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World War II Events
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Germany Leaves the League of Nations
(Hitler's Saturday Suprises) Hitler used the exucse of the unfair factors of the Treaty of Versailles to leave. Even though the Treaty didn't make them join the League, nobody questioned Hitler's choice. The countries were bystanders in this situation and if the countries stood up, they could of prevented Hitler gaining the power the way he did. -
First "Saturday Suprise"
(Hitler's Saturday Suprises)Hitler decides to start building up his army. He wants develop a strong airforce, draft soldiers, and arm the nation with a convincing army. Hitler stated that it was just defensive and he wanted peace. The citizens of Germany admired and loved what Hitler was doing. Even though this went against the Treaty of Versailles, countries did not mind it because they too thought that the Treaty was unfair. Other countries allowed Hitler to gain power and appeased to him. -
Second "Saturday Suprise"
(Hitler's Saturday Suprises)German soldiers marched in Rhineland intending to take it over. Rhineland is a 31-mile strip of land that is between France, Germany, and Belguim. Although it was German land, it was occupied by the France due to the factors of the Treaty of Versailles that the Germans can't have soldiers. German soldiers marched into Rhineland and France allowed them to take the land and they didn't even put up a fight. German citizens were very happy. -
Germany Allies with Italy
(Taking Austria)Germany allies with Itlay. The Prime Minister of Italy, Mussolini, now has German support for his evasions now. Also, Hitler can now follow up with the Anschluss, the union between Germnay and Austira. He can follow up with the plan of Anschluss because Mussolini already had a very strong mobile army and Hitler could use this for intimidation and attack toward the country of Austria. -
Hitler Meets With Austrian Prime Minister
(Taking Austria)Hitler meets with the Prime MInister of Austira, Kurt Von Schuschnigg, secretly. In this meeting, both men were screaming insults and threats at each other. Hitler wanted Austria to join Germany but Schuschnigg was not accepting. Hitler said that he would give him 3 days to change his mind. -
Hitler Takes Austria
(Taking Austria)Germany invaded Austria on March 11, 1938. Austria did not fight back and let them take the country. Germany actually set up a vote a few weeks later after the invasion about the Anschluss. After the results were tallied, 99.7% of the citizens were happy about the invasion. Nobody said anything Hitler broke the Treaty of Versailles, Germany can't have land that they used to have. He has thought that Poland was part of Germany already because he was born there so he took it. -
Hitler Takes Sudetenland
(Appeasing Hitler)Hitler wanted to invade an area in Czechoslovakia called Sudetenland due to the 3-million German speakers but the Czechs wouldn't allow it. The Czechs called for there allies France and Russia and tension was rising. Then, Mussolini called for a meeting with Germany, Britain, and France to resolve the issue but Russia was not invited. Britain and France appeased Hitler and allowed Germany to have Sudetenland, but it would be Germany's last conquest. The Czechs were very angry. -
Germany Takes All of Czechoslovakia
(Death Threats and Broken Promises)After taking Sudetenland, 10 months later, Germany takes all of Czechoslovakia. Even though he said that it would be his last conquest, he still took it over. Although he broke what the solution was in the meeting, World Leaders were very quiet and didn't say anything about it. As the same thing before with Hitler breaking the Treaty, they were bystanders and didn't do anything about it. They let him gain more power. -
Germany Declares War on Poland
(Targeting Poland)The Nazis took a group of Jewish prisoners from one of their concentration camps to a town on the border of Poland on August 31, 1939. The Nazis were dressed in Polish army uniforms and they killed the prisoners. The next morning, the German army and the SS marched into Poland and declared war for the killings of the prisoners even though Poland did not commit it. Citizens in Germany were not celebrating though, they were almost upset. The German citizens did not want war. -
Germany Takes Poland
(Conquests in the East)Poland surrenders to Germany. Germany now tries to make Poland into Germany by taking western and parts of central and southern Poland into a territory called Warthegau. Hitler then delcared that Poland would be called "The General Governent of Poland". After Poland's surrender, Hitler stuck to his plan and deported millions of Poles who were Jews and Gypsies to "Aryanize" the country. -
Germany Takes Most of Western Europe
(Conquests in the West)Germany now wants to take almost all of Europe. In April, the Nazis conquered the countires of Denmark and Norway. In May, they took over Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The largest conquer that they had was France in June. Now, the only country left was Britain and Britain had to fight alone. Countries now relieze that they were bystanders and appeased to Hitler so much that he gained enough power to take them over. They realize that they could of stopped him. -
Hitler Declares the Invasion of Russia
(The Invasion of Russia)Hitler declares that they will invade Russia to destroy all of the Jews. The German Army invaded Russia but 4 SS units also followed behind as well. Each unit had its own territory and their plan was to kill anybody who looked like they were the "enemy of the state". The Russian Jews had no idea that Germany was out to annahilate them. -
The United States Declare War on Japan
(The United States Enters the War)The United States declared war on Japan on December 8, 1941. The US did this in retaliation to the Japan bombing of Pearl Harbor the day before. Japan and Germany were allies at the time when this happened. The Japanese ambassador of Germany asked for Hitler's support. Hitler accepted the role of helping the Japenese ambassador but didn't have to because Japan made the USA delcare war on them. -
Germany Declares War on the United States
(The United States Enters the War)Hitler declared war on the US on December 11, 1941. Even though Hitler did not have to accept Japan's request for help, Hitler did not want to avoid a fight. By Hitler accepting this, he united Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States. The fight was on between Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States versus Japan, Germany, and Italy.
Hitler also accepted the war because if Japan lost, the US would be very weak so he could beat easily.
