Transcript Chapter 16 Section 1 Hitler’s Lightning War

Chapter 16 Section 1
Hitler’s Lightning War
Objective: Describe how
Germany overran much of
Europe & North Africa
Vocabulary: Nonaggression Pact,
Blitzkrieg, Charles de Gaulle, Winston
Churchill, Battle of Britain, Erwin
Rommel, & Atlantic Charter
Setting the Stage
• Hitler played on
the hopes & fears
of the Western
Democracies
• Each time Hitler
grabbed new territory,
he declared an end to
his demands
• Hitler finally turned
his eyes on Poland
Germany Sparks a New War in Empire
• Soviet leader Joseph Stalin
signed a ten-year
nonaggression pact with
Hitler
• After being excluded from the
Munich Conference, Stalin
wasn’t eager to ally with the
West
• In secret, Germany & the
Soviet Union agreed to
divide Poland between
them
• Hitler also agreed that the USSR
could take over Finland & the
Baltic countries
Germany’s Lightning Attack
• Hitler attacked Poland on
September 1st, 1939
• Germany aircraft & artillery began
merciless bombing Poland’s capital,
Warsaw
• France & Great Britain declared
war on Germany on September
3rd
• However, Poland will fall before they
are able to send any aid
• Blitzkrieg: “lightening war” – a
form of warfare in which
surprise attacks with fast
moving airplanes are followed
by massive attacks with infantry
The Soviets Make Their Move
• Stalin sent Soviet
troops to occupy the
eastern half of Poland
on September 17th
• Stalin then moved to annex
the Baltic countries
• Finland resisted until
March 1940
• The Finns were
outnumbered & outgunned
• Soldiers on skis swiftly
attacked Soviet positions
The Phony War
• French & Britain had mobilized
their armies along the Maginot
Line
• The Germans lined up a few
miles away along the Siegfried
Line
• People called it the sitting war or
the phony war
• However, the calm ended on
April 9th, 1940
• Hitler attacked Denmark &
Norway, allowing him to set
up bases to attack Britain
The Fall of France
• In May of 1940, Hitler swept
through Netherlands,
Belgium, & Luxembourg
• Hitler sent larger forces of
tanks through the Ardennes
• The Germans trapped the
Allied forces
• The Allies retreated to the
beaches of Dunkirk
• 850 ships (Navy Ships,
along with civilians)
joined the rescue effort of
the Allied forces
France Falls
• June 22nd 1940, France fell to
the Germans
• The Germans split France in half
• They took control of the northern
half & implemented a puppet
government in the south
• Charles de Gaulle: a French
general set up a governmentin-exile in London
• De Gaulle organized the Free
French military forces that fought
until France was liberated
The Battle of Britain
• Winston Churchill: prime
minister of Britain declared
he would never give up
• Hitler planned on invading Great
Britain by knocking out the Royal
Air Force
• Germany began bombing civilian
cities, like London
• Radar & enigma helped Britain
stay strong
• Battle of Britain: consisting
bombing of Britain from
September 1940 until May
1941, Hitler’s attacks were
finally blocked
The Mediterranean & the Eastern Front
• Germany’s first objective in the
Mediterranean region was North
Africa
• Mussolini wanted to take control
of the Suez Canal, which would
the Axis powers access to oil
fields
• Hitler had to send General
Erwin Rommel to help the
defend Italians in North
Africa
• Rommel was pushed back but
regrouped & pushed the British
back
The War in the Balkans & Soviet Union
• To prepare for his invasion of the
USSR, Hitler moved to expand his
influence in the Balkans
• Some countries joined his forces while
others in invaded
• June 22 1941, Germany invaded
the Soviet Union
• As the Soviet Union, retreated they
burned the land behind them
• Leningrad, completely surrounded by
the Germans refused to surrender
• Germany turned towards
Moscow, however when the
temperatures fell & the Germans
weren’t equipped for it, &
couldn’t advance
The United States Aids Its Allies
• Even though the US wanted to stay
neutral, they knew if the Allies fell,
the Axis powers would attack them
next
• Lend-Lease Act: the president
can lend or lease arms &
other supplies to any country
vital to the US
• Hitler stated he would sink any
cargo ship found in enemy waters
• Atlantic Charter: meeting
between Churchill & FDR
outlining the Allied plans for
peace at the end of World
War II