1. WAR COMES TO
EUROPE
Essential Questions:
• How did World War II begin?
• What was the Munich Agreement?
• What was the Phony War?
• How did Paris fall?
• What was the Battle of Britain?
2. Austria
In 1937 Hitler met secretly with
his top military advisers
He declared that to grow and
prosper Germany needed the
land of its neighbors
His plan was to absorb Austria
and Czechoslovakia into the
Third Reich
Austria
In March 1938 Hitler marched
into Austria unopposed
Most Austrians were German who
favored unification
3. Czechoslovakia
Hitler began massing troops near the
Sudetenland
A mountainous region on the
western border of Czechoslovakia
France and England both declared
that they would protect
Czechoslovakia at all costs
When war seemed inevitable Hitler
invited French premier Daladier and
British Prime Minster Neville
Chamberlain to meet with him in
Munich
Hitler told them that
Czechoslovakia would be his “last
territorial demand”
The two leaders believed Hitler in
their desire to avoid war
4. The Munich Agreement
Munich Agreement was signed in
September 1938
Turned the Sudetenland over to
Germany without a single shot being
fired
Chamberlain returned to England from
Germany and declared that he had
come back from with “peace with
honor. I believe it is peace in our time”
Winston Churchill, Chamberlain’s
political, disagreed with the Munich
Agreement
Said it was a policy of
appeasement
Gave up principles to pacify an
aggressor
5. The German Offensive Begins
March 1939 Hitler moved into what
remained of Czechoslovakia
Hitler then looked toward Poland
Surprised many since Poland was
Russia’s neighbor
If Hitler attacked it might draw
Russia into the conflict
It would lead to a two front
war…exactly what exhausted
Germany in World War I
Tensions rose and suddenly Joseph
Stalin signed a nonaggression pact
with Hitler
The two committed to never attack
each other
They signed a secret pact agreeing
to split Poland between them
6. Invasion of Poland
September 1, 1939 the Luftwaffe
roared into Poland
Luftwaffe is the German air force
Bombed Polish
basses, airfields, railroads, & cities
At the same time German tanks raced
into the country
The first test of Germans military
strength and their Blitzkrieg strategy
Blitzkrieg means a “lightning war”
Utilized the element of surprise to
quickly crush opposition forces
Blitzkrieg worked and Poland fell
World War II officially commenced
7. The Phony War
After the fall of Poland French and British
troops sat on the Maginot Line
Fortifications on France’s eastern
border
They waited for something to happen
Phony War because nothing took
place
Russia
Stalin began annexing the Baltic states
of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and
Finland
Hitler
In April 1940 Hitler launched a surprise
invasion of Denmark and Norway
He said it was to protect their
“freedom”
He really wanted a place to build
bases so he could attack England
He then attacked the Netherlands,
Belgium, and Luxembourg
They fell by May
8. The Fall of Paris
France’s Maginot Line proved to be
ineffective
German army bypassed the line
Hitler's generals went through the
Ardennes
Region of wooded ravines in France
400,000 British and French soldiers fled to
the beaches of Dunkirk and evacuated to
England
Italy entered the war & invaded France
Germany closed in on Paris from the North
June 1940 Hitler gave French officials his
terms
French general, Charles de Gaulle, fled to
9. The Battle of Britain
Summer of 1940 Germany began to
assemble an invasion force along the
French coast
Luftwaffe began making bombing
runs over Britain
Goal was to gain control of skies
by destroying the Royal Air Force
(RAF)
Every night for two months German
bombers pounded London
First the Luftwaffe targeted airfields
and aircraft, and then they targeted
cities
The RAF fought back brilliantly
They used the new device called
radar to target the German Luftwaffe
