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The Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was signed at the end of WWI, mostly to punish Germany. This really put Germany's economy in a terrible position. When the economy hit rock bottom, Germany was desperate for a leader who could change Germany for the better.Soon after their desperations set in, Hitler- leader of the Nazi Party- started to gain power. If the Treaty of Versailles was not as harsh(as the United States Suggested), then the second world war would not have occured so shortly after the first. -
The Treaty of Berlin
The Treaty of Berlin was signed between the Soviet Union and Germany before the second world war. This agreed that both countries would stay out of the fight if the other was attacked by another country. This was a major treaty, because it kept the German's fight a 1 front war. With only one front to worry about, Germany could focus all of its troops on France and Great Britain, making the war much easier on them. Remembering the first world war, the Germans did not want to fight two fronts, so -
Treaty of Berlin, Pt. 2
that's exactly what they accomplished -
The Remilitarization of the Rhineland, Pt 2
in the country, and unavailable. This was not the last aggressive move by Germany, but really showed they were not going to stop when they started taking over. -
The Remilitarization of the Rhineland
The remilitarization of the Rhineland was a major violation of The Treaty of Versailles by Germany. This was one of the first times Germany blatently broke the treaty, and this action really showed the aggression of Germany and the appeasement used by France and Great Britain. This was a huge threat to France, because the Rhineland had always acted as a buffer zone beteen it and Germany. The perfect timing was strategically genius move by Hitler, because he knew the British leaders would be out -
The beginning of WWII, Pt 2
Germany, and was in for a larger fight than they thought. -
The Beginning of WWII
For years Germany had been breaking the Treaty of Versailles by taking over countries and making its military larger and larger. The soon to be Allies knew Germany had to be stopped, and declared war on Germany as soon as it invaded Poland. The invasion not only broke the Treaty of Versailles, it also violated the Ten Year German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact. For now the Soviet Union and U.S. would remain neutral, wile France and Great Britain tried to face Germany. The allies underestimated Nazi -
Germany Comes for France
Up until this point in the war, very little fighting was done. To change this, Germany started its invasion of France. To accomplish this, Germany bypassed France's main defences on the maginot line by marching through the Ardennes forest. In about a month, Germany had taken most of France, and destroyed most of their troops, the only exception being the 200,000 English and the 140,000 French that escaped during the miracle at DUnkirk. Only needing a month to topple France really set the pace -
Germany Comes for France, Pt 2
for the Germans during the early years of the war -
Operation Sea Lion
Nearly right after the invasion of France, Hitler moved his attention to taking Great Britain. Plans set originally for August were quickly pushed back, and plans continued to change. Finally on September 15th, the Luftwaffe was sent to Britain, but lost more planes than they coud destroy against the RAF.A couple days later, the plan was cancelled, and dropped from Hitlers eyes. If this went differently, everyone could possibly be speaking german today. -
Germany Attacks the Soviet Union
In June of 1941, Hitler sent millions of troops to invade the Soviet Union. Stalin stood in disbelief that Germany would break their treaty, an did little to prepare for the attack. Inside a month, Germany had made it all the way to the cities of Moscow, Leningrad, and Stalingrad. carrying little clothing with them, the Germans had done fine in the fall, but when winter hit the Germans had no chance. Stalin sent more troops, and the starved and frozen Germans wee forced to retreat. -
U.S. Enters the War.
On December 7th, Japan attacked Pearl Habor in hopes of taking out the U.S.'s Pacific fleet. On December 8th, the U.S. sent out a war declaration, and three days later Germany declared war on the U.S. Tis marked the end of the U.S. trying to stay out of the war. U.S. troops were ready to fight the war in the Pacific, but most were sent to Europe. U.S. troops had little to no experence, but that was all about to change. -
Europe First Strategy
When the United States entered the war, they sent most of their troops to the war against Germany. The reasoning behind this was that the Allies all agreed that Hitler was the only potential long term threat, and wanted to take him out first. Named the Europe first strategy, most troops would be used to reach Berlin,but it was not that simple. The allies first had to gain a foothold back in France. The Allies had a long battle ahead of them. -
The Soviet Union Vs. Great Britain and the U.S.: the Race Towards Berlin
After the U.S. and the Soviet Unionjoined the war, things started to change. Insteead of German domination, the momentum started to change.From both sides of Germany, the allies started to push the Germans back, racing towards Berlin and Hitler. While on their conquest, both sides took out many of the strongest Nazi troops, and freed many countries of Nazi control. The war was not yet over, but Hitler's chances of domination were.
