Chapter 24, Section 2
War in Europe
Austria & Czechoslovakia Fall
Nov. 5, 1937 – Hitler met with his boys & rationalized why he needed more land
His proposal: Annex Austria & Czechoslovakia (see map)
Union with Austria
Hitler’s 1st target: Austria
 Background: Austria was made up of mostly Germans (had been formed after
WWI)
 Most of Austria favored unification
 March 12, 1938: Austria became part of GM
 US’ response: Nothing
Bargaining for the Sudetenland
 Western border of Czech was a region where mostly Germans lived – known as
the Sudetenland
 Hitler not only needed lebensraum, but its natural resources were also enticing
 Hitler and his censored media said that the Czechs were provoking war – LIES
 Both FR & BR had promised protection & aid to Czech
 But FR & BR didn’t want war either
 Hitler knew that, so he invited both FR & BR leaders to a meeting in Munich
o Convinced them that Sudetenland would be his last demand
o Daladier & Chamberlain thought it was worth it if it could avoid war, so
they agreed not to get in his way
o Munich Agreement – turned Sudetenland over to GM without the single
shot being fired
 Winston Churchill was Chamberlain’s political rival in BR – he condemned the
Munich Agreement as policy of appeasement – giving up its principles to pacify
an aggressor
The German Offensive Begins
 Churchill’s premonitions were correct: March 15, 1939 – the rest of Czech was
taken over
o Next target: Poland
The Soviet Union Declares Neutrality
 Poland also had a GM segment of population
 Again, Hitler & censored media lied about mistreatment & provocations
 Some were not fooled by his bluffing
 This was a bigger deal because:
o It’s not the 1st time
o Poland borders SU (getting SU involved)
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FR & BR had also made protection/aid promises to Poland
In other words, GM could face a 2 front war
But just as things intensified, Stalin signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler
o Aug. 23, 1939 – Stalin & Hitler vowed never to attack each other
o Stalin & Hitler also signed secret deal: they would split Poland between
them
So 2 front war is no longer a concern
Blitzkrieg in Poland
 September 1, 1939 – GM Air Force (Luftwaffe) dropped bombs everywhere in
Poland
 Simultaneously, tanks invaded & it was absolute chaos – known as a blitzkrieg
o GM’s newest military tactic
o Blitzkrieg – to take the enemy by surprise & then quickly attack all
opposition with overwhelming force
 September 3, 1939 – BR & FR declared war on GM
 Because the blitzkrieg was so fast, BR & FR’s entry was futile, as far as Poland
was concerned
 By end of September – no more Poland
The Phony War
 After Poland fell, BR & FR troops mobilized to the Maginot Line (map) & waited
 GM troops “waited” back on the Siegfried Line (map)
 So the blitzkrief became a sitzkrieg “sitting war” or a “phony war”
 Meanwhile, Stalin had gotten its eastern part of Poland and then numerous Baltic
states – Estonia, Latvia, etc. (later Finland)
 April 9, 1940 – Hitler surprise attacked Denmark and Norway – supposedly to
protect them, but geographically – a good location to attack BR
o Moved onto Belgium, Netherlands, etc.
France & Britain Fight On
 FR’s Maginot Line was no good
 Though the Ardennes forest was thought to be impassible, GM forces went right
through it, and headed for Paris
The Fall of France
 GM trapped 400,000 BR/FR soldiers as they ran into a dead end – the beaches of
Dunkirk (map)
o But in an inspiring scene, fishing boats, barges, cruise ships, etc., ferried
some 330,000 troops to safety
 Then Italy joined GM in the war
 IT invaded FR from the south as GM moved in from the north
 June 22, 1940 – Hitler forced FR officers into a surrender at Compiegne
o World watched as FR was set up by GM
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Nazi-puppet government – Marshal Philippe Petain – would
control southern FR (Vichy)
FR Gen. Charles de Gaulle fled to England & set up a government
in exile, claiming FR wasn’t done for
The Battle of Britain
 Summer of 1940 – GM established a fleet along the FR coast for BR
 But Hitler knew BR had the better navy, so he had the Luftwaffe launch an air
war
 Bombed BR day and night
 Goal: to destroy BR’s RAF (Royal Air Force)
o For 2 months straight, BR was bombed
o Airfields & aircraft were initial targets, but then cities & neighborhoods
were bombed
o RAF defended themselves well, especially thanks to radar
o By the end of Oct. 1940, Hitler called off invasion of BR indefinitely
o Churchill quote – p. 747
o Bombings still continued on both sides though