blitzkrieg

World War IIBlitzkrieg

Appeasement

• giving in to aggressive demands to maintain peace

• Timeline–March 1936 – remilitarized the Rhineland–March 1938 – Anschluss (annexation of

Austria)– September 1938 – Munich Conference/Sudeten

Crisis (annexation of the Sudetenland)–March 1939 – Germany invades

Czechoslovakia

Agreements

• 1936 – Anti-Comintern Pact– Germany & Japan– 1937 – Italy

• 1938 – Munich Conference• 1939 – German-Italian Alliance• August 1939 – Non-Aggression Pact– Germany & Soviet Union

Blitzkrieg• “blitz” = lightning• “krieg” = war• September 1, 1939 – Invasion of

Poland– official start of WWII

• September 3 – Britain & France declare war on Germany

• September 17 – Russia invades Poland

• October 6 – Poland surrenders

Blitzkrieg

• April 1940–Denmark surrenders–Norway surrenders–Netherlands surrenders

• May 1940–Belgium surrenders

Invasion of France

• May 1940 – invasion begins• Evacuation @ Dunkirk– 300,000+ Allied troops escape across the

English Channel– Hitler’s 1st major blunder of WWII

• June 1940 – German army enters Paris– Hitler – “This is the happiest day of my

life.”– June 22 – France surrenders

• Germany humiliates France

Battle of Britain• July 1940 – October 1940• Luftwaffe vs. RAF• German goal–soften up British defenses in

preparation for a land invasion

• Outcome–German defeat, British victory–Germany’s first defeat in WWII

Operation Barbarossa• Germany invades Russia• June 22, 1941• Hitler breaks the Non-Aggression Pact• Soviets are poorly trained, ill-equipped,

and caught off guard• German troops unprepared for weather• easily the biggest blunder in Hitler’s

military and political career