WWII- The Beginning

“How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don't think.”

-Adolf Hitler

Meanwhile…in Europe

Adolf Hitler• Corporal in WWI- A

bicycle runner– Earned 2 iron crosses in

the war- honors for bravery• Injured by mustard gas

and spends the rest of the war in a hospital

• After the war- joins the army and becomes a spy- report activities of extremist groups

The Nazi Party• Founder- Anton Drexler (1919)• Hitler is sent by the army to spy

on the Nazi Party- became fascinated by it (member #55)– Made first speech on Oct 16,

1919• Feb 24, 1920- A 25 point plan

was announced at a mass party meeting by Hitler and Drexler– #1- Self Determination for the

German People– First time the Heil Salute was

used

Beer Hall Putsche• November 8-9- Hitler tries to take over Munich

(Capital of the state of Bavaria)• Goal: Take over Bavaria (Texas of Germany), then

the entire government• The city police and state militia stopped the uprising– 16 killed- One was directly next to Hitler

• Beer Hall Putsch

Mein Kampf• Hitler sentenced to 5 years in prison-

served 1• Wrote Mein Kampf- considered the

ravings of a madman (100,000 copies sold)

• What his book said:1. The exiling of Jews from Germany2. Lebensraun (living space) for

Germany- take from Poland and Russia3. Aryan race- a hierarchy of races where

Germans were superior (Aryans created civilization)

Hitler gets…elected???• Hitler becomes the leader of the Nazi Party- become more powerful in

the German legislature- • Nazi party become one of the largest political parties- Hitler is

Chancellor (Prime Minister)• Feb, 1933- A fire occurs at the legislative building- uses it to suspend

freedoms• March 23 1933- Enabling Act- allows Hitler to rule by decree for 4 years-

can do whatever he wants

Lebensraum v. Manifest Destiny

• In an era when the earth is gradually being divided up among states, some of which embrace almost entire continents, we cannot speak of a world power in connection with a formation whose political mother country is limited to the absurd area of five hundred thousand square kilometers.--- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf 2

Lebensraum

• For it is not in colonial acquisitions that we must see the solution of this problem, but exclusively in the acquisition of a territory for settlement, which will enhance the area of the mother country, and hence not only keep the new settlers in the most intimate community with the land of their origin, but secure for the total area those advantages which lie in its unified magnitude.--- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf 3

Manifest Destiny

• We need Hawaii just as much and a good deal more than we did California. It is Manifest Destiny.– William McKinley

• School House Rock

Axis Powers• Germany forms an

alliance with Italy- Hitler was a student of Mussolini

• Called the Rome-Berlin Axis (1936)- “The world rotates on that axis”

• 1940- Japan joins- called the Tri-Partite Pact

Munich Conference• 1938- Germany has annexed

Austria and has made it known it wants the Sudetenland (park of Czechoslovakia)

• Nevelle Chamberlain (Prime Minister of Britain) meets with Hitler and Mussolini to discuss a compromise

• The Compromise- – Germany gets the Sudetenland– Hitler had to promise not to take

anything else

Nazi-Soviet Pact• Germany and Russia

signs a secret treaty- August 23 1939

• The Nazi-Soviet Pact/Non-Aggression Pact– Russia and Germany will

divide Poland – The two countries agreed

not to go to war with each other

• Sep 1, 1939- Germany invades Poland

Blitzkrieg