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Austrian Anschluss
The Austrian Anschluss was the forceful annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany. This affected the war because it added troops and food supplied to the Nazi German army. Nazi Germany also gained more land and materials that they could use to help them in the fight. -
Munich Conference
Meeting to determine if Hitler's demands to acquire Sudetenland for Nazi Germany. The descion came to an appeasement where Hitler gained Sudetenland in hopes that a world war would be avoided. The Czech's were told that they had to comply with this descion or be left alone to fight against Germany. -
Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact
The Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact was to ensure that the USSR and Germany would not go to war, instead, it would be Germany going to war against France and Britain. This pact shocked many people as the two beliefs of the countries, Nazism & Communism, are opposites of each other. The leaders of Britain and France knew that Hitler made this pact so that he did not have to worry about the USSR attacking him from behind. -
Invasion of Poland
On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. The Polish army was defeated within weeks of the invasion. German units had more than 2,000 tanks and over 1,000 planes that broke through Polish defenses along the border and advanced on Warsaw (capito of Poland) in a massive circle attack. After heavy shelling and bombing, Warsaw surrendered to the Germans. -
Invasion of France
The British sent troops to aid France and both countries were defensive and waited for Germany to attack. The french built a defensive line called a Maginot Line along the German border. Germany decided to attack Poland first before advancing toward the French and British. On May 10th Hitler launched a blitzkrieg, which means “lightning war”, into the West. German tanks rolled into Belgium and Luxembourg and easily went through the French lines. -
Evacuation at Dunkirk Begins
The German forces had pushed the Allied forces toward the English Channel. The only way for Britain and France to evacuate the remaining troops was through the sea. The Germans controlled all the ports on the English Channel were controlled by the German army except for one, Dunkirk. Hitler ordered his troops to stop which gave the Ally forces a three day delay to strengthen their defense and begin evacuating. The british had planned on rescuing 45,000 troops but by the end had rescued 338,000. -
Evacuation at Dunkirk Ends
