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The Austrian Anschluss
In February 1938 Hitler threatened to invade German-speaking Austria unless Austrian Nazis were given important government posts. Austria’s chancellor gave in to this demand, but then tried to put the matter of unification with Germany to a democratic vote. Fearing the outcome, Hitler sent troops into Austria in March and announced the Anschluss, or unification, of Austria and Germany. -
The Munich Conference
Representatives of Britain, France, Italy, and Germany agreed to meet in Munich to decide Czechoslovakia’s fate. At the Munich Conference, on September 29, 1938, Britain and France agreed to Hitler’s demands, a policy that came to be known as appeasement. The Munich Agreement was a settlement permitting Nazi Germany's annexation of portions of Czechoslovakia along the country's borders mainly inhabited by German speakers. -
Hitler Demands Danzig
Danzig was more than 90 percent German, it had been part of Poland since World War I. Hitler’s new demands convinced Britain and France that war was inevitable. On March 31, 1939, Britain announced that if Poland went to war to defend its territory, Britain and France would come to its aid. This declaration encouraged Poland to refuse Hitler’s demands. -
The Nazi-Soviet Pact
The nonaggression pact, signed by Germany and the USSR on August 23, 1939, shocked the world. Communism and Nazism were supposed to be totally opposed to each other. Leaders in Britain and France understood, however, that Hitler had made the deal to free himself for war against their countries and Poland. They did not know that the treaty also contained a secret deal to divide Poland between Germany and the Soviet Union. -
The Invasion of Poland
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, or the 1939 Defensive War in Poland, and alternatively the Poland Campaign or Fall Weiss in Germany, was a joint invasion of Poland.On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany. World War II had begun. Poland bravely resisted Germany’s onslaught, but its army was outdated. The Polish army rode horses and carried lances against German tanks -
The Fall of France
The Battle of France, also known as the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries during the Second World War. Beginning on 10 May 1940, the battle defeated primarily French forces.The British called it the “Bore War,” while American newspapers nicknamed it the “Phony War.” The British had sent troops to France, and both countries remained on the defensive, waiting for the Germans to attack. -
The Evacuation of Dunkirk
The Dunkirk evacuation, code-named Operation Dynamo, also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, was the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, France, between 27 May and 4 June 1940, during World War II.As German forces closed in on Dunkirk, Hitler suddenly ordered them to stop. No one is sure why he gave this order. Historians know that Hitler was nervous about risking his tank forces, and he wanted to wait until more infantry arrived. Hermann Goering, the head of the -
The Battle of Britain
In June 1940, the German air force, called the Luftwaffe, began
to attack British shipping in the English Channel. Then, in midAugust,
the Luftwaffe launched an all-out air battle to destroy the
Royal Air Force. This air battle, which lasted into the fall of 1940,
became known as the Battle of Britain.
