Week of April 4 - 8 - Blogs

Monday, April 4

We started out by discussing forum posts and finished presenting.

Germany

Treaty of Versailles Effect on Germany
- Germany lost land and colonies
  - lost to France, Denmark, Czechoslovakia, Poland
  - Germany attacks these countries to get land back
  - also lost their oversea colonies
- Military
  - No air force, no submarines
  - demilitarize Rhineland
  - only 100k men
  - no tanks
  - only 6 capital naval ships
- Financial
  - the loss of vital industrial territory would be a severe blow to Germany's economy
    - coal from Saar and Upper Silesia in particular
  - owed $33 billion to Allies
- General
  - had to admit full responsibility for starting WWI (War Guilt Clause)
  - League of Nations set up to keep world peace
- German Reaction
  - many right wing German groups (Nazis) believes into Dolchstoss (Stab in the Back Theory)
    - Theory: Communists/Jews stabbed the German people in the back by accepting the Treaty of Versailles. Had they not done this, the German people would've won.
  - many Germans angered
  - most Germans thought the Treaty was forced on them
Leader
- Hitler
  - born in 1889 in Austria
  - poor family
  - beaten by his father
  - did poorly in school
  - joins German army in WWI
    - this is where he found belonging
  - after WWI, he asked for a job in the German military
    - he was sent to spy on the German Worker's Party
    - drops out of the military and becomes a member of the Nazi party
    - rises through the ranks to become Fuhrer
Propaganda
- Swastika
  - historically used as a sign of peace in India
  - ends up as the Nazi symbol

Major Events Between WWI and WWII
- Beer Hall Putsch
  - police fought back
  - Hitler arrested, put on trial, and sent to prison
  - judge gives him five years for treason but he only serves 9 months

Tuesday, April 5

Absent today. These are Cassie's notes.

Hitler Rise to Power-

Hitler is appointed Chancellor in 1933
President Paul von Hindenburg dies shortly after and Hitler dissolves the Weimer Republic
Early actions of Hitler
- Drops out of the League of Nations
- Starts rearming Germany
- Rearms the German Rhineland area

Anschluss with Austria-

Annexed Austria in 1938

Sudetenland Crisis- 1938

Annexed Sudetenland.
"Re-uniting German speaking peoples"

Munich Conference

Neville Chamberlain- Great Britain
Adolf Hitler-Germany
Benito Mussolini-Italy
Edouard Daldier- France
Hitler was given the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia
Hitler promised that he was done taking over territories
Hitler wanted to re-unite all German speaking people
Became known as the "Policy of Appeasement"

Winston Churchill Opposed Appeasement

Severely criticized Chamberlain and said that they need to stand up to Hitler

Hitler Takes Over all of Czechoslovakia-1939

Soviet- German Non-Aggression Pact

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. Germany 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 scared
- Hitler thought it would force Great Britain and France to back out of their promise to help Poland if attacked

German invasion of Poland- Blitzkrieg-

Air-force attacks enemy front-line and rear positions, main roads, airfields and communication centers. At the same time, infantry attacks on the entire front line and engages enemy
Tank units breakthrough main lines of defense and advance deeper into enemy territory. While following, mechanized units pursue and engage defenders preventing them from establishing defensive positions. Infantry continues to engage enemy for the same reason
Infantry attacks enemy flanks in order to link up with other groups to complete the attack and eventually encircle the enemy and/or capture strategic position
Mechanized groups go deeper into the enemy territory outflanking the enemy positions and preventing withdrawing troops and defenders from establishing effective defensive positions
Main force links up with other units encircling and cutting off the enemy
Goal was to achieve victory as quickly as possible

Sitzkrieg- The Phony War

Great Britain and France declared war on Germany but nothing happened.

