-
Mein Kampf
One of the Nazis’ aims, as Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf, was “to secure for the German people the land and soil to which they are entitled on this earth,” even if this could be accomplished only by “the might of a victorious sword.” -
Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany
In Germany, Adolf Hitler had followed a path to power similar to Mussolini’s. At the end of World War I, Hitler had been a jobless soldier drifting around Germany. In 1919, he joined a struggling group called the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, better known as the Nazi Party. Despite its name, this party had no ties to socialism. Hitler proved to be such a powerful public speaker and organizer that he quickly became the party’s leader. Calling himself “the Leader”—he promised germany. -
Benito Mussolini's rise to power in Germany
While Stalin was consolidating his power in the Soviet Union, Benito Mussolini was establishing a totalitarian regime inItaly, where unemployment and inflation produced bitter strikes, some communist-led. Alarmed by these threats, the middle and upper classes demandedstronger leadership. Mussolini took advantage of this situation. A powerful speaker,Mussolini knew how to appeal to Italy’s wounded national pride. He played onthe fears of economic collapse and communism. -
Japanese invasion of Manchuria
The watchful League of Nations had been established after World War I to prevent just such aggressive acts. In this greatest test of the League’s power, representatives were sent to Manchuria to investigate the situation. Their report condemned Japan, who in turn simply quit the League. Meanwhile, the success of the Manchurian invasion put the militarists firmly in control of Japan’s government. -
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 buil;d-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. A year later, 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. -
Hitler invades the Rhineland
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. A year later, 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, however, the League’s response was an ineffective economic boycott—little more than a slap on Italy’s wrist. By May 1936 -
Fransico 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. “We knew, we just knew,” recalled Martha Gellhorn, “that Spain was the place to stop fascism.” -
Rome-Berlin Axis
Such limited aid was not sufficient to stop the spread of
fascism, however. 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 dictat -
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
Early in the crisis, both France and Great Britain promised to protect Czechoslovakia. Then, just when war seemed inevitable, Hitler invited French premier Édouard Daladier and British prime minister Neville Chamberlain to meet with him in Munich. When they arrived, the führer declared that the annexation of the Sudetenland would be his “last territorial demand.” In their eagerness to avoid war, Daladier and Chamberlain chose to believe him. On September 30, 1938, they signed the Munich Agreemen -
Joseph Stalin's totalitarian government in the Soviet Union
By 1939, Stalin had firmly established a totalitarian government that maintained complete control over its citizens. In a totalitarian state, individuals have no rights, and the government suppresses all opposition. -
Britain and France declare war on Germany
The blitzkrieg tactics worked perfectly. Major fighting was over in three weeks, long 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 had ceased to exist—and World War II had begun. -
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 (see map on p. 538), sat staring into Germany, waiting for something to happen. 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. -
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
As day broke on September 1, 1939, the German Luftwaffe, or German air force, roared over Poland, raining bombs on military bases, airfields, railroads, and cities. At the same time, German tanks raced across the Polish countryside, spreading terror and confusion. This invasion was the first test of Germany’s newest military strategy, the blitzkrieg, or lightning war. Blitzkrieg made use of advances in military technology—such as fast tanks and more powerful aircraft—to take the enemy by surpris -
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. Next, Hitler turned against the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, which were overrun by the end of May. The phony war had ended. -
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
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 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's and Italy's invasion in 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. -
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 also launched an air war at
the same time. The Luftwaffe began making bombingruns over Britain. Its goal was to gain total control of the
skies by destroying Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF). Hitler
had 2,600 planes at his disposal. On a single day—August
15—approximately 2,000 German planes ranged over
Britain. Every night for two -
Pearl Harbor Attack
Early the next morning,
a Japanese dive-bomber swooped low over Pearl Harbor—
the largest U.S. naval base in the
Pacific. The bomber was followed by
more than 180 Japanese warplanes
launched from six aircraft carriers. As
the first Japanese bombs found their
targets, a radio operator flashed this
message: “Air raid on Pearl Harbor.
This is not a drill.”
For an hour and a half, the
Japanese planes were barely disturbed
by U.S. antiaircraft guns and
blasted target after target. By the
time the las -
Battle of Stalingrad
The Germans had been fighting in the Soviet
Union since June 1941. In November 1941, the bitter cold had stopped them in
their tracks outside the Soviet cities of Moscow and Leningrad. When spring
came, the German tanks were ready to roll.
In the summer of 1942, the Germans took the offensive in the southern
Soviet Union. Hitler hoped to capture Soviet oil fields in the Caucasus Mountains.
He also wanted to wipe out Stalingrad, a major industrial center on the Volga
River. -
Battle of the Atlantic
For a long time, it
looked as though Hitler
might succeed in his mission.
Unprotected American
ships proved to be
easy targets for the Germans.
In the first four
months of 1942, the
Germans sank 87 ships
off the Atlantic shore.
Seven months into the
year, German wolf packs
had destroyed a total of
681 Allied ships in the
Atlantic. Something had
to be done or the war at
sea would be lost -
U.S. convoy system
The Allies responded by organizing their cargo ships into convoys. 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 than the Germans -
Operation torch
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. 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 Ch -
Unconditional surrender
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. -
D-Day
The Allied invasion, code-named Operation Overlord,
was originally set for June 5, but bad weather forced a
delay. Banking on a forecast for clearing skies, Eisenhower
gave the go-ahead for D-Day—June 6, 1944, the first day
of the invasion. Shortly after midnight, three divisions
parachuted down behind German lines. They were followed
in the early morning hours by thousands upon
thousands of seaborne soldiers—the largest land-sea-air
operation in army history. -
The battle of the bulge
On December 16, under cover of dense fog, eight
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,
creating a bulge in the lines that gave this desperate lastditch
offensive its name, the Battle of the Bulge. As the
Germans swept westward, they captured 120 American
GIs near Malmédy. Elite German troops—the SS troopers— -
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. -
Bloody anzio
Their cheers were premature. Hitler was determined to stop the Allies in Italy
rather than fight on German soil. 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 -
Death of Hitler
“I die with a
happy heart aware of the
immeasurable deeds of our
soldiers at the front. I myself
and my wife choose to die in
order to escape the disgrace of
. . . capitulation,” he said. 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. -
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.