Germany’s WWII story 1919-1945
Ein Volk, Ein reich, ein fuhrer
One people, one empire, one leader
Fuhrer- Leader
Swastika- it was a peace sign borrowed from egypt and india
Axis powers- Germany, italy, japan.
Treaty of Versailles- June 28, 1919
Territorial
The following land was taken away from germany
Alsace-lorraine (given to france)
Eupen and malmedy (given to belgium)
Northern schleswig (given to denmark)
Hultschin (given to czechoslovakia)
West prussia, posen and upper silesia (given to poland)
The league of nations also took control of germany’s overseas colonies
Germany had to return to russia land taken in the treaty of brest-litovsk
Some of this land was made into new states:estonia, lithuania and latvia. An enlarged poland also received some of this land.
Military
Germany’s army was reduced to 100,000 men;
German army was not allowed tanks
Germany was not allowed to have an air force
Germany was allowed only 6 capital naval ships and no submarines
The Rhineland was made into a demilitarized zone (DMZ)
No german soldier or weapon was allowed into this zone
The allies were to keep an army of occupation on the wests bank of the rhine for 15 years
Financial
The loss of vital industrial territory would be a severe blow to germany’s economy
Coal from the saar and upper silesia in particular
Germany had to pay $33 billion to the allies (GB/France)
General Consequences
1. Germany had to admit full responsibility for starting the war. This was Clause 231- the infamous “war guilt clause.”
2. Germany was forbidden to unite with austria
3. a league of nations was set up to keep world peace
United states never signed the treaty of versailles.
The German Reaction to the Treaty of Versailles
There was anger throughout germany when the terms were made public
The treaty was bseen by many germans as being forced on the nm and the germans had no choice but to sign uit
German representatives in paris knew that they had no choice as germany was incapable of restarting the war again
Many right wing groups such as the nazis believed in the dolchstoss, theory (stab in the back theory)
Blamed the “November criminals” (the weimar republic) for accepting treaty
Adolf Hitler
Born in 1889 in austria
Failed artist
Loner
Both parents died by time he was 18
Family moved to germany when he was three
Had five siblings-three died In infancy
Mom-klara dad-alois
His brother, edmund, died in 1900
After his brother’s death, hitler changed and became more moody and withdrawn
Had more issues at school and with his dad
His dad died in 1903 and his mom died in 1907
All three of these deaths had a huge impact on the young hitler
In mein kampf, hitler said he first became anti-semitic(hating jews) during his time in Vienna, Austria.
Hitler failed to get into the academy of fine arts in vienna two different times
Started selling paintings in the streets of vienna
Failed his examination to get into the austro-hungarian army in 1914
Moved to munich, germany and joined the german army when ww 1 broke out in 1914
Hitler in WW1
Hitler was wounded twice while serving
Injured by a shell explosion
Temporarily blinded by a mustard gas attack
There is a story that hitler could have been shot by the french soldier, henry tandy, but was spared.
