Europe Goes to War

Unit 4Lesson 2

Unit 4Lesson 2

(Section 24.2)

Objectives:

• Explain the origins and trace the spread of war in Europe.

Warm Up

• Who were the totalitarian leaders that rose to power in Europe?– Hitler – GRM

– Stalin – USSR

– Mussolini – ITL

– Franco - SPA

Review

• Causes of WW2?– Nationalism

• Fascists, Nazis esp promote national pride

– Imperialism• Japan in Pacific; ITL in

Albania & Ethiopia; GRM in Rhineland, Austria (Anschluss), Sudetenland (Czechoslovakia)

– Militarism• Japanese navy; GRM draft,

war industries, arms

– Alliances• Rome-Berlin• Rome-Berlin-Tokyo AXIS

– Internatl Anarchy• Quit LON• Euro nations do nothing• US isolated

Soviet Non-Aggression Pact

• Aug 1939

• GRM & USSR won’t attack each other (10yrs).

• Economic Support

• Secretly agree to ÷ Poland, Baltic states

Molotov-Ribbentrop Sign Pact in front of Stalin.

Polish Blitzkrieg

German “Stukas”, part of Luftwaffe, paved way for “panzer” tank divisions to roll

through Poland largely unopposed.

Polish Blitzkrieg• “Lightning War”

• September 1, 1939– Luftwaffe Stukas – Panzer tanks– Terror & chaos

• POL fell in 3 weeks.– GRM laws, imprison

Jews

German Army marches through Warsaw

Sitzkrieg Begins

• “Phony” or “Sit-Down War”

• Sept 3, 1939: – GB and FRA declare

war on GRM to aid POL

• Fortify “Maginot Line”– Sit and wait for GRM to

do something…

Still Waiting…

France Falls

• April 9, 1940 – Hitler blitzkriegs neighbors (DEN,

NET, NOR, BEL, LUX)

• May– Bypass Maginot line!

– Split GB & FRA troops

• May-June– Dunkirk Rescue

– Free France (govt-in-exile) led by Charles deGaulle

• June 21 FRA surrenders– Est. Vichy Govt (Puppet Govt) in

France led by Petain

Battle of Britain

• August 1940

• Operation Sea Lion: – Control of skies…

invade by land?

• End “island invincibility”

Backing Off Britain

• Radar plots flights, RAF begins counterattack.– Enigma machine

codebreaker

• GRM invasion plan fails, but keep (fire)bombing– GB retaliates!

Members of RAF relax between flights

War in Euro on Film

Closure

• Why was Germany able to take Poland & France so quickly (esp as compared to WWI efforts)?

• Aircraft, tank divisions, blitz tactics, superior firepower