HITLERS

LIGHTNING
WAR

GERMANY STARTS A
NEW WAR
Nonaggression Pact
Stalin (USSR) and Hitler
(Germany)
Agreed to not attack
each other
Divide Poland

GERMANYS
LIGHTNING ATTACK
Germany surprise attacked Poland in 1939
Lightning Attack
German warplanes invaded Polish airspace, dropped bombs on
Poles
Tanks and trucks with more than 1.5 million German soldiers into
Poland
Invasion of Poland started WWII

LIGHTNING WAR
German invasion = blitzkrieg lightning war
Using fast moving planes and tanks, take enemy by
surprise
Crush opposition with overwhelming force

ATTACK ON POLAND
Blitzkrieg in Poland
Poland fell to Germany
France and GB joined war but too late to save Poland
Germany annexed western Poland

ALLIANCES IN WORLD
WAR II
Allied
Powers/Grand
Alliance
U.S.
Great Britain,
Soviet Union
Main enemy =
Nazi Germany

ALLIANCES IN WORLD
WAR II
Axis Powers
Germany
Italy
Japan

THE PHONY WAR

After fall of Poland, 7 months of no fighting
France and GB put troops on Maginot Line
Frances border with Germany
Allied and Germany soldiers just stared at each other across
this line
Phony War
Ended with German attack on Denmark and Norway

The Maginot Line

FRANCE FALLS TO
GERMANY
French troops attempted to fight
Fall of Belgium made it difficult to win
Italys Benito Mussolini joined Hitler
Italy attacked France from south
Germany controlled northern France
Southern France had puppet government

CHARLES DE GAULLE
French general
Fled to London
Set up government-in-exile committed to reconquering
France
Battled Nazis until France was liberated in 1944

GERMANY ATTACKS
GREAT BRITAIN
Hitlers Operation Sea Lion
Take out the RAF (Royal Air Force) and put 250,000 German
soldiers in England
Began bombing GB in summer of 1940
Battle of Britain
Lasted until May 1941
Radar and Enigma (German code-making machine) helped
British
Hitler eventually called off attacks
Demonstrated that Hitler could be blocked

GERMANY AND ITALY

ATTACK NORTH AFRICA
Italy wanted Britishcontrolled Egypt
Suez Canal in Egypt
important in reaching oil
fields in Middle East
N. Africa fell to Axis Powers

WAR IN THE BALKANS

Hitler wanted to invade Russia
Took over Bulgaria, Romania,
Hungary, Yugoslavia and Greece

HITLER INVADES
SOVIET UNION
Operation Barbarossa
Blitzkrieg attack
Russians used scorched earth policy
Germans marched to Moscow in winter
No retreat! order by Hitler
Similar fate as Napoleons troops in Russian winter

THE UNITED STATES HELP

ITS ALLIES
Illegal to sell weapons or lend money to nations at war
President Roosevelt knew if Allies fell, the U.S. would be drawn
into the war
Neutrality Act - convinced Congress to let the Allies buy American
weapons

Lend-Lease Act
President could lend or lease weapons and other supplies to any
country vital to the U.S.

THE ATLANTIC
CHARTER
Roosevelt and Churchill
Free trade among countries
Right of people to choose their own
government