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Mein Kampf
In Mein Kampf, Hitler set forth the basic beliefs of
Nazism that became the plan of action for the Nazi Party. Nazism
the German brand of fascism, was based on extreme nationalism. Hitler, who had
been born in Austria, dreamed of uniting all German-speaking people in a great
German empire. -
Benito Mussolini's fascist government in Italy
By 1921, Mussolini had established the Fascist
Party. Fascism stressed nationalism and
placed the interests of the state above those of individuals.
To strengthen the nation, Fascists argued, power
must rest with a single strong leader and a small group
of devoted party members. -
Japanese invasion of Manchuria
Ignoring the protests of more moderate
Japanese officials, the militarists launched a surprise attack and seized control of
the Chinese province of Manchuria in 1931. Within several months, Japanese
troops controlled the entire province, a large region about twice the size of Texas,
that was rich in natural resources. -
Storm Troopers
Many men who
were out of work joined Hitler’s private army, the storm troopers.
The German people were desperate and turned to Hitler as their last hope. -
Third Reich
. Once in power,
Hitler quickly dismantled Germany’s democratic Weimar Republic. In its place he
established the Third Reich, or Third German Empire. According to Hitler, the Third
Reich would be a “Thousand-Year Reich”—it would last for a thousand years. -
Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany
In January 1933, Hitler was appointed chancellor. Once in power,
Hitler quickly dismantled Germany’s democratic Weimar Republic. In its place he
established the Third Reich, or Third German Empire. -
Hitler's military build-up in Germany
In 1935, 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. -
Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia
Mussolini began building his new Roman
Empire, his first target was Ethiopia. By the fall of 1935, tens
of thousands of Italian soldiers stood ready to advance on
Ethiopia. The League of Nations reacted with brave talk
When the invasion began, the League’s
response was an ineffective economic boycott—little more
than a slap on Italy’s wrist. By May 1936, Ethiopia had fallen.
In desperation, Haile Selassie, the ousted Ethiopian
emperor, appealed to the League for assistance. -
Hitler invades the Rhineland
In 1936, he sent troops into
the Rhineland, a German region bordering France and Belgium that was demilitarized
as a result of the Treaty of Versailles. T -
Francisco Franco
In 1936, a group of
Spanish army officers led by General Francisco Franco,
rebelled against the Spanish republic. Revolts broke out all
over Spain, and the Spanish Civil War began. -
Hitler's Anschluss
On March 12, 1938, German troops marched into
Austria 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 -
Munich Agreement
Just when war seemed inevitable, Hitler invited French
premier Édouard Daladier and British prime minister Neville Chamberlain to
meet with him in Munich. When they arrived, the führer declared that the
annexation of the Sudetenland would be his “last territorial demand.” In their
eagerness to avoid war, Daladier and Chamberlain chose to believe him. On
September 30, 1938, they signed the Munich Agreement, which turned the
Sudetenland over to Germany without a single shot being fired. -
Joseph Stalin's totalitarian government in the Soviet Union
Soviet society.
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. -
Rome-Berlin Axis
The war forged a close
relationship between the German and Italian dictators, who
signed a formal alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis.
After a loss of almost 500,000 lives, Franco’s victory in 1939
established him as Spain’s fascist dictator. Once again a
totalitarian government ruled in Europe -
Blitzkrieg
In 1939 the German
Luftwaffe, or German air force, roared over Poland, raining bombs on military
bases, airfields, railroads, and cities. This invasion was the first
test of Germany’s newest military strategy, the blitzkrieg, or lightning war.
Blitzkrieg made 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 -
Phony war
French and British troops on the Maginot Line, a system of fortifications
built along France’s eastern border, sat
staring into Germany, waiting for something to happen. On the
Siegfried Line a few miles away German troops stared back. The
blitzkrieg had given way to what the Germans called the sitzkrieg, and what some newspapers referred to as the
phony war -
Nonaggression pact
As tensions rose over Poland, Stalin surprised everyone by signing a
nonaggression pact with Hitler. Once bitter enemies, on August 23, 1939 fascist
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. With the danger of a two-front war eliminated, the
fate of Poland was sealed. -
Britain and France declare war on Germany
On September 3, two days following the terror
in Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany.
In the
last week of fighting, the Soviet Union attacked Poland from the east, grabbing
some of its territory. The portion Germany annexed in western Poland contained
almost two-thirds of Poland’s population. By the end of the month, Poland had
ceased to exist—and World War II had begun. -
Hitler's invasion of Denmark and Norway
Suddenly, on April 9, 1940, Hitler launched a surprise invasion
of Denmark and Norway in order “to protect [those countries’] freedom
and independence.” But in truth, Hitler planned to build bases along the
coasts to strike at Great Britain. Next, Hitler turned against the Netherlands,
Belgium, and Luxembourg, which were overrun by the end of May. The phony
war had ended. -
Hitler's invasion of the Netherlands
Hitler turned against the Netherlands,
Belgium, and Luxembourg, which were overrun by the end of May. The phony
war had ended. -
Marshal Philippe Petain
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 -
The Battle of Britain
In the summer of 1940, the
Germans began to assemble an invasion fleet along the
French coast. Because its naval power could not compete
with that of Britain, Germany also launched an air war at
the same time. The Luftwaffe began making bombing runs over Britain. Hitler
had 2,600 planes at his disposal. On a single day—August
15—approximately 2,000 German planes ranged over
Britain.
At first the Luftwaffe concentrated on airfields and aircraft.
