The Road to World War II in Europe - Direct result of Nazi Germanys aggressive foreign policy - Hitlers war Nazi

Germanys Foreign Policy Goals Grossdeutschland - Translates as Great Germany - Wants to reconnect Germany - German people are everywhere, and now trying to form one large nation Treaty of Versailles prohibits the unification of Germany because when it successfully fused Franco Prussian War Trying to diminish Germany from doing this again in the future Hitler is accused of conquering nations (Czechoslovakia) Foreign policy not confined to Germany - Wanted back the Polish Corridor which contained German people - Austro-Hungarian Empire (Treaty of Versailles forbade unification) - **Hitler himself was Austrian!! - Some German speakers in Czechoslovakia (because of Treaty of Versailles) aka Sudetenland - Wanted to add German areas of the Polish Corridor, Austria, and Sudetenland to Germany - Polish Corridor separates East Prussia from Germany gives Poland access to the Sea - (After WWI) took territory from Germany because needed access to the Sea for economics Lebensraum - Translates as Living Space - Wanted to expand Germany - Germany feels too small, wants more living space, territory, and RESOURCES - Russia has grain, rich agricultural land (modern day Ukraine), oil, rapidly evolving society post World War I cars, planes, new technologies, commercial radios, etc. World works on resources, which are used to fuel society - Oil needed to fuel tanks, planes, Volks Wagons, cars, society - Hitler gets his idea to invade from examples set before him - United States rapid colonization pushed westward and took anything they wanted from Native American tribes - Russians people of the Steppe, Slavs, Uzbeks - British India - Wants to expand in the direction of the Slavs and the Russians (Russians have the desired resources) - Germany= 500,000 square kilometers - Soviet Union= 22 million square kilometers - United States= 9.8 million square kilometers Nazi Germanys Foreign Policy Actions Rebuilding the German Army - Hitler may want to conquer, but he cant - Military restrictions from the Treaty of Versailles prevent the German Army from growing - Reduced in military capability - Break Germany apart to get rid of threat - With new military, cant defend themselves - Germans were compelled to reduce the size of their army, but no one else did - Ability to defend oneself has been diminished - Hitler is in control of the German economy: rockets, tanks, cars, and the Autobahn project - Army could not exceed 100,000 soldiers - NO offensive weapons... aka tanks or heavy artillery - NO air force - NO submarines - Navy was limited to 12 ships

- Had to secure the support of the German Army first - Night of Long Knives (murder of the leadership of the SA in June 1934) convinced German Army Hitler was on their side - After President Hindenburg died (August 1934), Hitler made himself Fuhrer (Leader of Germany), which gave him control over the Army - March 1935: Hitler announced that Germany would no longer values Treaty of Versailles - Began a draft, construction of tanks, planes, navy, and artillery - Enlarge army to 500,000 men - Excuse: Neighboring countries had large armies and Germany could not sufficiently defend itself - League of Nations did NOTHING but issue a criticizing statement (harmless) - Naval Agreement with the British over the size and strength of the German Navy (35% of the Strength of the Royal Navy) Italy Attacks Ethiopia - October 1935 Mussolini attacks Ethiopia to avenge the humiliation received from their defeat in 1896 against the Ethiopians - Once again, the League of Nations does nothing - One of the only times Italy has military success - Fighting against Ethiopian tribes with spears while they have tanks - Mussolini wants more land and territory, but also victories for the Italian people - There are no consequences for Mussolini from the League of Nations this gives Hitler more confidence, because it show the lack of repercussion, and that nobody wants to start another war again so soon - League of Nations should talk about problems to prevent another World War, instead, does NOTHING - ^Ineffective in dealing with the patterns of aggression Remilitarization of the Rhineland - Rhineland: territory to the East of Germany that was taken from Germany in the Treaty of Versailles - Demilitarized land - Supposed to have no military activity - Highly lucrative piece of Germany - Hitler goes into the Rhineland (March 1936) and violates the Treaty of Versailles NO CONSEQUENCES - France wont go to war without Britain - Britain does not want to get in another war so soon still recovering from extreme loss of life in WWI - The lesson for Hitler is that nobody is going to do anything can begin to complete his territorial expansion - The lack of repercussion emboldens Hitler - Policy of appeasement Austria and Czechoslovakia - Austria: more or less invited Hitler to rejoin them to Germany - Union of Germany and Austria= clear violation of the Treaty of Versailles West remained PASSIVE - Czechoslovakia: democratic, pro- Westernization, allied with France and Soviet Union, partly created to check Germany, contained 3.5 million Germans in Sudetenland - Germans in Sudetenland made it increasingly difficult for the Czech government - British Prime Minister: Neville Chamberlain did not want Britain to go to war again - Flew to Germany to prevent war between Czechs and Hitler - Accepted the separation of Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia - Forced the Czechs to agree to give Hitler Sudetenland by threatening to abandon them if they did not - Takes a while for Hitler to get Sudetenland not done militarily (Chamberlain) Munich - Conference in Munich with Britain, France, Italy, and Germany (September 29) - Hitler claims no more territorial demands, but later conquers the rest of Czechoslovakia because he could

- Conquers rest of Czechoslovakia March 15, 1939 - of British public thought it was worth another war to stop Hitler - After Czechoslovakia and the Sudetenland Poland was the next target - France and Britain are trying to defend Poland, want to bring the Soviet Union to alliance - British and French hostile to communism (Stalin in Russia) and skeptical of military value of Russias alliance (because of the purge of the Red Army) Nazi- Soviet Pact - Russia resented being left out of the conference in Munich - Opened negotiations with Hitler - August 23, 1939 Nazi- Soviet Pact announced - Divided Poland between the two allowed Russia to conquer the Baltic States and to take Bessarabia from Romania - September 1, 1939 Hitler invaded Poland - September 3, 1939 France and Britain declared war on Germany BEGINNING OF WORLD WAR II World War II, 1939-1940 The German Invasion of Poland - September 1, 1939 (a week after the Nazi Soviet Pact was signed) - Blitzkrieg (lightening war) - Luftwaffe= German air force - Destroyed Polish communications and airfields (runways, military barracks) - Limit opportunity to resist - Poles had 1.5 million soldiers and 600 tanks, but speed of Germans took them by surprise - Britain and France declared war on Germany September 3, 1939 - No plans to invade Germany any time soon - Remained militarily inactive - September 8, 1939: German army reaches Warsaw - Polish Government fled to London (Government in Exile) - Warsaw refused to surrender= total war and targeting of civilians - No military action from British or French that helps to preserve Poland - Stalin also taken back by German speed - Stalin invades Poland September 17, 1939 from the east - Stalin= determined to put as much territory in between himself and Hitler - Poland surrender September 27, 1939 - 15,000 Polish officers, lawyers, judges, teacher, priests, and other leaders in the Polish society were executed in the Katyn Forest (200 miles southwest of Moscow) - Hitler allies himself with Russia to prevent another two-front war, doesnt have to worry about being threatened by Stalin The War in the Frozen North - Stalin demanded 10% of Finlands territory in preparation for German attack - When Finns refused, invasion of Red Army (November 30, 1939) - More than 1 million Russian soldiers Vs. 175,000 Finnish soldiers, but Russians soldiers suffering greatly from the purges, which removed many of its skilled officers. - British and French (knowing their lack of support to Poland) tried to send resources to Finland, but could not pass through Norway and Sweden who were both Neutral countries - Soviets captured Finlands only port on the Barents Sea - March 12, 1940 Finland surrenders The Phony War in the West - Britain and France had taken no military action (policy of appeasement) - British Royal Air Force (RAF)

