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European Theater
Prelude & November 1942-May 1945
1913
1937
Treaty of Versailles
All sides felt that they had been forced to make concessions. France remained fearful of Germany. Britain, war weary, withdrew from Europe and focused on her Empire. Soviet Union seen as a hostile power internal reforms America returned to Isolationism. Resentment grew in Germany, Italy and Japan. States of former A-H too weak to oppose Germany
League of Nations
Created in 1920 U.S. Congress refuses to join. Germany admitted in 1926. Germany leaves 1933 (domestic/political). Japan leaves 1933. USSR Joins 1934. Italy leaves 1936. League proves ineffective in preventing war.
Hitlers Foreign Policy & Racial Ideology At home: Volksgemeinschaft peoples community Nuremburg Laws/Kristallnacht (German public: distasteful but tolerated) Hitlers Growing popularity 1933-1938 Pursued the destruction of Versailles Treaty via appeasement Hitler madman bent on world domination A War Forecasted in Mein Kampf? Gross Deutsches Reich unity of German people/lands Lebensraum (Karl Haushofer) Illegitimate states of the East The state of Russia The blockade of 1916-17 and the breadbasket of the East Aryan racial empire vs. Judeo-Bolshevism Germanys rightful place in a new world (racial) order Gross Deutsches Reich, British Empire, United States, Japan Hitlers Health
1. 1933 Withdrawal from the Disarmament Conference and the League of Nations
Hitlers offer to utterly and completely disarm if leading powers did the samerefused Hitler:
You see, all we want in Germany is to be restored to our rightful place in the international community. Equality, equitable treatment for Germany, to be restored as an equal partner in world affairs. But the victorious Allies of the First World War werent interested in that at all. Al they want to do is keep Germany in a position of subservience and their unwillingness to agree to this disarmament offer reveals the bad faith with which they have dealt ever since the Versailles conference.
3. March 1935 (1 week later) conscription to build army to 500,000 w/ full-scale armaments
No concerted action
4. Agreement with Britain to build German navy (including submarines) to 35% of the size of Britains Navy
Seen as betrayal to French
1937 Hitler discuss the likelihood of conflict Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, France, Britain
Objections by top command 2 front war Hitler felt he could avoid via diplomacy Faced with the reality of consequences of Eastward expansion
Crises of 1938
1. Austria
1934 repressed Austrian Nazi coup d etat (France, Britain, Italy) 1938 New Austrian P.M., Chancellor Schussnigg sought guarantees from European powers of state sovereignty in the face of Nazi take-over Hitler took as a violation of cooperative agreement signed in 1934 accuses Schussnig of repressing the Nazis in Austria Plebicite in Austria Hitler pressures an invitation into Vienna Declares Austria a part of Germany in his hometown of Linz Popular in Germany Gave rise to calls for annexation within Czech Sudatenland heim ins Reich
Crises of 1938
2. Czechoslovakia
Spring Mobilized troops for German invasion Hitler furious mistreatment of German minority Germans in Czech. Sudetenland provoking confrontation Alliance w/ France & then USSR WWI all over again?
Britain, France, Soviet Union make military plans
Munich Agreement Peace in our time. Neville Chamberlain Heros welcome Convinced Hitler/Stalin of Wests weakness 1938 Germans enter Sudetenland, dissolved Czechoslovakia (1939)
Appeasement Why?
France Defensive Maginot Line after withdrawal from Ruhr Abandoned by Britain (Anglo-German Naval Treaty) Compelled to accept reoccupation of Rhineland Weak internal coalition Britain
Saw France as bent on German punishment - Versailles too harsh Meet justified demands maintain air/naval strength War to be avoided at all costs Americans: unreliable, Soviets: untrustworthy
Appeasement Ends
August 31st, 1939: German SS Troops dress in Polish uniforms and attack a German Radio Station
-September 17th, 1939: Russia invades Poland from the East. -September 28th: Warsaw surrenders after suffering 18 days of continuous bombing. -Hitler immediately offers peace terms to France and Britain, but is turned down.
German troops stage a victory parade through the streets of Warsaw, Poland. September 1939
Nazi-Soviet Non Aggression Maginot Line Dunkirk Battle of Britain Greece/Crete Mistake Barbarossa
Casablanca
Montgomery Clark
8
Montgomery
Army Grp
8
21th Army Grp
Montgomery
5
Clark
8
21th Army Grp
Montgomery
2 1 9
Bradley
15
2 1 9 1 3 7 1
8
Clark
15
France
and the breaking of the Maginot Line
Blitzkrieg
Germany had invented a new form of warfare. Fast moving German Panzer Tank units, supported by dive bombers and infantry reserves, overwhelmed first Polish and then French forces.
France
Germany invaded The Netherlands and Belgium on 10 May, 1940. By 5 June both countries had been overrun. By 14 June German forces had entered Paris. On 21 June France formally surrendered.
Dunkirk June 14, 1940 Hitler calls off the German Army, Britain is able to evacuate most of its army.
Hitler Misstep
Hitler was afraid the army would gain too much credit and be a potential threat so he called off their attack at Dunkirk. The result was that the British were able to evacuate their army which allowed them to defend their home island.
Battle of Britain: Life on the Home Front London and other English cities suffered from German Bombing raids.
Hitler was upset that Berlin was bombed so he turned the Luftwaffe away from the successful raids on the airfields and radar installations and targeted British cities instead. Result: The RAF was able to recover and slowly drain the Luftwaffe of pilots and planes until the Germans withdrew.
Hitler Misstep
Hitler came to the aid of Mussolini when he was failing in his attempt to invade Greece on April 6, 1941. Result: The Balkan offensive tied up a large amount of men and supplies that could have been used in the Soviet invasion. As a result, the Germans lost almost a month of better fighting weather with the Balkan offensive. The later German invasion of the USSR was slowed by a harsh winter.
Ironically, Napoleon also attacked Russia on the same date and lost due to the severe winter and the vast land area. German soldiers suffer without proper winter gear. The USSR is an enormous country with many resources, population, and land area which makes it difficult to invade.
French Gen. Henri Giraud, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Gen. Charles de Gaulle and Winston Churchill. Roosevelt announced the "unconditional surrender" of Germany, Italy and Japan.
Casablanca Conference
US air attacks
Adolf Hitler, grimly inspects bomb damage in a German city in 1944.
D-Day
June 6, 1944 The United States, Great Britain, and Canada launch the largest amphibious invasion in history. Commanded by Dwight D. Eisenhower Germany failed to respond to the attack quickly enough.
Paris is liberated
As U.S. And British troops advanced from the west and south, Soviet forces attacked from the east. Germany was incapable of fighting on all fronts.
Bastogne: Nuts!
How to divide Germany after WWII? Did the allies give Eastern Europe over to the Soviets? Soviets agree to fight the Japanese and join the United Nations.
Yalta Conference
Feb - 1945
U.S. soldiers cross the Rhine River under heavy German fire.
U.S. Soldiers head toward the Apennine Mountains near Florence, Italy. April 9, 1945.
Fall of Fascism
Hitler ordered his Armies to fight to the death, and forbid any unit from retreating. The Allied advance was unstoppable. Germany turned to desperate measures.
As Russian troops entered Berlin in 1945 Hitler, his mistress, and his top aides committed suicide. German Generals quickly surrendered. May 8, 1945. VE Day.
Nuremberg Trials