The War in
Europe
Austria & Czechoslovacia
Nov. 1937 Hitler discussed taking over Austria and Czechoslovakia.
Union W/ Austria
Majority of Austrian people were German. They wanted to join Germany.
Bargaining for the Sudetenland
Hitler wanted Czeck for more land and resources
Before the crisis began, France & Great Britain promised to protect Czech.
Hitler met with French & British leaders (Daladier and Chamberlain) and HItler promised Sudetenland would be his last territorial demand.
Daladier and Chamberlain REALLY didn't want to go to war, so they believed him.
They signed the Munich Agreement. Hitler gets Sudetenland and promises to take no more land and France & Britain avoid war.
Winston Churchill was not pleased with agreement. He called it appeasement (giving up principles to satisfy aggressors)
German Offensive Begins
As Churchill thought, Hitler sent troops into Czechoslovakia and took control of it
The Soviet Union Declares Neutality
Hitler attacked Poland next saying that he was protecting them. Russia decided not to fight and help it's neighbor, Poland. So Stalin signed a nonaggression pact with Hitler meaning they would never fight each other. So Germany and the Soviet Union split Poland.
Blitzkrieg in Poland
Sep. 1, 1939 was the day Germany tried its new battle tactics on Poland. Blitzkrieg was the battle tactic that is called lightning war.
France and Britain went to war against Germany for attacking Poland and this started World War II
The Phony War
France and Britian had a sitting war against Germany which the newspapers called a phony war. During that time Germany took over Norway and Denmark saying his was saving their freedom and independance but everyone knew that it was just to take them over.
France and Britian Fight on
The German army threatened to invade Belgium and drove their tanks through northern France. They traveled through Ardennes to avoid British troops and the French thought the Ardennes was impassable, but the German troops were getting closet to Paris.
The Fall of France
France, Britian, and Belgium troops fled to the other side of the English Channel from the German Army.
Italy joined the war and helped Germany take over France by Germany taking the north and Italy taking the south.
The Battle of Britian
On Aug. 15 that 2,000 German planes started air raiding London every night for two months.
Radar was used by the RAF(Royal Air Force) to take down 185 German planes on Sep. 15, 1940.
What happened the night of Sep. 15 did not stop the Germans who kept bombing Britian. British planes started doing the same thing to German cities and many poeple died in both countries.
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