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Hitler joined a struggling group called the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, better known as the Nazi Party. He believed in Nazism. The Nazis had become the strongest political party in Germany.(1919-1932)
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Mussolini marched on Rome with thousands of his followers, whose black uniforms gave them the name “Black Shirts.” When important government officials, the army, and the police sided with the Fascists, the Italian king appointed Mussolini head of the government. Calling himself Il Duce, or “the leader,” Mussolini gradually extended Fascist control to every aspect of Italian life. Tourists marveled that Il Duce had even
“made the trains run on time.” -
Militarists launched a surprise attack and seized control of
the Chinese province of Manchuria. Militarists were fully incontrol of Japanese government. -
Hitler puplished this “to secure for the German people the
land and soil to which they are entitled on this earth,” even if this could be accomplished only by “the might of a victorious sword.” -
Many men who were out of work joined Hitler’s private army, the storm troopers (or Brown Shirts). The German people were desperate and turned to Hitler as their last hope.
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Hitler established the Third Reich, or Third German Empire. According to Hitler, the Third Reich there would be a “Thousand-Year Reich", it would last for a thousand years.
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Hitler began a military buildup in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. A year later, He sent troops into the Rhineland, a German region bordering France and Belgium that was demilitarized as a result of the Treaty of Versailles. The League did nothing to stop Hitler.
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Tens of thousands of Italian soldiers stood ready to advance on
Ethiopia.By May 1936, Ethiopia had fallen. -
Hitler sent troops into the Rhineland, a German region bordering France and Belgium that was demilitarized as a result of the Treaty of Versailles. The League did nothing to stop Hitler.
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Rebelling against the Spanish republic, Revolts broke out all
over Spain, and the Spanish Civil War began.3,000 Americans formed the Abraham Lincoln Battalion and traveled to Spain to fight against Franco. -
The war forged a close relationship between the German and Italian dictators, who signed a formal alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis.
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German troops marched intoAustria unopposed. A day later, Germany announced that its Anschluss, or “union,” with Austria was complete. The United States and the rest of the world did nothing.
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Daladier and Chamberlain signed the Munich Agreement, which turned the Sudetenland over to Germany without a single shot being fired
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By 1939, Stalin had firmly established a totalitarian government that tried to exert complete control over its citizens. In a totalitarian state, individuals have no rights, and the government suppresses all opposition.
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Stalin signed this with Hitler. Germany and communist Russia now committed never to attack each other. Germany and the Soviet Union also signed a second, secret pact, agreeing to divide Poland between them.
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German tanks raced across the Polish countryside, spreading terror and confusion. This invasion was the first test of Germany’s newest military strategy, the blitzkrieg, or lightning war. use of advances in military technology, such as fast tanks and more powerful aircraft, to take the enemy by surprise and then quickly crush all opposition with overwhelming force.
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Following the terror in Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany.Major fighting was over in three
weeks, long before France, Britain, and their allies could mount a defense. -
Hitler launched a surprise invasion of Denmark and Norway in order “to protect [those countries’] freedom and independence.” Hitler planned to build bases along the coasts to strike at Great Britain
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Hitler turned against the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, which were overrun by the end of May. The phony war had ended.
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French and British troops on the Maginot Line, a system of fortifications built along France’s eastern border, sat staring into Germany. On the Siegfried Line a few miles away German troops stared back
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The German offensive trapped almost 400,000 British and French soldiers as they fled to the beaches of Dunkirk on the French side of the English Channel. Italy entered the war on the side of
Germany and invaded France from the south as the Germans closed in on Paris from the north.France fell. -
Germans would occupy the northern part of France, and a Nazi-controlled puppet government, headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain, would be set up at Vichy, in southern France.
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Germans began to assemble an invasion fleet along the French coast.Its goal was to gain total control of the skies by destroying Britain’s Royal Air Force. 2,000 German planes ranged over Britain.
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The bomber was followed by more than 180 Japanese warplanes
launched from six aircraft carriers. The Japanese had killed 2,403 Americans and wounded 1,178 more.The surprise raid had sunk or damaged 21 ships, including 8 battleships.These losses constituted greater damage than the U.S. Navy had suffered in all of World War I. -
Hitler ordered submarine raids against ships along America’s east coast.In the first four months of 1942, the Germans sank 87 ships off the Atlantic shore. Seven months into the year, German wolf packs had destroyed a total of 681 Allied ships in the Atlantic.
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The situation looked so desperate that Soviet officers in Stalingrad recommended blowing up the city’s factories and abandoning the city. The Soviets lost a total of 1,100,000 soldiers. the Soviet army began to move westward toward Germany
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Convoys were groups of ships traveling together for mutual protection, as they had done in the First World War. The convoys were escorted across the Atlantic by destroyers equipped with sonar for detecting submarines underwater.
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the Allies gathered a force of nearly 3 million British, American, and Canadian troops, together with mountains of military equipment and supplies. three divisions
parachuted down behind German lines. They were followed
in the early morning hours by thousands upon thousands of seaborne soldiers—the largest land-sea-air operation in army history. -
Tanks drove 60 miles into Allied territory, creating a bulge in the lines that gave this desperate lastditch offensive.Germans swept westward, they captured 120 American GIs.The Germans had lost 120,000 troops, 600 tanks and assault guns, and 1,600 planes
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Truman became the nation’s 33rd president.
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Hitler shot himself while his new wife swallowed poison. Hitler’s orders, the two bodies were carried outside, soaked with gasoline, and burned.
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The Allies celebrated V-E Day—Victory in Europe Day. The war in Europe was finally over.
