a success buy the allies. They destroyed the town and left it to nearly nothing. This attack was devastating for the Germans leaving over 1 million people without homes. -
D-day (1944)
Why this happened? Germany’s invasion of France didn’t settle well with the British, Canadians, Americans, and obviously not the French either. So they planned an attack on Normandy
What happened? On June 6, 1944 the allies gathered together over 150,000 troops to attack Normandy. First came troops dropped with parachutes during the night to get behind enemy lines and eliminate key targets and capture bridges. Then came aerial bombing, warships bombing beaches, and underground troops sabotaging -
Battle of the Bulge (1945)
Why this happened? Many people thought the war was coming to an end but Hitler refused to lose so he planned an attack in Belgium.
What happened? The Germans attacked with over 200,000 thousand troops and 1,000 takes pushing through the American lines, trying to advance quickly. The Germans seemed like they were going to be successful, but the Americans held them until reinforcements were able to arrive. The Americans were able to win the battle and stop Hitler’s raid of terror and WWII -
Liberation of Concentration Camps (1945)
-
Liberation of Concentration Camps
Why this happened? No one found concentration camps humane at all so they wanted to liberate the camps to free all of the suffering prisoners.
What happened? In January 1945 the Soviets liberated Auschwitz, the deadliest concentration camp of all time. Although the Nazis forced many of the prisoners to march westward (known as “death marches”), the Soviets were still able to save several thousand prisoners. They did find thousands of body corpses with fresh wounds revealing that the Nazis kille -
VE Day (1945)
Why this happened? We wanted the war to end.
What happened? After the allies went through the heavily guarded Siegfried line and took over West Germany, Hitler’s death, and taking over of East Germany. The Germans finally surrendered on May 8, 1945.
What affects/outcomes did this have? It officially ended WWII
