2. The context
• End of 1st World War: Europe faced
humiliations (Italy + Germany) +
insatisfaction + unresolved
imperialist problems.
• The 1929 crisis together with social
agitation made Fascist movements
grow.
3. The Treat of Versailles and Adolf
Hitler
• The peace treaty of
Versailles formally
ended the 1st World
War.
• It forbade Germany to
maintain a large army,
but the German
Chancellor Adolf Hitler
ignored this treaty
and ordered a rapid
expansion and re-
arming of Germany’s
armed forces.
• Hitler wanted to
revenge the
humiliating defeat
Germany faced in
1918.
4. Hitler’s arguments
• Hitler preached to the German masses
that he would lead them in building a
proud new Germany, a Third Reich that
would last a 1000 years.
5. 1933 – Hitler in the power
• Criticism to Versailles because
Germany didn’t take part in it
(Diktat – it was imposed).
• Lebensraum (Space of Life) “The
German Reich needs more space in
order to grow”
• Armamentism. This fact wasn’t
stopped by England and France.
6. 1936:
1. Intervention on the Spanish
Civil War,
2. Formation of the Axis (Italy,
German and Japan)
1938
1. Annexation of Austria,
2. Sudetes (Czechoslovakia) -
Mountain area where the
population was of Germanic
origin. France and England
agree with it if
Czechoslovakia is protected.
1939:
1. German conquers the whole
Czechoslovakia. England and
France finally notice the Nazi
threat
2. Hitler demands the
annexation of Dantzig,
Poland. England and France
don’t accept this.
Hitler and Stalin. Back in Russia,
Stalin was promoting his Great
Purge against any one who was
suspected of being against his
regime. This included repression,
imprisonment and arbitrary
executions.
7.
8. The hatred for Jews
• After the 1st World
War, Germany
faced a crisis.
Much bankers were
from that origin.
Masking his hatred
for them, Hitler
blamed them for
the economical
crisis that took
place.
• The German people
believed in it and
followed this, thus
promoting a racist
wave against Jews.
• During the war,
they were led to
concentration
camps, where they
were murdered in
gas chambers.
9.
10. “A Greater Germany”
• In 1938, Hitler
ordered the
annexation of
the Austria and
part of
Czechoslovakia
while ignoring
the feeble
diplomatic
protests of
Britain and
France.
11. August 1939: Molotov–Ribbentrop
Pact
• Non-aggression pact between the Nazi
German and the USSR.
• Germany doesn’t want to fight in two
fronts.
• Soviet Union Stalin’s response to the
Franco-British policy on putting
Germany against the Soviet Union.
Also, Stalin needed time to reorganize
the leadership the command of the
troops after problems caused by the
Great Purge.
12.
13. September 1st 1939
• On this day, Poland begins to be invaded by
Nazi Germany, Slovakia, and the Soviet Union.
• The German invasion happened one week
after the Molotov-Ribbentrap pact was signed.
• The Soviet invasion began on September 17th
1939.
• On October 6th 1939 this campaign ended.
Germany and the Soviet Union divided and
annexed the whole territory of Poland.
• With the invasion of Poland, Britain and France
declared war on Germany. However, for many
months the Western front remained quiet.
14.
15.
16. • 1940:
The German unleashed their Blitzkrieg once again
with furious attacks on Denmark, Norway,
Holland, Belgium and finally France.
Within a few weeks the Germans had conquered
the Low Countries and much of Scandinavia
and had smashed the combined French and
British armies opposing them in France. The
British forces, together with part of the French
army, retreated to the coastal city of Dunkirk in
northwestern France, where they anxiously
waited on the beach to be evacuated across the
English Channel to safety in Britain.
17.
18. After the war
• The situation of the
British army after
Dunkirk was
precarious. Large
quantities of military
equipment had been
lost in France and
the home defense
forces found
themselves with old,
outdated weapons.
• The British navy
maintained control
of the English
Channel, but in spite
of that the threat of
invasion was very
real, as the German
army assembled its
forces along the
French coast and
began collecting
invasion barges.
19. • The best defense
the British had was
the voice of the
indomitable
Winston Churchill,
whose speeches in
the Parliament and
on radio lifted the
people’s morale
and strengthened
their determination
to resist the Nazi
onslaught.
20. Instead of trying to invade immediately, however,
Hitler decided to send his air force across the
Channel to destroy the Royal Air Force (the RAF).
With control of the air, Hitler hoped to be able to
cross the Channel in spite of the presence of the
British navy.
Once more, Churchill urged the British people to
stand firm.
22. •Son of aristocratic father and American mother, born in 1874. He
studied at the British military academy (Sandhurst) and in 1895
began a career as an officer in the British army
•While in South Africa covering the Boer War as a journalist, he was
captured, but escaped from the camp. This fact caught the attention
of the British people and put Churchill in the public spotlight for the
first time
•Stood for Parliament in 1900 and won a seat as a member for
Oldham (large town in Greater Manchester, England). Served in the
government for the next fifty-five years
•Elected as a Prime Minister during the most difficult days of the war
for the British. As Prime Minister, he proved to be an inspirational in a
time of great crisis and a brilliant world statesman
•He convinced the American people of the danger posed by A. Hitler
by his powerful oratory
•Helped to forge the “Big Three”, alliance of Great Britain, the USA
and the Soviet Union in spite of the strong ideological differences
between them
•Led his people from their “darkest hour” after Dunkirk (Battle of
Dunkirk was the defense and evacuation of British and allied forces in
Europe from 26 May to 4 June 1940) to the final victory over Nazi
Germany in 1945
23. •Shortly after he was defeated when trying to be re-
elected as a Prime Minister. The British people were tired
of war and voted against the man who symbolized the
sacrifices of “blood, toil, tears and sweat” that they
wished to be free from now that peace had come
•Suffered a series of strokes from 1949 to 1956.
•In 1951, however, partly as a tribute to their aging
wartime hero, the British people called on Churchill to
serve as their Prime Minister once more. This second
term as a Prime Minister lasted until 1955, when Churchill
retired from public life
•In 1953 he won the Nobel Prize of Literature
•In 1965 (at the advanced age of 91), he became ill and
underwent an operation (which he named “Operation
Hope Not”). In spite of all his doctors’ efforts, he fell into
a coma. Struggling a few more days for his life, Churchill
died quietly on his bed on Sunday 24 January 1965
24. “This was their finest hour” speech given just over a
month after he took over as Prime Minister of the United
Kingdom at the head of an all-party Coalition
government.
25. “History of the Second World War”
•Based on notes he’d kept during his first term as Prime
Minister
•This book has been issued in editions of six, twelve and
four volumes
•Churchill wrote the book, with a team of assistants,
using both his own notes and privileged access to official
documents while still working as a politician; the text was
vetted by the Cabinet Secretary. Churchill was largely fair
in his treatment, but wrote the history from his personal
point of view. He was unable to reveal all the facts, as
some, such as the use of Ultra electronic intelligence, had
to remain secret. From a historical point of view the book
is therefore an authoritative memoir by a leading
participant in the direction of the war
