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Land of Germany's Neighbors
Hitler met secretly with his top military advisors. He boldly declared that to grow and prosper Germany needed the land of its neighbors. His plan was to absorb Austria and Czechoslovakia into the third Reich. When one of his advisor protested that annexing those countries could provoke war, Hitler replied, “ The German Question’ can solved only by means of force, this is never without risk. -
Bargaining for the Sudetenland
France and Britain both promised to protect Czechoslovakia but then Hitler invited French premier Edouard Daladier and British prime minister Neville Chamberlain to meet with him in Munich. There Hitler told them that annexation of Sudetenland would be his “last territorial demand.” Then Hitler, Daladier and Chamberlain signed the Munich Agreement, which turned the Sudetenland over to Germany without a single shot being fired. -
German Offense Begins
German troops poured into what remained of Czechoslovakia. At nightfall Hitler gloated, “ Czechoslovakia has ceased to exist.” After that, the German dictator turned his land-hungry gaze toward Germany’s eastern neighbor Poland. -
The Soviet Union Declares Neutrality
France and Britain promised military aid to Poland and Poland also had the Soviet Union has their eastern neighbor. The result would be a two-front war, Germany was exhausted in World War I after fighting on two fronts. As tensions grew, Stalin surprised everyone by signing a nonaggression pact with Hitler. Germany and communist Russia now committed never to attack each other. -
Blitzkrieg in Poland
German air force flew over Poland dropping bombs on military bases, airfields, and cities. German tanks raced across Polish countryside, causing terror and confusion. This was Germany's new military strategy, the blitzkrieg, or lightening war. It was the use of advance military technology to take the enemy by surprise. Britain and France declared war on Germany, that is exactly what they wanted since the major fighting was over. Soviet Union attacked Poland from the east, grabbing territory. -
The Phony War
After the Fall of Poland, French and British troops sat staring into Germany, a few miles away Germany was stared back. The blitzkrieg had given way to what the Germans called sitzkrieg, or sitting war, and some newspapers called it the phony war. Hitler launched a surprise invasion of Denmark and Norway to protect freedom and independence. Hitler was just planning to build bases on the coast to attack Great Britain. Hitler turned against Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. -
The Fall of France
Italy entered the war on the side of Germany and invaded France from the south as the Germans closed in on Paris from the north. Then Hitler handed French officers his terms of surrender as William Shirer and the rest of the world watched. Germans would occupy the northern part of France, and a Nazi-controlled puppet government, headed by Marshal Philippe Petain, would be set up at Vichy, in southern France. -
Battle of Britain
RAF shot down over 185 German planes; at the same time, they lost over 26 aircraft. Six weeks later, Hitler called off the invasion of Britain indefinitely. Still, German bombers continues to pounf Britain's cities trying to disrupt production and break civilian morale. British pilots also bombed German cities. Civilians in both countries unrelentingly carried on.