Countries that Hitler invaded and took over in 1940

Denmark
Norway
Belgium
Netherlands
Luxembourg
France

Countries that Hitler invaded and took over in 1939

Czechoslovakia
Poland

Miracle of Dunkirk

City in Belgium
For some reason, Hitler ordered his infantry to stop on the outskirts of the city
Because of this decision, thousands of people and soldiers were able to evacuate to Great Britain

A Divided France-

Vichy Government (Lead by Henri Petain)
- Hitler allowed these people to stay in control of southern France and eventually became allies with Germany
The Free French (Lead by Charles DeGaulle)
- These people fled to Great Britain
- They would also try and sabatoge the Germans
The rest of Germany was under the control of the German troops

Axis Invasion of the Balkans- 1941

Nazi Goals for Battle of Britain

Destroy the Royal Air Force
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 (terror bombing)
- Great Britain was aided heavily by the radar and Ultra

Wednesday, April 6

Trash Career Fair

Thursday, April 7

Germany

Battles
- Battle of Britain
  - type of fighting: bombing
  - bombed both day and night
  - Hitler's first "defeat"
  - Britain won because Germany never invaded
  - by 1941, Germany decided to focus on attacking British ships and ports and quit attacking cities
- Operation Barbarossa
  - went after Leningrad, Moscow, and Stalingrad
- Battle for Moscow
  - Soviet Winter Counteroffensive December 6 1941- 1942
  - The Russian winter sets in and creates a huge turning point in the war
- Siege of Leningrad
  - Germans surround the city to starve them into submission
  - 641,000 die of starvation
  - people resorted to cannibalism, eating rats, wallpaper paste, etc
- North Africa Campaign
  - French/British vs. Germans/Italians
  - place we first fought the Axis powers
  - once North Africa is free, US moves into Sicily and Malta then Italy
  - Italy was still not free because Germany had taken control of Italy
- D-Day
  - Omaha Beach - toughest for Allies
  - beginning of the end for Germany
- Battle of the Bulge
  - Hitler's last major offensive
  - unsuccessful
  - Hitler's generals want to surrender

Friday, April 8

Nazi Propaganda
- made to make Hitler seem personable
- encouraged people to join the Nazi party
- Lebensborn
  - aimed to promote growth of Aryan populations by providing excellent health care and living conditions to women and by restricting access to those deemed "fit"
  - houses were set up through Germany
  - many children were born to unwed mothers which helped lead to many rumors of rape
  - women were not forced to have children with Aryan Germans
Holocaust
- 6 million Jews killed - 9 million in Germany at that time
- ethic cleansing - one group trying to force another out of an area for land
- genocide focuses on a specific group
  - Inferior Groups
    - Jews
    - Gypsies
    - Homosexuals
    - Handicap
    - Jehovah's Witness
Hitler - What Should We Do With Jews?
- wanted to move Jews to Madagascar
- suspends civil liberties for all citizens - 1933
- sets up first concentration (slave labor camp) at Dachau for communists - 1933
- Jews prohibited from being civil servants, doctors, and high school/college teachers
- Jewish students banned from public high schools and colleges
- taking away German citizenship from Jews, making them "second-class citizens"
- 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 one Jewish grandparent was at risk in Nazi Germany
- Jews could only marry Jews
- no relations between non-Jewish Germans and Jews
- Nazis boycott Jewish-owned businesses
- Kristallnacht "Night of the Broken Glass" takes place
  - Nazis run through Jewish neighborhood to loot, destroy, and burn Jewish business, homes, churches, etc
  - 26,000 Jews were arrested and sent to slave labor camps
  - called Night of the Broken Glass because of all the windows
- all Jewish kids expelled from public schools in Germany and Austria
- Nazis take control of Jewish-owned businesses
- Final solution: Genocide
  - 1939 - start the systematic murder of the mentally/physically disabled in Germany and Austria
  - Jews are required to wear armbands or yellow stars
  - Nazis deport German Jews to Poland
  - force them into ghettos
  - began the first mass murder in Poland
  - as the war ended, the intensity of killing Jews raised

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