The Lead up to World War Two

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  • The Lead up to World War Two
    • Hitler's Aggression
      • After becoming Chancellor, Hitler began the process of rearmament. In 1935 he announced that he was going to expand the Navy and Air force. By 1936 the army had hundreds of thousands of soldiers, far more than was agreed at Versailles.
      • In 1936, German troops marched into the Rhineland- a demilitarised zone) near the French-German border. It contained most of Germany's coal and factories.
      • In 1936, Hitler made alliances with Italy and Japan.
      • In 1938 Hitler united Austria and Germany- which was illegal under the Versailles treaty. he claimed it was a peaceful union but this is not true.
      • In 1938, Hitler invaded Sudetenland (a German speaking part of Czechoslovak-ia).
      • In March 1939, Hitler invaded the rest of czechoslovaki-a.
    • Allies response to Hitler
      • Britain and France began building up their own armies, but did not stop Germany from doing the same even though it was not allowed under Versailles.
      • In 1935, Britain signed the Anglo-German Naval Agreement which allowed Germany to expand its fleet.
      • The British did not think Germany was doing anything wrong by marching its soldiers into its own land. France however, did not feel the same and wanted to take action.
      • The Allies could not stop Hitler making alliances as he wasn't doing anything wrong.
      • The Austrians asked the allies for help to keep the country safe from Germany. The Allies did not help.
      • Britain and France let Germany take Sudetenland to avoid war. However, they told Hitler he was not allowed to inavde the rest of Czechoslovak-ia
      • The Allies did nothing when Hitler invaded Czechoslovak-ia but said they would take action if Poland was invaded.
    • The Invasion of Poland
      • On 1st September 1939, German troops marched into Poland.
      • The Allies had to act and declared war or Germany.
      • The Allies
        • Britain (the Empire and Commonweal-th)
        • France
        • The USSR (from June 1941)
        • The USA (from December 1941)
      • The Triple Axis
        • Germany
        • Italy
        • Japan
      • Initially the USSR had signed a pact with Germany and invaded Poland alongside them. However, Russia joined the allies when Germany invaded in 1941 in Operation Barbarossa.
      • The first months of war did not involve much fighting. Germany did not invade France until May 1940.
      • The US did not join the war until Japan bombed Pearl Harbour in 1941.
    • A Global War
      • The Western Theatre: France, Britain, Germany and the Netherlands. The D-Day Landings and Battle of Britain.
      • The Eastern Theatre: Poland, Russia, the Balkans and Eastern Europe. Intense fighting here when Germany invaded Russia.
      • The Pacific Theatre: Japan, China, the USA. British territories including, Burma, Singapore, Hongkong.
      • The North African Theatre: German and Italian forces fought Britain, France and America for control of Egypt and the Suez Canal
      • The Mediterranea-n Theatre: Italy, Malta, Greece. Italy surrendered in September 1943.
      • The Atlantic Theatre: German U Boats tried to stop supplies reaching Britain by sea.

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