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Hitler met secretly with his top military advisors. He decided that Germany needs to take over Austria and Czechoslovikia to get Germany's economy to grow and prosper like it once did.
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German troops took over Austria unopposed. The next day, Germany stated that its "union" with Austria was complete. No one stopped this from occuring.
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France and Great Britian promised to protect Czechoslovakia from Germany. When it seemed a war was about to start, Hitler invited the french premir, Edouard Daladier, and British prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, to meet in Munich. Hitler claimed Sudetenland would be his "last territorial demand". This convinced , with little effort, Daladier and Chamberlain to sign the Munich A greement.
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After the agreement was signed, Hitler decided he needed to finish expanding the Third Reach. He proceaded to takeover the remainder of Czechslovakia. Hitler gloated, "Czechoslovakia has ceased to exist."
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Over the spring of 1939, HItler began to convince Germany that the german people in Poland were being mistreated.
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Polands eastern neighbors, the Soviet Unoin, also wanted Poland. When the germans were planning to take it, tension rised. Along with a war there, Germany would become at war with France and Great Britian, The signing of this act created a comprimise between Germany and the Soviet Union, allowing both countries to nn=invade with more safety.
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The german air force travled over poland, dropping hundreds of bombs on military bases, airfeilds, railroads, and cities. Simultaniously, german tanks rolled across the country causing mass amounts of confusion and terror. This form of warfare, quickly crushing you opponets in the beginning very quickly, is called blizkrieg, or lightning warfare. Two days later, France and Great Britian declared war on Germany. In the last week of fighting the Soviet Union attacket the west side of Poland.
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After about a month of fighting in Poland, Germany controlled two thirds of the population. From there is ceased to exist. This short series of battles started the war.
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Hitler launched a suprise attack on Denmark and Norway in order to protect their freedon and independence, when in reality, he planned to build bases along the coastin order to get closer to Great Britian. This marked the start of the phony war.
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Germany went on to continue to attack the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. By the end of May, the were all taken-over. This marked the end of the phony war.