- Both French and British military command thought a war against Germany would fail - Stunned by alliance with Russia only one front war - Maginot Line: high-tech trenches; a defensive system of anti-tank structures, concrete artillery, and machine gun bunkers, and underground tunnels to move troops along the line without being exposed to enemy fire. - From Switzerland to Belgian border - Most of French army along the French- Belgian border (when Germans entered France in 1914) - Called the Phony War because nothing was happening and everyone was just sitting around (Sitskrieg) Hitler Turns Westward: Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourg - Phony War ended on April 9, 1940 when the Germans invaded Denmark and Norway on the same day - Germany imported iron ore from Sweden (could insure uninterrupted supply of Swedish ore throughout the war) - Norwegian coastline has 100s of fjords perfect for stationing U-boats (could strike at British or French ships in the Atlantic Ocean) - Denmark surrendered in one day! - Norway survived until the end of April - May 10, 1940: Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg (had already conquered Austria, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Czechoslovakia) - Dutch surrendered in 5 days! - British and French armies began to advance forward to halt German invasions Fall of France - Left themselves exposed by the Ardennes Forest in southeastern Belgium - Going through Belgium distraction for French and British, meanwhile he sends a Panzer division through the Ardennes. As they close in from both ways, the only thing British and French can do is retreat - Thought Maginot line was strong enough to stop Germans didnt think they could make it through Ardennes Forest - Everyone is ready for a repeat of WWI (trench warfare) - 7 Panzer divisions went through the Ardennes Forest - May 27: capture French port of Dunkirk - Entered Paris June 14 - The Nazis had crushed France in 6 weeks and Germany now controlled most of the coastline - Pincer movement (how the Nazis trapped France and Britain in Ardennes Mountains) The Battle of Britain - Winston Churchill replaces Chamberlain (his appeasement policy failed to prevent the war) - Churchill tried to send supplies to Russia in WWI - Since Britain is an island, could not be invaded the same way Poland could be - Hitler knew that he needed to establish control over the English Channel - Air supremacy over Channel (had to be able to support troops with supplies and reinforcements) - Wants to deal with the British before beginning war in the east (prevent two front war) - Civilians are targeted (idea of total warfare changes) - Radar stations in Britain are set up (intercept attacks from Germans) - Exclusively and air war - Start attacking cities [example: London and Berlin (august 27)] Economy will be ruined - London was a navigational error, but the attack on Berlin was done on purpose - Bombed British cities relentlessly September 1940- May 1941 (Luftwaffe) - Enigma Code Machine - British children= evacuated to the countryside - Hitler fails to close out war in the west, but decides to begin war in the east (goes against advisors) - RAF pilots aka the Few (British, Canadian, Australian, United States, Polish, French, and from New Zealand) The War in Asia - WWII began July 1937 in Asia (Japanese invasion of China)

- Unable to force Chinese to surrender - Japan wants to begin empire in the Pacific - With defeat of France, French colonies are up for grabs - Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia= French colonies - Tri-Partite pact: - Germany, Italy, Japan - To scare the United States into staying neutral (threat of fighting two wars at the same time) - United States places an embargo on all steel products for Japan (Washington) - Neither country wanted to get into an all out war World War II, 1941- 1943 The German Invasion of the Soviet Union - Hitler always intended to invade the Soviet Union - Soviets build up their arsenal - Relocate factories to prevent Germans from bombing or destroying them - Use Finland, Baltic States, and of Poland as a buffer zone - Hitlers first mistake: divides his troops (north, south, central) - Operation Barbarossa: intended to be quick (19 weeks maximum) - Russia performed weakly during WWI, and only a little of German army was fighting against them - Russia would be a