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Hitler
The man that lead Nazi Germany, World War II in Europe, and the Holocaust. Hitler gained popular support by attacking the Treaty of Versailles, and for supporting anti-Semitism and anti-communism. He killed as many as 50 million people with his evil plan, 6 million of which were Jews. -
Anschluss
A union between Germany and Austria, it was important to Hitler as Austria was his homeland and it was part of his plan to unite all German speaking peoples in a powerful greater Germany. -
Czechoslovakia
Land with a large population of german-speaking people. The Czechs strongly resisted Germany’s demands for the Sudetenland. France threatened to fight Germany if they attacked Czechoslovakia. The Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain pledged Britain’s support to France, its ally. -
Munich Conference
Representatives of Britain, France, Italy, and Germany agreed to meet in Munich to decide Czechoslovakia's fate. Neville Chamberlain and Edouard Daladier agreed that Germany could have the Sudetenland. In return, Hitler promised not to make any further territorial demands in Europe. -
Danzig
The town Hitler demanded to be returned to German control. Even though the town was more than 90 percent German, it had been part of Poland since WWI. -
Nazi-Soviet Pact
A non aggression pact, signed by Germany and the USSR. Britain and France thought Hitler made the deal to free himself from war against their countries and Poland, but they did not know that the treaty also contained a secret deal to divide Poland between Germany and the Soviet Union. -
Poland, Britain, France
Germany invades Poland on the 1st then two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany. WWII had begun. -
Blitzkrieg
Also known as a “lightning war”, was a new type of warfare. Poland’s army was outdated and they still rode horses and used lances, so Germany used large numbers of massed tanks to break through and rapidly overtake enemy positions -
Phony War or Bore War
During the war in Poland, western Europe stayed pretty calm. The British called it the “Bore War,” and American newspapers nicknamed it the “Phony War.” -
Poland fell
The polish army could not repel the attack of the Germans (Blitzkrieg). Warsaw, the Polish capital, fell to the Germans, and the Germans had defeated the Polish military by October 5, 1939. -
Invasion of France
British had sent troops to France but both countries remained defensive, waiting for Germans to attack. The French built a line of concrete bunkers and forts called the Maginot Line along the German border. Rather than risking soldiers by attacking, they waited behind the line for the Germans to approach. This turned out to be an epic fail because this allowed Germany to concentrate on Poland first and then Germany just decided to go around the line, which protected France’s border with Germany -
Evacuation at Dunkirk
The Germans drove Allied forces toward the English Channel and so the only hope for Britain and France was to escape by sea, but the Germans had captured all but one port, Dunkirk, in northern France near the Belgian border. Hitler ordered his army to stop and which gave the Allies a three-day delay. During these three days, about 850 ships of all sizes rescued about 338,000 British and French troops. -
French surrender
Hitler accepts the French surrender and Germany now occupied much of northern France and its Atlantic coastline. -
Battle of Britain
Germany needed a way to transport supplies across the english channel, and to do so they needed to take down British Air Force because they would try and sink German ships if they tried to land troops in England. German air force began to attack British shipping in the English Channel, and eventually by August, launched an all-out air battle to destroy the Royal Air Force.