Next it targeted cities. -
Germany and Italy's invasion of France
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. On June 22,
1940, at Compiègne, as William Shirer and the rest of the
world watched, Hitler handed French officers his terms of
surrender. 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. -
Lend-Lease Act
Roosevelt compared his plan to lending a garden hose to a neighbor whose
house was on fire. He asserted that this was the only sensible thing to do to prevent
the fire from spreading to your own property. Isolationists argued bitterly
against the plan, but most Americans favored it, and Congress passed the LendLease
Act in March 1941 -
Battle of Stalingrad
The Germans had been fighting in the Soviet
Union since June 1941. In November 1941, the bitter cold had stopped them in
their tracks outside the Soviet cities of Moscow and Leningrad. When spring
came, the German tanks were ready to roll.
In the summer of 1942, the Germans took the offensive in the southern
Soviet Union. Hitler hoped to capture Soviet oil fields in the Caucasus Mountains.
He also wanted to wipe out Stalingrad, a major industrial center on the Volga
River. -
Korematsu v. United States
Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7,
1941, U.S. military officials argued that Japanese Americans posed a threat to the nation’s
security. Based on recommendations from the military, President Franklin Roosevelt
issued Executive Order 9066, which gave military officials the power to limit the civil
rights of Japanese Americans. Fred Korematsu was convicted of defying the military order to leave his
home. -
Pearl Harbor Attack
A Japanese dive-bomber swooped low over Pearl Harbor—
the largest U.S. naval base in the
Pacific. The bomber was followed by
more than 180 Japanese warplanes
launched from six aircraft carriers.
For an hour and a half, the
Japanese planes were barely disturbed
by U.S. antiaircraft guns and
blasted target after target. By the
time the last plane soared off around
9:30 A.M., the devastation was
appalling. -
Battle of the Atlantic
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hitler
ordered submarine raids against ships along America’s east coast. The German
aim in the Battle of the Atlantic was to prevent food and war materials from
reaching Great Britain and the Soviet Union. Britain depended on supplies from
the sea. The 3,000-milelong
shipping lanes from
North America were her
lifeline. Hitler knew that
if he cut that lifeline,
Britain would be starved
into submission. -
Manhattan Project
Roosevelt responded by creating an Advisory Committee on Uranium to study
the new discovery. In 1941, the committee reported that it would take from three
to five years to build an atomic bomb. Hoping to shorten that time, the OSRD set
up an intensive program in 1942 to develop a bomb as quickly as possible. Because
much of the early research was performed at Columbia University in Manhattan,
the Manhattan Project became the code name for research work that extended
across the country. -
Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps
The military’s work force
needs were so great that Army Chief of Staff General
George Marshall pushed for the formation of a Women’s
Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC). “There are innumerable
duties now being performed by soldiers that can be done
better by women,” Marshall said in support of a bill to
establish the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps. Under this
bill, women volunteers would serve in noncombat positions. -
internment
confinement, of 1,444 Japanese Americans, 1 percent
of Hawaii’s Japanese-American population. -
Operation Torch
an invasion of Axis-controlled North Africa, commanded by
American General Dwight D. Eisenhower. -
U.S. convoy system
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. They were also
accompanied by airplanes that used radar to spot U-boats on the ocean’s surface.
With this improved tracking, the Allies were able to find and destroy German Uboats
faster than the Germans could build them. -
Unconditional Surrender
Even before the battle in North Africa was won,
Roosevelt, Churchill, and their commanders met in Casablanca. At this meeting,
the two leaders agreed to accept only the unconditional surrender of the Axis powers.
That is, enemy nations would have to accept whatever terms of peace the Allies
dictated. The two leaders also discussed where to strike next. Churchill, thought it would be safer to first attack Italy. -
Bloody Anzio
Hitler was determined to stop the Allies in Italy
rather than fight on German soil. One of the hardest battles the Allies encountered
in Europe was fought less than 40 miles from Rome. This battle, “Bloody
Anzio,” lasted until the end of May 1944—and left about 25,000
Allied and 30,000 Axis casualties. During the year after Anzio, German armies
continued to put up strong resistance. The effort to free Italy did not succeed until
1945, when Germany itself was close to collapse. -
D-Day
The Allied invasion, code-named Operation Overlord,
was originally set for June 5, but bad weather forced a
delay. Banking on a forecast for clearing skies, Eisenhower
gave the go-ahead for D-Day—June 6, 1944, the first day
of the invasion. Shortly after midnight, 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. -
The Battle of the Bulge
On December 16, under cover of dense fog, eight
German tank divisions broke through weak American
defenses along an 80-mile front. Hitler hoped that a victory
would split American and British forces and break up Allied
supply lines. Tanks drove 60 miles into Allied territory,
creating a bulge in the lines that gave this desperate last ditch
offensive its name, the Battle of the Bulge. -
Death of Hitler
In Berlin, Hitler prepared
for the end. He wrote out his last
address to the German people.
In it he blamed the Jews for
starting the war and his generals
for losing it. “I die with a
happy heart aware of the
immeasurable deeds of our
soldiers at the front. I myself
and my wife choose to die in
order to escape the disgrace of
. . . capitulation,” he said. Hitler and his wife killed themselves.
The two bodies
were carried outside, soaked
with gasoline, and burned. -
V-E Day
General Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender of
the Third Reich. On May 8, 1945, the Allies celebrated V-E Day—Victory in
Europe Day. The war in Europe was finally over.