pushover (difficulties Red Army had in defeating Finland in winter) - Slavs (Russians) believed to be inferior to the German Aryan race - UNDERESTIMATED HIS OPPONENT - Hitler hates Stalin - Expected them to be a pushover because of their performance in WWI - Hatred and desire to conquer drive Hitler - Delayed in his invasion by six weeks (Mussolini decided to invade Greece) - June 22, 1941 German forces invaded Russia - Stalin knew it was coming, but was paralyzed when invasion actually happened - Germans quickly demolished Russian defenses, communications, and transport networks - Soviets carried out the Scorched Earth Policy Leave nothing useful for the enemy (worked when Napoleon invaded in 1812) - Increased production of tanks, planes, and artillery in the factories - Hitler made matters worse for himself by interfering with the war plans with his generals - First Moscow fails - Next Leningrad fails - Now it is winter German troops not prepared, thought it was going to be a quick war did not account for 6 week set back (the invasion of Greece because of Mussolini) - Hitler does not want to lose to Stalin - Refuses to retreat and come back in Spring of 1942 - German army= miserably failing - Seize of Leningrad lasted 506 days longest in history! - Hitler wanted to capture the oil fields in Russia, so he changed cities to Stalingrad - Soviet sniper Vasily Zaitsev credited with killing 242 Germans - For Russian reinforcements to arrive to help at Stalingrad, would have to cross the Volga river while under German fire. (Very bloody and many injured by the time they got to the battlefield) - There would be no retreat from Stalingrad! - Germans suffer greatlyLuftwaffe not able to supply (in range of soviet guns) shortage of food and ammunition - Paulus and his remaining 110,000 troops surrendered February 2, 1941 - Taken as POW to Soviet labor camps, only 5,000 returned to Germany - July 1943: Germans and Soviets fought the largest tank battle in history at Kursk (3,400 Soviet Vs. 2,700 German) United State Entry into the War

- United States way of dealing with Japanese aggression was to slowly begin to embargo vital exports to Japan - Oil not embargoed yet huge risk80% of Japans oil was imported from the United States - Late July 1941 oil embargoed - Japanese government had an 18-24 month supply in oil reserve - Dutch East Indies (British) have substantial oilproblem= Philippines (United States) lay in between - Could either go around Philippines OR give decisive blow to United States and destroy Pacific fleet - Went with the second option - Japanese attack Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941 (initially strategictold that the U.S. Pacific Fleet would be in port and U.S. Navys three aircraft carriers would also be there) - Aircraft carriers were not there, but continued to attack - (Japan) Just awoke a sleeping giant (United States) - Japan at war with a nation who was rich in human resources and material Japan could not compare - December 11, 1941 Hitler declares war on United States (wanted to strengthen alliance with Japan incase of a Soviet attack) - Battle of Coral Sea of the coast of New Guinea (United States Vs. JapanUS wins)protected Australia from Japanese invasion (May 1942) The War in North Africa - Mussolini wanted territory and victories for the Italian people - September 1940: invades Egypt (Suez canal) - When German reinforcements come in (Rommel) Germany starts winning and British become nervous that they will control the Suez canal, so they send in back up (Montgomery) - Battle of El Alamein in Egypt (November) the British push the Germans and Italians out of Egypt - Soft underbelly - Allies delay attacking France from the Atlantic because of heavy German forces aligned along the French- Atlantic coast - Rommel= Desert Fox - Allies decide to first drive out all German and Italian forces from North Africa - Operation Torch - British army led by U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower landed on the coast of Morocco and began their drive eastward. - Rommel had no option but to retreat The Allied Invasion of Italy - July 1943: invaded and captured Sicily (same time as the Battle of Kursk in Russia) - Did not want Allies to access Germany from the South, so sent hundreds of thousands of troops to the Italian Peninsula - Rome liberated June 4, 1944 World War II, 