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Hitler Declares Expansion
Hitler met secretly with his top military advisers. He boldly declared that to grow and prosper Germany needed the land of its neighbors. -
Union With Austria
Austria was Hitlers first target. Majority of Austria's 6 million people were German who favored unification with Germany. On March 12, 1938 German troops marched into Austria unopposed. A day later, Germany announced that its "Union" with Austria was complete. The United States along with the rest of the world did nothing about it. -
Taking Over Sudetenland
After the Union with Austria Hitler then turned to Czechoslovakia. About 3 million German-speaking people lived in the west border of Czechoslovakia called Sudetenland. Hitler wanted to annex Czechoslovakia in order to provide more living space for the Germans as well as control important natural resources. When Hitler charged Czechoslovakia both France and Britain promised to protect Czechoslovakia. -
Taking Over Sudetenland
When war was about to break out Hitler invited French Premier Edouard Daladier and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to meet with him in Munich. In the meeting they declared that Sudetenland would be the last territorial take over and Sudetenland was turned over to Germany without a single shot being fired. -
German Offensive Begins
Hitler was not finished increasing the size of the Third Reich. German Troops began to invade what was remaining of Czechoslovakia and started to look at nearby Poland to seize next. -
Blitzkrieg in Poland
The German Luftwaffe (Air Force), rained bombs on military air fields, bases, railroads, and cities. Tanks raced across the countryside. The sudden attack from the Nazi Army left the Polish in complete confusion and they were unable to respond to the size of the Germans advanced army. Because the Blitzkrieg worked perfectly the fighting only lasted three weeks and the allies couldn't mount a defense. By the end of it all Polish ceased to exist and WWII had begin. -
The Fall of France
German Offensive trapped 400,000 British and French troops making them flee to the beaches of Dunkirk on the French side of the English Channel. The British withdrew its forces. Germany and Italy invaded France from both the North and the South causes the French to surrender. Hitler, in his terms of surrender, said that the Germans would occupy the Northern part of France, and a Nazi-controlled puppet state in Southern France. -
Bombings in Britain
Hitler ordered 2,000 planes to bomb Great Britan's airforce, Royal Air Force, (RAF) airstrips and bases. Also, they bombed cities for two months.
