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A mahority of Austria's people were Germans who favored unification with Germany, On March twelfth of 1938, the German troops marched in to Austria, unopposed. A day later, a union or Anschluss was announced between Germany and Austria.
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Hitler invited the French premier and the British prime minister to meet him in Munich. Hitler declared that the annexation of the Sudetenland would be his "last territorial demand". In their eagerness to avoid war, they believed him.
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Hitler then turned to Czechoslovakia, a country with about 3 million Germans-speaking people linving in the western border regions. Hitler wanted to annex Czechoslovakia in order to provide more living space for Germany and to control the natural resources belonging to the country.
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As dawn broke on March fifteenth of 1939, the German troops poured into to, and took over, the remainder of Czechoslovakia. Hitler was reported to have said, "Czechoslovakia has ceased to exist."
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Stalin signed a non-agression pact with Hitler. The facist Germany and communist Russia commited to never attacked each other. They also signed a second, secret, pact to divide poland between them.
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As day broke the German Luftwaffe or German Air Force attacked Poland, dropping bombs on military bases, airfields, railroads, and cities. German tanks also, during this time, attacked Poland on land, causing terror and confusion. First test of German military strategy, blitzkrieg or lightning war.
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British and French troops were stationed on the Maginot line after Germany's attack on Poland, and charged with watching the German's actions. Similarly, the Germans were stationed a few miles away and were charged with staring back at the French and German troops.
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Italy entered the war on the sid of Germany and invaded France from the south as Germany closed on Paris from the North. Germans would occupy the North of France while a Nazi-controlled puppet government would be put in place in the South of France.
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The German offensive trapped almost four-hundred thousand British and French soldiers as they fled to the beaches of Dunkirk. In less than a week, a makeshift fleet of vessels carried three-hundred thousand soldiers to safety.
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The Lufftwaffe began making bombing runs over Britain with the goal of taking control of the skies by destroying the Britain's Royal Air Force or RAF. Concentrated on airfields, aircrafts, and then cities.