After WW1
Hitler starts spying on the new nationalist socialist german workers party (nazi_ for the german military
Hitler quickly realized that this group discussed topics that he believed in
Hitler dropped out of the military and joined the nazi party and quickly rose to become the leader
Hitler found out that he had the power of speech and persuasion during this time
Beer Hall Putsch- 1923
Marched capital to get control
Hitler’s Trial- 1924
Sentence for 5 years
Served 9 months for good behavior
Hitler’s rise to power
Hitler is appointed chancellor in 1933
President paul von hindenburg dies shortly after and hitler dissolves the weimar republic
Early actions of hitler:
Drops out of the league of nations
Starts rearming germany
Rearms the german rhinelands area
Anschluss with Austria- 1938
Sudetenland crisis- 11938
“Re-uniting german speaking peoples”
Munich conference
Neville chamberlain- great britain
Adolf hitler - germany
Benito mussolini- italy
Edouard daladier- france
Munich conference- chamberlain: “peace for our time”
Hitler was given the sudetenland of czechoslovakia
Hitler promised that he was done taking over territoires
Hitler wanted to reunite all german speaking people
Became known as the “policy of appeasement”
Winston Churchill- opposed the appeasement
Czech President Hacha meeting with hitler - march, 1939
Nazi- Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact
August of 1939
Russia gave raw materials to germany in exchange for money and weapons
Both agreed to stay neutral if the other entered the war
Secretly agreed to invade and split poland. German would get the western half and ussr the eastern half
Russia would get finland, estonia and latvia and germany would get lithuania
How did the world react to this pact
Shocked
Poland was stuck “between a rock and a hard place”
Hitler thought it would force great britain and france to back out of their promise to help poland if attacked
Sitzkrieg- the phony war- winter 1939/1940
Phony war ends spring , 1940. Takes over denmark , norway, belgium, netherlands, luxemburg
French and German Plans for the Battle of France 1940
France’s “Impenetrable” Maginot line
Miracle of Dunkirk
Dunkirk evacuated June 4,
German Advances until the Armistice- Battle of France” June 4-22,
France surrenders June , 1940
A divide france- the vichy government lead by henri petain
The French Resistance- the free french underground(based in london and leader was general charles degaulle)
Tripartite pact is signed-- Axis powers - 1940
Axis invasion of the balkans (yugoslavia) in - 1941
Nazi goals for battle of Britain
Destroy the royal air force (before invasion was possible-hopefully by 9-15)
Attack and destroy the british navy
Attack british troops
Once air control was gained, the invasion of great britain would begin
**Germany never succeeded in achieving #1
**German bombers did so poorly against the RAF that they started bombing at night only
**Great Britain was aided heavily by the radar and Ultra
Battle of Britain- The Blitz - September 1940- May, 1941
Results
In may, 1941, germany decided to focus on attacking british ships and ports and thus stopped attacking cities
British losses-around 40,000 civilians dead
46,000-139,000 injured
German losses-3,363 aircrew and 2,265 aircraft
Britain won by by the fact that germany did not achieve their goals
German invasion of ussr- june, 1941
Final plan for operation barbarossa
Scorched Earth Policy
Stalin demanded this of the soviet troops as they retreated
What is this?
Battle for Moscow
The soviet winter counteroffensive december 6, 1941 - april 30, 1942
The russian winter sets in and make is a huge turning point in the war
Siege of Leningrad
On august 30th 1941, the germans took over leningrad’s railroads, cutting them off from the rest of russia and the world.
Unlike the battle of stalingrad, the germans surrounded the city to starve the city into submission
Between november 1941 and october 1942, 641,000 people died of starvation
People resorted to eating rats, wallpaper paste, and some resorted to cannibalism
A successful russian counteroffensive at stalingrad forced the germans to move troops there and eventually, the siege failed
The germans never took leningrad, but it was one of the most costly conflicts russia had ever faced over one million died
The North Africa campaign:: June , 1940 - May, 1943
Gen bernard Montgomery (Monty)
Gen erwin rommel (the desertfox)
Operation torch - november, 1942
Us and british forces invade north africa
By may, 1943, axis forces surrendered in north africa, the campaign would now shift to the islands in the mediterranean sea in italy
The Italian campaign, operation avalanche: europe’s soft underbelly.
The Holocaust
The genocide of approximately six million european jews during world war 11
A program of systematic state sponsored extermination by nazi germany throughout nazi occupied territory
Approximately two thirds of the population of nine million jews who had lived in europe before the holocaust died
Some say that the definition of the holocaust should also include the nazis’ killing of millions of people in other groups from german and other occupied territory
By this definition, the total number of holocaust victims would be between 11 million and 17 million people
What is genocide?
Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
Killing members ofthe group
Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group
Member countries must “undertake to prevent and punish
What is the Aryan Race?
- nazi used term to refer to a so called master race that originated around GermanyPerfect aryan was blonde, blue eyed, tall and muscular
Who was inferior according to Hitler?Jews
Gypsies
Mentally / physiclally handicapped people
Soviet slavs / pow’s / troops
Poles
Homosexuals
Communists/socialists
Dark skinned people
Mixed races
Jehovah’s Witnesses
Lebensborn - fount of Life
The program aimed to promote the growth of superior aryan populations by providing excellent healthcare and living conditions to women and by restricting access to those deemed “fit”.
