Chapter 32
World War II
Section 1
Hitler’s Lightning War
Rise of Hitler
• Hitler joined new
political group that
wants to overturn
Treaty of Versailles
• Called National Socialist
German Workers’ Party
(aka Nazism)
• First attempt to take
over Germany in 1923
fails, goes to jail for 5
years for treason
Cont
• Writes Mein Kampf in jail
• Hitler’s beliefs and goals for Germany
• Burned down the Reichstag, blamed
Communists
• 1933, becomes chancellor (legally), call
him Der Furher
• formed the SS (Schutztaffel), they killed
hundreds of Hitler enemies
• Gestapo – secret police
Cont
• Used propaganda to
build a following
• Burned books that
went against Nazi
beliefs
• Used Jews as
scapegoats for all
Germany’s troubles
Rise of Mussolini
• Benito Mussolini
(Fascist) marches on
Rome in October
1922
• Fascism promotes
extreme nationalism
• Demand to put
Mussolini in charge
• Mussolini is called Il
Duce
Testing the League
• In 1935, Italy took over Ethiopia
• Ethiopia appeals to the League of Nations, which
does nothing
• Hitler takes control of the Rhineland
• Buffer zone between Germany and France that
the Treaty didn’t allow Germany to go into
• League of Nations does nothing
• Using appeasement: give into demands to
maintain peace
Cont
• Hitler and Mussolini form alliance called the Axis Powers in
1936
• Hitler starts calling Germany the Third Reich (German Empire)
• Hitler moves army into Austria, annexes it
• Moves army into the Sudetenland (part of Czechoslovakia)
• Hold the Munich Conference where British Prime Minister,
Neville Chamberlain, uses appeasement
Cont
• At Munich Hitler promised to not take
anymore land, 6 months later he took the
rest of Czechoslovakia
• Mussolini takes Albania
• Hitler signs a ten year nonaggression pact
with Joseph Stalin (leader of USSR,
replaced Lenin)
Germany’s Lightning Attack
• Part of nonaggression pact was that Germany
and USSR would split Poland
• In September 1939, German troops invade
Poland with new war strategy called blitzkrieg
• Lightning war
• 2 days following Poland’s invasion, France and
Britain declare war on Germany
• Before France and GB can do anything Poland is
divided up
The Soviets Make Their Move
• Gets eastern part of
Poland
• Lithuania, Latvia and
Estonia fall without
struggle, Finland
does
• USSR to many troops
(largest in world),
takes down Finland
The Phony War
• France and Britain station their troops on
the Maginot Line
• Defense border between France and
Germany
• Hitler launches surprise attack into
Denmark and Norway in April 1940
• 4 hours after attack, Denmark falls
• 2 months later Norway falls
Fall of France
• Hitler then takes Netherlands,
Luxembourg
• Allied troops pinned in Dunkirk
• Using 850 ships, the British rescue 338,000
soldiers
• June 14, 1940 Paris falls
• June 22, 1940 France surrenders
• Charles de Gaulle sets up the Free French
military and an exile gov’t in London
Battle of Britain
• Now Great Britain
stands alone
• Winston Churchill is
their prime minister
• Promising never to
surrender, they take
on huge air strikes
from the Luftwaffe
Cont
• London gets hit hard,
but Britain never
surrenders
• Britain used radar
and a German code
breaking machine
called Enigma to hold
off Germany
Axis Forces Attack North Africa
• Mussolini goes into
Egypt, but gets
pushed back by
Britain
• Hitler sends Erwin
Rommel, the Desert
Fox, to save his Axis
partner
• The Desert Fox
pushes the British
back
The War in the Balkans
• Threatening force, Hitler convinces
Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary to
join Axis Powers
• Invade Greece and Yugoslavia
• Greece falls in 11 days
• Yugoslavia falls in 17
Hitler Invades Soviet Union
•
•
•
•
•
Invasion of Soviet Union is called Operation Barbarossa
Starts June 1941
Germany pushes USSR back 500 miles
Stalin issues scorched earth policy
Nazis surround Leningrad, cut off all supply lines, destroy food
warehouses
• People start to eat cow and horse feed, then cats and dogs,
then crows and rats
• 1 million people die in Leningrad, but they refused to fall
Cont
• Hitler is impatient
and starts to go after
Moscow
• Like with Napoleon,
German troops aren’t
prepared for winter
and are going to get
pushed back in 1943
• Germans lose
500,000 lives in
attack on Moscow
The US Aids its Allies
• 1935-1937 US passes Neutrality Acts
• Can’t sell arms or lend money to nations
at war
• 1941, pass Lend Lease Act
• President can lend or lease arms to
nations vital to our defense