Early Events of WWll

By alybourbeau

  • The Austrian Anschluss

    In late 1937 Hitler called for the unification of all German speaking people, including those in Austria and Czechoslovakia. In February 1938 Hitler threatened to invade Austria, unless Austrian Nazis were given high and important government jobs. The Austrian government tried to put the matter of the unification of Austria and Germany to a democratic vote. Hitler feared the outcome of the vote, and sent troops into Austria in March and declared the Anschluss, or unification.

  • Hitler Demands Danzig

    Hitler demanded that the city of Danzig be returned to Germany’s control. He also requested a highway and railroad across the Polish Corridor. Hitler's demands convinced Britain and France there was inevitable, and announced on March 31, 1939 if Poland went to war to defend itself, Britain and France would come to its aid. In May 1939, Hitler ordered the German army to invade Poland.

  • The Nazi-Soviet Pact

    German officials proposed a nonaggression treaty to the Soviets, and Stalin agreed. If the treaty worked Germany would go to war with Britain and France, and the USSR would be save. The nonaggression pact was signed by Germany and the USSR on August 23,1939. Even though Communism and Nazism were supposed to be opposed to each other, Hitler made the deal to free himself from war with France and Britain.

  • The Invasion of Poland

    On September 1, 1939 Germany invaded Poland. Two days after, Britain and France declares war on Germany. The Polish army was too weak against the Germans. Germans used a new type of warfare called blitzkrieg (lightning war). They use large numbers of tanks to break through the enemy positions. On October 5, 1939, the Germans defeated the Polish military.

  • The Munich Conference

    Hitler announced that Germany will claim an area of Czechoslovakia, Sudetenland. The Czechs resisted Hitler’s demand. France and the Soviet Union threatened to fight if Germany entered Czechoslovakia. Representatives of Germany, Britain, France, and Italy agreed to meet in Munich To determine Czechoslovakia’s fate. On September 29, 1938 at the Munich Conference France and Italy agreed to Hitler’s demand. They came up with a policy, they made concessions in exchange for peace.

  • The Fall of France

    After World War l, the French built a line of concrete bunkers called the Maginot Line along along the German border. To get around the Maginot line Germany had to invade the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. The French and British expected the Germans, so they headed to countryside Belgium. The German troops were in eastern Belgium, where the french left little troops that were easily defeated by the Germans.

  • The Evacuation of Dunkirk

    All allied troops and France evacuated the seaports of Dunkirk to England, due to Germany's invasion of small countries and France. German tanks ran westward of Belgium and France. At the end of the invasion 140,000 French troops fleed and were savesd.

  • The Battle of Britian

    Hitler planned an attack on Britian through air and feet. He launched a mass air bombing on England, thus beginning the first in air battle. In the fall of 1940, German and British air forces clashed in the skies over the United Kingdom.