War In Europe
Ch 16-2
Austria and Czechoslovakia Fall
• Hitler declared that to grow and prosper
Germany needed the land of its neighbors. His
plan was to absorb Austria and Czechoslovakia
into the Third Reich.
• The Majority of Austria’s 6 million people were
German and wanted to unite with Germany.
• On March 12, 1938, German troops marched
into Austria. A day later Germany announced its
union.
Czechoslovakia
• Hitler wanted to annex Czechoslovakia in order
to provide more living space for Germany as well
as to control its important natural resources.
• Hitler accused the Czechs of abusing the
Germans in the Sudetenland, the western region
of Czechoslovakia.
• France and Great Britain promised to protect
Czechoslovakia if Germany invaded.
Munich Agreement
• French premier Edouard Daladier and British
prime minister Neville Chamberlain met with
Hitler in Munich.
• Hitler promised them that Sudetenland would be
his last territorial demand. They believed him!
• On September 30,1938, they signed the Munich
Agreement, which turned the Sudetenland over
to Germany without a single shot being fired.
• Winston Churchill, Chamberlain’s political rival in
Great Britain, believed they had adopted a
shameful policy of appeasement-or giving up to
pacify an aggressor.
The German Offensive
• Churchill warned that Hitler was not done
expanding the Third Reich.
• On March 15, 1939, about 6 months after
the Munich agreement, Germany took
over all of Czechoslovakia.
• Hitler now wanted Poland and he declared
that Poland was mistreating Germans in
that country.
• Nobody believed that Hitler would attack Poland
because then the Soviet Union, Poland’s
Neighbor, would attack Germany.
• Then Germany would be attacked by France
and Great Britain.
• This would be a two front war (a war to the east
and west of Germany).
• Stalin signed the nonaggression pact, which
meant that neither Germany or the Soviet Union
would attack each other.
• A second secret pact was signed in which the
two countries agreed to divide Poland amongst
each other.
Poland = WWII
• On September 1, 1939, the German Luftwaffe
(air force) attacked Poland.
• The blitzkrieg, or lightning war was Germany’s
newest technology, in which it used fast tanks
and aircrafts.
• On September 3, Britain and France declared
war on Germany.
• Major fighting was over in 3 weeks way before
France and Britain could mount a defense. The
Blitzkrieg tactic worked.
• In the last week of fighting the Soviet Union
attacked Poland, grabbing some of its territory.
• WWII had begun.
• Junker planes introduced in 1936 and
retired in 1945, used mainly by the
German air force (Luftwaffe)
The Phony War
• For several months after the fall of Poland, the
French sat on their border waiting for Germany
to make a move. Germany waited for them too.
• It became known as a sitting war.
• While the French and the Germans waited, the
Soviets took over Estonia, Latvia, Finland, and
Lithuania.
• The Phony War was over when Hitler invaded
Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Luxemburg, and the
Netherlands.
Fall of France (No French Fries)
• The German offensive forced the French and the
British towards the English Channel.
• Italy then entered the war on Germany’s side
and attacked France from the South.
• The Battle of Britain- Since Germany’s naval
fleet could not compare to that of the British,
Germany decided to attack Great Britain from
above.
• Great Britain had newer Technology (radar).
Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) fought off
Germany. On a single day there were about
2,000 German fighter planes bombing Great
Britain.