Germany

At the beginning of the 1930s, Adolf Hitlers Nazi Party exploited the discontent in Germany to attract popular and
political support. There was resentment at the crippling territorial, military and economic terms of the Versailles
Treaty, which Hitler blamed on treacherous politicians and promised to overturn. Hitler pledged civil peace, radical
economic policies, and the restoration of national pride and unity. Nazi rhetoric was virulently nationalist and antiSemitic. The subversive Jews were portrayed as responsible for all of Germanys ills. In March 1933, the Nazis
used intimidation and manipulation to pass the Enabling Act, which allowed them to pass laws which did not need to
be voted on in the Reichstag. Over the next year, the Nazis eliminated all remaining political opposition, banning the
Social Democrats, and forcing the other parties to disband. In July 1933, Germany was declared a one-party state.
In the Night of the Long Knives of June 1934, Hitler ordered the Gestapo and the SS to eliminate rivals within the
Nazi Party. Hitlers first moves to overturn the Versailles settlement began with the rearmament of Germany, and in
1936 he ordered the remilitarization of the Rhineland. Germanys territorial expansion eastwards was motivated by
Hitlers desire to unite Germanspeaking peoples, and also by the concept of the idea of providing Aryan Germans
with living space.
By the end of 1938, Jewish lynching erupted across Germany and Austria. In March 1939, Germany seized the
remainder of Czechoslovakia; in August Hitler signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact of non-aggression with the USSR. The
next step would be the invasion of Poland and the coming of World War II.
Generals
Army:
Erwin Rommel The Desert Fox General field marshal, commander of the 7 th Panzer Division also known as Ghost
division, he and his Afrika Korps never were accused of war crimes and despite having orders of execute captured
enemy commandos and Jewish civilians or soldiers were ignored.
Heinrich Himmler: formed the Einsatzgruppen and built the extermination camps, he directed the killing of some six
million Jews, he is responsible for killing 14 million people
Luftwaffe
Albert Kesselring was a German Luftwaffe General field marshal during World War II. Nicknamed "Smiling Albert"
by the Allies and "Uncle Albert" by his troops, he was one of the most popular generals of World War II with the rank
and file.
Kurt Student: was a German Luftwaffe general who fought as a fighter pilot during the First World War and as the
commander of German paratroopers during the Second World War.
Kriegsmarine :
Eric Reader a naval leader in Germany who played a major role in the naval history of World War II. Raeder
attained the highest possible naval rank that of Grand Admiral Raeder led the Kriegsmarine for the first half of the
war; he resigned in 1943 and was replaced by Karl Dnitz
Karl Donitz after the death of Adolf Hitler and in accordance with Hitler's last will and testament, Dnitz was named
Hitler's successor as Head of State, with the title of President and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. On 7
May 1945, he ordered General Alfred Jodl to sign the German instruments of surrender in Rheims, France.

France

They surrendered
The Maginot Line was a line of concrete fortifications, obstacles, and weapons installations as response to
France's experience in World War I and was constructed during the run-up to World War II

Army
Charles Andr Joseph Marie de Gaulle Defied French state by vowing to continue fighting after the French
surrender. He headed with de Tassigny the Free French Forces, who assisted the Allies in the liberation of France in
1944
Maurice Gustave Gamelin was a French general. Gamelin is remembered for his unsuccessful command of the
French military during the Battle of France

Navy
Jean Louis Xavier Franois Darlan was a French Admiral and political figure. He was Admiral of the Fleet and
commander in chief of the French Navy in 1939 at the beginning of World War II