WWII the Early Years

WWII The Early Years

German Aggressiveness and Allied Appeasement Mussolini attacks Ethiopia Late 1800s Italy tried to establish Ethiopia as a ______Ended in humiliating defeat for ______Many Italians bitter about defeat and wanted revenge Italy conquered Ethiopia League of Nations response: ______

Hitler Defies the Treaty of Versailles 1) 2) Rebuilds Navy with British approval thanks to ______3)

US Reaction

Great Britain and France’s Reaction

Hitler Continues Expansion and Defiance of Treaty (goal: unite ALL ethnic Germans) 3) Anschluss – 4) Sudetenland – part of Czechoslovakia with many German speaking people Czechoslovakia turned to Britain and France for help At the ______GB and France agreed to give Hitler Sudetenland to avoid war (example of ______) 5) 6 months later Hitler took over all of Czechoslovakia and Albania 6) Search for alliances ______– Mussolini (Italy) and Hitler (Germany) Nazi Soviet Nonaggression Pact

7) Hitler demanded the Polish give him Poland Hitler used ______(lightening war) – massive air and land strike Polish fought but not match for German military and technology GB and France declared war on ______once Hitler pushed into Poland Not enough time to mobilize to save Poland Phoney War (Winter 1939-1940) Allied Strategy - Period of Inactivity Germany was planning how to attack France – decided to go through ______Allies had massive troop levels to the north of the Ardennes along Belgium and France border French/ German border protected by bunkers and fortresses called the ______Allied forces did not have forces along Ardennes bc thought to treacherous for Germany to attack there – they were ______Phoney War ended when ______

Hitler Takes France May 1940 German troops swept though ______and ______While France’s attention on the North, Hitler sent troops through Ardennes German troops able to trap Allied forces in Northern France Allies rescued at the port city of ______By June France had surrendered German occupied much of France The unoccupied part of France was known as ______Vichey France was ruled by officials who obeyed Hitler French General ______fled to Great Britain to organize resistance to Hitler He created ______and battled Hitler until France’s liberation

Battle for Britain Hitler then focused his attention on Great Britain He used the ______to try and take out the British Royal Air Force Hitler did not sense easy victory so turned sights to Eastern Europe and ______

Axis Powers 1940 Japan formed a military alliance with Germany and Italy

Balkans (Eastern Europe) Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary joined Axis Powers in 1941 ______and ______resisted so Hitler invaded

Hitler Invades the Soviet Union Soviets unprepared for attack due to ______Not equipped or trained despite warnings from Allies that Hitler was going East Germany reached ______miles inside Soviet Union In September they surrounded the city of Leningrad ______died that winter alone ______civilians died in battle for Leningrad Leningrad would not surrender so Hitler turned attention to ______(capital) Germans advanced to outskirts of Moscow where they met counterattack and winter Germans retreated due to being unprepared for ______Hitler ordered them to not retreat so Germans held line ____ miles outside the city