Chapter 32World War IISection 1Hitler’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