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Hitler's "Saturday Surprises"
A "Saturday Surprise" was when Hitler said he was going to disobey a restriction of the Treaty of Versailles or would just disobey the restriction without warning. He would also give enticing speeches that would justify his actions. England and France did not want to have another war, so they let Germany do whatever they wanted to do. An example of a "Saturday Surpise" was when Hitler stated in an inspirational speech that he would start to rebuild all military units, for defense. -
Taking Austria
Hitler began to make alliances and began to take over countries. He made an alliance with Italy, which gave him a prime position to invade Austria. Austrian President, Schuschnigg, refused to give up. Hitler and the Austrian President had a huge argument and after Hitler made a lot of lies about Austria. Hitler invaded Austria and took it over. No one thought much of this. But Winston Churchill did. An exmaple of this would be Churchill warning the world that Hitler would take Czechoslovakia. -
Appeasing Hitler
Hitler wanted a part of Czechoslovakia called Sudetenland, where there were 3 million Germans. Germany had to give Czechoslovakia because they signed the Treaty of Versailles. He also said that his would be the last demand Hitler would make for territory. The leaders of Germany, France, and Britain met up with the Czechoslavakian leaders and struck an agreement. Hitler would take Sudetenland. This is an example of Hitler's hunger for dominance and leaders of other countries did not notice. -
Death Threats and Broken Promises
Hitler made a speech about how hypocritical all the countries are to Germany. An example of this was when Hitler said that other countries complain that Germany mistreats Jews. In less than two months Hitler took all of Czechoslovakia. -
Targeting Poland
The Nazis and the SS faked an attack on themselves with Polish prisoners. They then attacked Poland and said that they were retaliating from the attack the Polish staged on a small German town. Hitler declared war on Poland. No one, not even the Germans wanted this. An example of this was that when Germans in a small town were listening, at the end of the speech no one cheered or said "Heil!" -
Conquests in the East
Hitler immediately began to discriminate against Polish Jews. An example of Hitler discriminating against the Jews was when he forced them to wear yellow stars. He also said that Polish children cannot go to school after fourth grade. He also put a number of other restrictions on the Polish people. -
Conquests in the West
Hitler had conquered all of Western Europe except Britain. In all of the countries he had conquered, he set up a new government. He also discriminated against all Jews in the countries. An example of this was when French Jews were ordered to register at local police stations. -
The Invasion of Russia
Hitller ordered his army to invade Russia, not only to take the Russian's land, but to also destroy the "inferior" races that lived there. An example of who the Germans thought were "inferior" were the Jews, the Ukrainians, "Gypsies", and any other people the Nazis thought were "inferior." Hitler also ordered special SS units to go to certain points in Russia to annhilate the Jewish race. The main goal of every soldier invading Russia was to kill all Jews and other "inferior" races. -
The United States Enters the War
The U.S. enters the war after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor (a naval station in Hawaii). Hitler did not need to support Japan when they asked for support, but he agrees and declares war on the U.S. An example of the Nazis' plan going wrong was when the Russians defended their homeland instead of revolting against their communist leader. Hitler had united three powerful countries against himself.