Many lebensborn children were born to unwed mothers which helped lead to many rumors of rape
Contrary to widespread rumors, women were not forced to have relations with aryan germans Hitler’s jewish ques
toin- 1933
Nazis temporarily suspend civil liberties for all citizens in 1933- never restored
The nazis set up the first concentration camp at dachau in 1o33. The first inmates are 200 communists
Jews are prohibited from working as civil servants, doctors in the national health service, and teachers in public high schools.
Most jewish students are banned from public high schools and colleges.
Nuremberg Laws 1935
Took away german citizenship from jews thus making jew a second class citizens by removing their basic civil rights
Established membership in the jewish race as being anyone who either considered themselves jewish or had three or four jewish grandparents. People with one or two jewish grandparents were considered to be mixed race.
Eventually anyone with a t least one jewish grandparent was at risk in nazi germany
3. jew s could only marry jews
4. No sexual relations between non - jewish germans and jews
1936
Nazis boycott jewish owned businesses
Kristallnacht-1938
On the night of november 9 and 10, 1938, the nazis roamed through jewish neighborhoods breaking windows of jewish businesses and homes, burning synagogues and looting.
In all , 1-1 synagogues were destroyed and almost 7,500 jewish businesses were destroyed.
26,000 jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps.
Jews were physically attacked and beaten and 91 died in the attack.
1939
Hitler orders the systematic murder ofthe mentally adn phsycially disabled in germany and austria
Jews are required to wear armbands or yellow stars
1940
Nazis begin deporting german jews to poland
Jews are forced into ghettos
Nazis begin the first mass murder of jews in poland.
1942
Nazi officials announce final solution their plan to kill all european jews
Five death camps begin operation in poland: majdanek, sobibor, treblinka, belzec, and auschwitz-birkenau
Ghettos of eastern europe are being emptied as thousands of jews are shipped to death camps
The united states, great britain , and the soviet union acknowledge that germans are exterminating the jews of europe
1943
Jews in the warsaw ghetto resist as the nazis begin new rounds of deportations. These jews hold out for nearly a month before the nazixs put down the uprising.
1944
Hitler takes over hungary and begins deporting 12k,-- hungarian jews
1945
Hitler is defeated and world war 2 ends in europe
The holocaust is over and the death caps are found emptied
Many survivors are placed in displaced persons camps until they find a country willing to accept them
Some 850,000 people lived in displaced persons camps
1947
The united nations establishes a jewish homeland in british controlled palestine, which becomes the state of israel in 1948.
Italy after WW1
Italy was very displeased with the Treaty of versailles
Wanted to get more land than they got
Italy joined the league of nations and was a member from 1919 until they withdrew in 1937
Washington Naval conference - 1921
5 power pact
Signed by great britain, the united states, japan, france, and italy
Designed to prevent an arm’s race
It limited the construction of battleships, battle cruisers, and aircraft carriers
Did not restrict cruisers, destroyers or submarines
9 Power Pact
Guaranteed chinese independence and upheld the open door policy
Signed by the us, japan, china, france, great britain, italy, belgium, netherlands, and portugal
Kellogg-Briand Pact
Countries pledged not to use war as a way to settle disputes
March on Rome - october 1922
A march by benito mussolini’s national fascist party
Mussolini and the fascists won and took over italy
King victor Emmanuel
Did not fight mussolini’s takeover in italy
Wanted to avoid a civil war and also wanted to keep communists out of italy
Saw mussolini as the person that could do these things
Mussolini and the catholic church
In 1929 the lateran accords were signed
Gave the vatican specific territories in rome
Catholicism became the state religion
Separation of church and state was stopped
Recognition of religious marriages for the first time since 1870
Catholic church as given a lot of money
What did mussolini get?
Official support from the catholic church
Established fascism in Italy
A government led by a strong dictator
Stresses strong nationalism, militarism, and imperialism
Uses intimidation to get what they want
Ethiopia invaded by mussolini 1935
Italy lost its ethiopia colony in africa at the 1896 battle of adwa
One of the worst colonial disasters of modern history
In 1935, italy sends large forces into ethiopia
Italy’s goals in WW11
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