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The Austrian Anschluss
In late 1937, Hitler called for the unification of all German-speaking people. Hitler believed that he could only gain land by force. By February 1938, Hitler threatened to invade Austria if they didn’t give important government positions to Austrian Nazis. The Prime Minister gave in but wanted to hold it to a democratic vote. Scared of the outcome. Hitler invaded Austria anyway and annnounced the unification of Austria and Germany, the Anschluss. -
The Munich Crisis
Hitler stated his claim of Sudetenland, the Czechs resisted and France threatens to fight if Germany attacked them. The Soviet Union and Britain also promised to help France. The representatives of Britain, France, Italy, and Germany met in Munich to decide what would happen to Sudetenland, the Munich conference. Britain and France ended up giving in to Hitlers' demands. The appeasement failed and he split Czechoslovakia. -
Hitler Demands Danzig
Hitler demands that the city of Danzig be returned to his control. Despite the city being over ninety percent German, it was a part of Poland since WWII Hitler also wanted to build a highway from western Germany to east Prussia. Britain and France said that they would help if Poland decided to resist, which they did, so Hitler prepared to invade Poland and ordered his foreign minister to negotiate with Satlin; he didn’t want to fight Russia. -
The Nazi Soviet Pact
Germany proposed a non-aggression treaty and Stalin agreed. He believed that he needed to turn capitalist nations against each other. Everyone was shocked because communism was supposed to completely oppose nazism. Britain and France knew that Hitler made the deal to save his skin, but didn’t know that a secret deal was made to split Poland between Russia and Germany. After Hitler invaded Poland, two days later, Britain and France declared war in Germany, officially starting WWII. -
The Fall of France
The British sent troops to France, and the French stationed behind the Maginot Line, a line of concrete bunkers. This was a horrible idea because it gave Germany time to handle Poland. Also, because France protected their border with Germany but not their border with Belgium. The Germans invaded the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg to get to France. The British and French troops raced to Belgium and Germany went through the mountains crushing those troops and getting to France before them. -
The Evacuation of Dunkirk
After trapping the allied forces in Belgium, the Germans drove them toward the English Channel. The only hope for the forces was to evacuate by sea; Hitler captured all ports but Dunkirk near the Belgian border. No one is really sure why he left that port alone. This gave the British three days to strengthen their lines and evacuate. They hoped to save 45,000 but instead saved 338,000 troops. France ended up surrendering and Germany occupied most of northern France. -
The Battle of Britain
Winston Churchill, the new Prime Minister of Britain didn’t want to surrender to Germany; he made a whole speech about it to encourage his people. The German Air Force began to attack British shipping in the English Channel. The lot then launched an air battle against the Royal Air Force. The Luftwaffe accidentally bombed London and Britain bombed Germany’s capital in retaliation. Hitler ordered his troops to concentrate on attacking London to scare them but it didn’t work; Hitler retreated.
