PP. 575-579

17.2: Europe Goes to War

In your notebook….

Answer questions #1-4 on p. 579 & complete #7#1)How did relations between Britain & Germany

change between the Munich Conference & the invasion of Poland?

#2) What were the reasons why Germany was able to defeat Poland in less than a month?

#3) What was the French policy of collaboration with Germany?

#4) Why were aircraft crucial to Germany’s planned invasion of Britain?

#7) Construct a timeline of important events in Europe in 1939 & 1940.

Germany/Hitler/Nazis

Hitler rises to power in 1934

Remilitarizes the Rhineland in 1936

Creates alliance w/ Italy in 1936 (Rome-Berlin Axis)

Nazis move into Austria in 1938, “Anschluss”

Hitler acquires Sudetenland in 1938

Mussolini/Italy

Fascist Party formed in 1919

Mussolini becomes prime minister in 1922

Italy invades Ethiopia in 1935

Italy joins alliance w/ Germany

Britain/France

Followed a plan of appeasement (giving in to Hitler’s demands)

Continued policy of appeasement at Munich Conference in 1938; Germany allowed to keep Sudeteneland

Had to choose between “war and dishonor,”

Winston Churchill said “They chose dishonor. They will have war.”

Increased Invasion

Hitler takes western half of CzechoslovakiaItaly invades AlbaniaAbove actions prompted Britain & France to end

policy of appeasement Told Hitler that further invasions would create war

Hitler’s Pact w/ Stalin

Germany feared a two-front war

Hitler & Stalin signed a non-aggression pact in August, 1939; plan was to last ten years

Agreed to split up eastern Europe

Invasion of Poland

Hitler invaded Poland on Sept. 1, 1939New invasion unveiled in Poland=“blitzkrieg” or

lightning war Fast, concentrated air attack Then tanks & mobile artillery Then infantry

Polish army of 700K was not readyBritain & France declared war on Germany on Sept.

3, 1939

Invasion of Poland

Germany had complete control of Poland w/in a month; split country w/ Soviet Union

Britain & France were unable to react quick enough

German laws implemented & Jews were murdered or imprisoned

Wielun, Poland on Sept. 1, 1939

Nazi troops in Warsaw, Sept. 1939

War in the West

After Poland fell, the war entered a quiet period American press called it the “phony war”

French forces waited at the heavily fortified Maginot Line Underground rails, air conditioning, thick concrete walls,

extra-heavy artillery

But didn’t protect French from a German attack through Belgium

Guns were pointed east toward Germany

Germany Attacks

April 9, 1940—Starts an attack on Denmark & Norway

May 10, 1940—Hitler launches a blitzkrieg on the Netherlands, Luxembourg, & Belgium All three were conquered in less than 3 weeks

From Belgium Hitler attacked France The Germans split the Brit/French troops into two The group in the north retreated to the coastal city of Dunkirk

Germany Attacks

In late May/early June one of the greatest rescues in history took place

A makeshift fleet of tugboats, yachts & other private boats carried some 340K soldiers across the English Channel to Great Britain

Saved Brit/French forces from certain capture

Fall of France

June 10, 1940—French gov’t fled Paris

Italy then declared war on France & Britain

June 14, 1940—German troops entered Paris

June 22, 1940—France & its 1.5 million troops surrendered

Germany now occupied the northern 3/5 of France & the entire Atlantic Coast southward to Spain

The French gov’t supervised the unoccupied south of France

Now as Vichy FranceAdopted a policy of close

cooperation w/ Germany, known as collaboration

Fall of France

Free France, gov’t-in-exile, operated from London

Supported underground Resistance movement in France Anti-German propaganda

& sabotaging German operations

Hitler had experienced nothing but success

German armies had taken almost all of Western Europe

At the time Great Britain stood alone

The Battle of Britain

Churchill refused to surrender:

“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”

Appointed Prime Minister in May of 1940

The Battle of Britain

Difficult for Germans to reach British land: English Channel Powerful British navy

Hitler instead used an aerial assault w/ his “Luftwaffe” Day after day, up 1,000

planes bombed Britain

By September of 1940 Hitler was bombing cities/civilians Included “fire-bombs,”

chemicals aimed at starting fires

British responded by bombing Berlin

Battle of Britain

The RAF was able to hold its own against the Luftwaffe despite being outnumbered

“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed to so few.”—Churchill praising the RAF

Despite huge losses, Brits continued to fight

20K Londoners were killed & 70K were injured

Brits ability to hold out was tied to fact that they had cracked German codes & could anticipate attacks

In your notebook….

Answer questions #1-4 on p. 579 & complete #7#1)How did relations between Britain & Germany

change between the Munich Conference & the invasion of Poland?

#2) What were the reasons why Germany was able to defeat Poland in less than a month?

#3) What was the French policy of collaboration with Germany?

#4) Why were aircraft crucial to Germany’s planned invasion of Britain?

#7) Construct a timeline of important events in Europe in 1939 & 1940.