Munich Pustch

Mein Kampf

Adolf Hitler elected in Germany in 1933

(remember the Treaty of

Versailles)

Antisemitism, nationalism,

militarism, and anti-communism

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=607e4d5110

1936 Re-militirized the Rhineland

1938 Took Austria

Germany wanted to take the

Sudentenland (near Czechoslovakia)

English and French leaders gave it to

Hitler (after Munich conference), in

exchange for a promise not to annex any

other land

Condemned Germany, but did nothing

Japan attacked China, US reaction is the

same

Neutrality Acts of 1935 and 1937• Made no distinction between aggressor and

victim (Italy and Ethiopia)

Wanted to expel Europeans from Asia so

they could call the shots

Invaded Manchuria in 1931

Attack mainland China in 1937• Rape of Nanking, 200,000 to 300, 000 civilians

Night of Broken Glass 1938

Polish Jew assassinated a German

diplomat in Paris.

Germans destroyed hundreds of

synagogues

91 Jews killed, ~20,000 arrested

Soviet Union and Germany (Aug. 1939) To the chancellor of the German Reich, Herr A.

Hitler. I thank you for your letter. I hope that the

German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact will mark a

decisive turn for the better in the political

relations between our two countries. .

J. Stalin*

Invasion of Poland by Germans

Britain and France declare war on

Germany

Blitzkrieg (Lightning War)

By May 1940 Germany had taken France

(it took 4 years in WWI)

You are Winston Churchill (UK). You have

broken some of the German code and

Intelligence says an attack is coming, but

the Germans seem confused about where

your factories and air fields are. You can

either build up defense around your

bases or sit and wait.

You are Adolf Hitler. You have little

intelligence to tell you where the British

airforce bases are. You can either attack

where you think the bases are or destroy

the city of London.

The US began to prepare for war• 19,000 warplanes, 150 ships

• First peacetime draft (16.5 million men)

Election

• 3rd term???

• No American will fight in a foreign war, but if

attacked the war would not be “foreign”

anymore

Lend-Lease Act (March 1941)

Submarine warfare

Atlantic Charter (Aug „41)• Germany is first priority, Japan second

• US and Britain will work together

US creates a navy for both Atlantic and

Pacific oceans

Japan builds navy, US cuts off steel export

Japan takes Vietnam, US puts up a

blockade

2,345 killed

“A Date which will Live in Infamy”

Imagine that FDR had enough spy

intelligence to know that Japan would

attack Pearl Harbor. Do you:

Save the lives and stay out of the war?

Sacrifice the people in order to join the

war?

They can go all out for ~ 6 months

Germany may last longer

They attack Russia in June 1941

This opens a Two-Front war

Turning point of the European war

Germans move forward, but run out of

supplies

Germans forced to give up

Almost 2 million causalities, lasted 199

days

**Soviets lost more people in this 1 battle

than the US lost in the entire war

Atlantic Ocean German U-boats destroy

American and British ships (they worked

in “wolfpacks”)

By 1943 Allies use planes and radar to

shoot U-boats when they surface

Also, US mass produces ships (good for

the economy!)