1. World War II
Blitzkrieg

2. Appeasement
• giving in to aggressive demands to
maintain peace
• Timeline
– March 1936 – remilitarized the Rhineland
– March 1938 – Anschluss (annexation of
Austria)
– September 1938 – Munich
Conference/Sudeten Crisis (annexation of the
Sudetenland)

3. Agreements
• 1936 – Anti-Comintern Pact
– Germany & Japan
– 1937 – Italy
• 1938 – Munich Conference
• 1939 – German-Italian Alliance
• August 1939 – Non-Aggression Pact
– Germany & Soviet Union

6. Blitzkrieg
• “blitz” = lightning
• “krieg” = war
• September 1, 1939 – Invasion of Poland
– official start of WWII
• September 3 – Britain & France declare
war on Germany
• September 17 – Russia invades Poland
• October 6 – Poland surrenders

7. Blitzkrieg
• April 1940
– Denmark surrenders
– Norway surrenders
– Netherlands surrenders
• May 1940
– Belgium surrenders

9. Invasion of France
• May 1940 – invasion begins
• Evacuation @ Dunkirk
– 300,000+ Allied troops escape across the
English Channel
– Hitler’s 1st major blunder of WWII
• June 1940 – German army enters Paris
– Hitler – “This is the happiest day of my life.”
– June 22 – France surrenders
• Germany humiliates France

16. Battle of Britain
• July 1940 – October 1940
• Luftwaffe vs. RAF
• German goal
– soften up British defenses in preparation
for a land invasion
• Outcome
– German defeat, British victory
– Germany’s first defeat in WWII

17. Operation
Barbarossa
• Germany invades Russia
• June 22, 1941
• Hitler breaks the Non-Aggression Pact
• Soviets are poorly trained, ill-
equipped, and caught off guard
• German troops unprepared for weather
• easily the biggest blunder in Hitler’s
military and political career