1944-1945 The Soviet Red Army pushes the Germans back on the Eastern Front - Victory at Stalingrad in February 1943 was the turning point of the war on the Eastern front - Soviet Red Army began pushing the Germans back - By 1944 the Soviets had pushed the Germans out of the Soviet Union, and began pushing them back into Germany - Warsaw Russia halted on crushing Polish resistance, and allowed the Nazis to do it, so that when he went to capture the city most of the work was done for him and the Poles wouldnt hate him and would prefer him to the Nazis The D-Day Invasion of France - 1944plan was to attack the beaches of Normandy in western France - More than 500,000 Allied troops - To minimize casualties, tried to confuse Germans into thinking the cross- Channel attack was coming at the closest French crossing point from England

- Began at dawn on June 6, 1944 - Luftwaffe outnumbered 20:1 unable to bomb the invaders from the air - Allies lost 120,000 men, while the Germans lost 500,000 - Allies begin liberating cities across Europe (Normandy, Paris) The British and American Invasion of Western Germany - Germans blew up every single bridge across the Rhine river to slow Allied advancements (had to construct temporary bridges) - Destroying German cities in hopes of forcing them to surrender - Hundreds of thousands of German civilians died in city bombing attacks - Allies dropped 315 tons of bombs for every ONE ton the Germans dropped on Britain (315:1 in tons of bombs) The Soviet Invasion of Eastern Germany and the Battle for Berlin - Began April 16, 1944 - Hitlers birthday = April 20th - Soviets able to break through German forces, Berlin fell April 20th - Brutal war, intense fighting (SS men shot anyone who was seen to be retreating) high casualty numbers Hitler Commits Suicide and Germany Surrenders - To the end, Hitler was confident that Germany could still win the war - By 1945, Hitler was borderline psychotic - Forced to live deep underground in bomb- proof rooms - Prescribed drugs to help calm him down (includes painkillers and methamphetamines) - Cursed German army and German people for not fighting hard enough to win the war everybody failed him - People took refuge in the tunnels Hitler ordered that they be flooded (never happened, but was ordered to happen) - Scared of being captured by the Soviets or having his body displayed in a Soviet Museum, committed suicide - Ordered that his mistress Eva Brauns body be burned with his after they committed their suicides with capsules of cyanide (Hitler also shot himself in the head to make sure that he died) - May 8, 1945 Germany surrendered to the Allies (Karl Donitz the man Hitler gave authority to) The Defeat of Japan - Japan afraid they just made matters worse for themselves with the attack on Pearl Harbor failed to destroy the three aircraft carriers which was the whole purpose of the attack - Battle of Midway (United States Vs. JapanUnited States wins) 1,00 miles northeast of Hawaii - After the Battle of Midway, Japan went on the defensive against the United States - During 1943 and 1944, the U.S. attacked Japan-held islands throughout the Pacific and gradually got closer to Japan itself - March 1945: Captured Iwo Jima and able to see all four islands of Japan - Firebombed Tokyo (killed over 100,000 civilians and destroyed over 60% of the buildings in the downtown area) March - Japanese used kamikaze tactics (suicide missions where pilots crashed into American ships) - August 6, 1945: Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb (Little Boy) on Hiroshima - August 9, 1945: dropped second atomic bomb (Fat Man) on Nagasaki -**Only time in history where atomic bombs have been dropped - Japan surrendered August 14, 1945 - Formal surrender document was signed September 2, 1945 aboard the USS Missouri (United States battleship) The Holocaust Holocaust - The genocide of 6 million Jews, or 11 million total people including the socially undesirable people (homeless, Polish and Soviet POWs, gypsies, homosexuals, Jehovahs Witnesses, and mentally handicapped people) - 2/3 of the Jews in Europe

