The Nazis ExpandWWII Begins in Europe

Nazi Nationalism • Hitler preaches intense German

Nationalism.

• Hold huge rallies in support of the Nazi party.

• Proclaimed Germans as the master race/ Supermen

Nazi Propaganda

Nazi Militarism

• Hitler greatly increased the power of the military.

• Expanded the army with the draft.

• Developed and mass produced new and more powerful weapons.

• Other European countries did nothing.

• Germany gearing up for war!

Panzer

German Tanks

Luftwaffe

German Air Force

Hermann GoringCommander of theLuftwaffe

Blitzkrieg• German military offensive for: “Lightning War”• Using a large number of fighter planes, tanks, and troops

to quickly surround the enemy and destroy them.

Germany Expands1938

• 1938, Hitler makes a deal with Austria to put Nazis into top government positions.

• Austrian chancellor later rejects the idea.

• Hitler invades and quickly takes control of Austria without a fight

Germany Expands1938

• Hitler claims that Germans in Czechoslovakia were being oppressed.

• 1938 Hitler demands control over Czechoslovakia

• France and Great Britain fear war, o.k. the land grab.

Invasion of Poland

• 1939 Hitler claims that the Germans living in Poland are being oppressed.

• Poland was aligned with the Soviet Union, France, and Great Britain.

Invasion of Poland

• The Soviet Union wants to avoid war, signs non aggression pact with Germany.

• On Sept. 1, 1939, a week after the Nazi-Soviet Pact, Germany invades

• Two days later: Britain and France declare war on Germany

• The War is On!!

•April 1940, Germany launched a blitzkrieg on Norway and Denmark

•May, 1940: Germany invaded the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France•Germany took Neth., Belg, and Lux. In 10 days

Miracle of Dunkirk:• The evacuation of retreating Allied forces

that were trapped between the advancing Germany army and the English Channel.

The evacuation owed everything to the unstinting bravery of the French troops fighting at the Dunkirk perimeter. It was their sacrifice, as well as that of heroic British units

right on the Dunkirk perimeter itself that allowed so many to be taken off the beaches.

• 300,000 Allied soldiers were ferried to safety be every type of boat imaginable.

Soldiers escape by walking over the vehicles to the ships in deeper water

The Maginot LineFrances Greatest Defense

• After WWI The French fortified their border with Germany.

• France hoped that this would protect them.

• The line stretched from Belgium to S. France

1940 Invasion of France

• May 1940, Germany invades Belgium.

• Luftwaffe pounds France from the air.

• Hitler then sent a massive Army through Belgium into France. (Around the Maginot Line)

• French army chased to the north coast.

France Falls• 338,000 French soldiers/civilians escape to Britain• Italy invades France from the South• June 22, 1940 France surrenders to Germany• Armistice signed between Germany and France• France divided into two parts• S. France: Vichy Republic; controlled by the French but

was a “puppet state” (had to cooperate with Germany at all times)

• Germans occupied N. France

Aug. 1940: The Battle of Britain: Operation Sea Lion

• Britain was the final stepping stone to German dominance in Europe.

• Germany could not defeat Britain by sea, so it attacked by air.

• The German air force pounded British cities and bases for months.

• The British Royal Air Force was able to defend G.B.

The London Blitz:•Sept. 1940: Luftwaffe showered high explosives and fire bombs •57 nights•15,000 people died•London did not break!•Operation Sea Lion failed• Germany looks at the Soviet Union as a new target

Smoke and flames from neighboring buildings surround St. Paul's Cathedral in the aftermath of another blitz over London, England, June 7, 1941 during World War II.

A photograph from 1941 of bus which had fallen into the crater of a bomb which blasted through the roof of an underground railway station.

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Africa:

• Sept. 1940: Mussolini invaded Libya and Egypt

• British army kicked some Italian tail• Hitler to the rescue: sends

General Erwin Rommel:“The Desert Fox”

The “Fox” pushes the British back towards Cairo!

The Balkans• Oct. 1940: Italians invade Greece•Greeks kick some tail!•Hitler to the rescue again!•Greece, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Romania (Balkan States) are added to the Axis power

Hitler takes important ports and resources away from Stalin…Hitler is now ready to invade the Soviet Union.