– Using the sudden mass attack known as the
Blitzkrieg, Germany was able to overrun much of
Europe and North Africa.
– Blitzkrieg
– What is appeasement?
• Hitler and Stalin
signed agreement
to not attack each
other (Aug. 23,
1939)
– Agreement was to
last for 10 years
• Pact contained secret
agreement to divide
Poland between
Germany and the
Soviet Union
• German troops invade
western Poland on Sept. 1,
1939
– Britain and France (Allied
Powers) had pledged to help
Poland
– Allies declared war on
Sept. 3, 1939
– Poland fell within a number
of weeks before they could
get help from Allies
• Soviets invaded Poland on
Sept. 17, 1939
• Blitzkrieg- German word
meaning “lightning
warfare”
– Military strategy
developed by Germany
– Used tanks (panzers),
motorized vehicles,
airplanes, and
paratroopers to quickly
mobilize troops and
overwhelm enemy forces
• Period of calm after the
invasion of Poland (Sept.
1939-May 1940)
– Britain moved troops to
France to help with
expected German invasion
of France
• Hitler invaded Norway
and Denmark in April
1940.
– Wanted to avoid
possibility of a naval
blockade of Germany
• Germany
launches attack
on Belgium,
Holland, and
France on May
10, 1940
• France had believed
that Germany would
attack across their
Western border
– Constructed a series of
forts known as the
Maginot line after WWI
– Maginot Line did not
cover the Ardennes
Forest because it was
thought that Germany
could not attack through
the thick forest
• British and French troops
became trapped by German
forces at Dunkirk
• German forces slowed their
advance
– they did not want to over
stretch their supply lines
– Hitler decides to turn over
the destruction of the allied
forces at Dunkirk to the
German Luftwaffe (air force)
Hitler with Luftwaffe chief
Herman Goering
• Operation Dynamo
– The decision by Hitler to
hold back his army gave
the British a chance to
rescue their forces from
Dunkirk
– British sent out a request
for all available
watercraft to head to
Dunkirk
– 338,000 British and
French troops were
rescued by 800 ships
• Allied forces could not
hold back German
advance
• France surrendered on
June 22, 1940
Hitler made the French sign their
surrender in the same railcar that
Germany signed the armistice ending the
fighting in WWI
• France was divided
– Occupied France
controlled by German
military
– Vichy France controlled
by “puppet” government
that answered to Germans
Goering and the head of the Vichy
French government Henri Petain
• Charles De Gaulle
formed Free French
gov’t in exile
– Based out of Britain
– Resisted German
control of France
• Britain was left
alone to fight
Germany in Western
Europe
– The Battle of Britain
• Italian and German
forces invaded the
Balkans and North
Africa
– The early years of the WWII went poorly for
the Allies, as Britain was left to fight the
Germans alone in Western Europe.
– Blitz, Isolationist
– What event is considered to be the start of
WWII?
• After the taking France,
Hitler focused on trying
to defeat Britain
– Germans developed a plan
for invasion known as
Operation Sea Lion
• Hitler launched an air war
on Britain to take out
British Air Force
– Needed to be destroyed
before invasion could
launched
• German Luftwaffe
bombed British ports
and cities
– Known as the Blitz
– Attacks on civilians
were meant to
weaken British will to
fight
• Leadership of Prime
Minster Winston
Churchill provide
confidence for the
British people
• British RAF were able
to inflict major
damage on the
German Luftwaffe
– Use of Radar gave
warning of incoming
German attacks
• Hitler was forced to
cancel invasion of
Britain
• Hitler invaded the
Soviet Union on
June 22, 1941
– Known as Operation
Barbarossa
• German forces
advanced rapidly
into Russia
– Got to the outskirts
of Moscow by Oct.
2, 1941
• Russians began
counterattack as
winter set in
– Germans were not
prepared for Russian
winter
– Harsh conditions
slowed German
advance
• Germany now faced a
two front war
• Many American
support an
isolationist foreign
policy
– did not want to be
involved in European
conflict
• President Franklin
D. Roosevelt
provided weapons
to the Allies
through the LendLease Program
– The early years of the WWII went poorly for
the Allies but after the United States entered
the war the Allies began to make gains against
Axis armies
– Total war
– What is appeasement?
• Document signed by
FDR and Winston
Churchill
– Stated a common
desire to end Nazi
tyranny
– Self determination
for all people
• United States had
placed economic
sanctions on Japan
– Response to
Japanese aggression
in Asia
– Restricted sale of
materials used for
war
• Japan launched
surprise attack on U.S.
military bases at Pearl
Harbor, Hawaii on Dec.
7, 1941
– Attack pulled the U.S.
into WWII
• U.S Congress declared
war on Japan the next
day
• Germany and Italy
declared war on the U.S.
three days later
• Japanese forces
rapidly conquered
strategic islands in
the Pacific and
territory in Asia
• Allied Powers
United States
Britain
Soviet Union
Free French
China
• Axis Powers
Germany
Italy
Japan
• Axis and Allied
powers used total
war during the war
– Civilian population
was required to
support the war
effort
• Democratic
governments
exerted control
over factories and
manufacturing
– Ordered factories
to produce war
materials
– Rationed consumer
goods
– Fixed prices and
wages
• Democratic
governments limited
certain rights and
used propaganda to
influence public
opinion
– Ex. Japanese
Americans were placed
in interment camps
• Women worked in
factories to replace men
who joined the war
• Some American and
British women served in
the armed forces
– Non combat support roles
• Public supported
the war effort
by buying war
bonds
• Two main theaters of
the war
– European theater
• Allied effort led by
American Gen. Dwight
Eisenhower
– Pacific Theater
• Allied Effort in the
Pacific led by
American Gen. Douglas
MacArthur