- Literally means destruction of a whole people - Most German allies contribute to the Holocaust - France, Romania, Croatia, Baltic States, Hungary, and Bulgaria contributed to the Holocaust by sending Jews to concentration camps - Danes did not participate helped Jews get across to neutral Sweden - Not really anywhere for the Jews to go nobody was really accepting that many Jews, and those that did accept were conquered by the Germans and then sent to concentration camps The Final Solution - Wanted to kill the Jews efficiently they are human too, hard for them to individually shoot people (gets easier, but never too easy, always hard to end a life) creation of the concentration camps - The annihilation of Jews was the Final solution for Hitler - Poland full of ghettos, Germany filled with concentration camps (Auschwitz) - Zyclone B gas in the showers (giant death rooms) - Selection of those fit for work from those who were not; those unable to be forcibly worked died - Death count in Auschwitz in 15,000 people per day - Those who escaped the concentration camps and who told stories about the atrocities were not believed OVERVIEW OF THE ENTIRE CHAPTER 1939-1940 Europe: - German aggression in the West - Use of Blitzkrieg - September 1939- Invasion of Poland - Possible because of Nazi / Soviet non-aggression pact - Polish government in exile - Soviets invade from the east - Katyn forest massacre - Soviets conquer Baltic states and Finland (difficult for Soviets to get) - Britain and France declare war on Germany (September 3, 1939) - Phony War ensues - April 1940- Nazi invasion of Denmark and Norway (access to the fjords, harbor U-boats, constant flow of materials) - May 1940- Nazi invasion of Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg - Invasion of France - Evacuation at Dunkirk - June 1940- France surrenders - August 1940- Battle of Britain underway - London Blitz (civilians are targeted) Asia: - Japan engaged in protracted second Sino- Japanese War - Nationalists under Chiang Kai- Shek refuse to surrender - Communists under Mao Zedong refuse to surrender - September 1940- Japan invades French Indo-China - Begin designs on acquisition of British and Dutch territory as well - Concern over US response encourages signing of the Tri- Partite Pact (Italy and Germany will declare war on the United States if Japan is attacked) 1941-1943 Europe: - Persuit of Lebensraum - Will have disastrous consequences for Jewish communities

- May 1941- Nazis conquer Greece and Yugoslavia - June 1941- Operation Barbarossa - Soviets are overwhelmed - Army groups into North, South, Center (Nazi) - Nazis fail to secure Moscow, Leningrad (Leningrad=506 days, huge loss of life) - Russian winter sets in - August 1942- Nazis begin seize of Stalingrad - German forces surrender February 1943 (turning point in war, Soviets begin to win) - Soviets launch counter offensives - Battle of Kursk July 1943 Asia: - July 1940- United States place oil embargo on Japan - Japan imports 80% of its oil from United States - December 7, 1941- Japan bombing of Pearl Harbor - Subsequent invasions of Philippines, Burma, Dutch East Indies, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc. - May 1942- United States wins Battle of Coral Sea - Australia spared from a Japanese invasion - June 1943- United States wins the Battle of Midway against Japan Africa: - November 1942- Battle of El Alamein - Allies open soft underbelly (southern Europe) - September 1943- Allied invasion of Italy 1944-1945 Europe: - Summer 1944- Soviets reach outskirts of Warsaw - Soviets delay liberation - June 1944- D-day Invasion of France - Allies lose 120,000 men - Germans lose 500,000 men - June 1944- Allies begin massive bombing campaign against Germany (target civilians in Germany, reducing ancient cities to ruin in the process of trying to get Germany to surrender) - August 1944- Allies liberate Paris - April 1945- Battle of Berlin ensues - April 30, 1945- Hitler commits suicide (knows the end is soon, drugged mind, delusional, psychotic) - May 8, 1945- Germany surrenders to the Allies Asia: - October 1944- United States liberates the Philippines - March 1945- Iwo Jima taken by the United States - US bomber begin bombing campaign targeting major Japanese cities - Tokyo is fire-bombed and claims 100,000 lives alone - April 1945- United States takes control of Okinawa - 100,000 dead Japanese - 12,500 dead US - August 6, 1945- Enola Gay drops the first atomic bomb Little Boy on Hiroshima - 130,000 killed, missing, or injured - August 9, 1945- Fat Man on Nagasaki - 40,000 killed - August 14, 1945-Japan formally surrenders aboard the USS Missouri