Outline of events 1939-45.

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Outline of events 1939-45.
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Connector

• Brainstorm everything you know about World War 2

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Outcomes

• All to independently research the events of World
  War 2
• All to be able to link the events to rule of
  Hitler and the Nazis
• Most to see how foreign policy affected Nazi rule
  of Germany

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Big picture

• Hitler aimed to make Germany a world power but
  had various obstacles to overcome
• He wanted to create Lebensraum in the east of
  Europe for Germans to live there as well as take
  countries natural resources

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Hitlers Aims and Ojectives

• Get rid of the Treaty of Versailles
• Union of German speaking people in Europe-
  Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania
• The creation of Lebensraum- the creation of Nazi
  racial empire particularly in Poland and get rid
  of the slavs

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Early results

• March 1935- TofV challenged by the creation of
  the army and conscription
• March 1936- remilitarisation of the Rhineland
• March 1938- Anschluss with Austria
• Sept 1938- Munich Agreement with Britain,
  agreeing not to take over anymore countries

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1939-41

• Between 1939-41 Germany won a series of stunning
  victories over Europe, despite Hitler not aiming
  to be fighting a full scale war until the mid-
  1940s. However they were not destined to fail
• Even by 1943 Germany was not destined to defeat
  and its demise has to be explained

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Early victories

• Poland Sept 1939- defeated in 6 weeks using the
  Blitzkrieg tactics
• Phoney war (until May 1940)- Germany waited to
  invade the low countries and France
• Summer 1940- defeats France, Holland, Belgium,
  Denmark and Norway
• Summer 1940- German fails to win air superiority
  over Britain, making an invasion impossible
  against the island nation

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Why were they successful?

• France and Britain failed to support Poland
• Germanys Blitzkrieg tactics allowed rapid
  advances across Europe
• The French tactics were based more on WW1 static
  defences which could not stop the German armies

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Operation Barbarossa

• In June 1941 Germany invaded Russia, Greece and
  Yugoslavia, and by November 1941 German soldiers
  were only miles from Moscow and Leningrad.
• However the Russians were surprised by the attack
  as they had signed a Non-Aggression Pact in 1939
  and were not really prepare. Stalin had also
  purged the army of its officiers before the war

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Turning Tide

• December 1941- America join the war after Japan
  bomb Pearl Harbour, Hitler aligning with Japan
  and declaring war on USA
• However the USA had become increasingly involved
  in the Battle of The Atlantic, trying to defeat
  the German u-boats destroying the British convoys
• By 1942 Germany were still pushing on strongly to
  the Caucaus oilfields and the Afrika Corp were
  pushing the British out of Africa

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Stalingrad and El Alamein

• The desparate struggle for Stalingrad in Russia
  signified the beginning of the end of the Nazi
  war success. Along with the defeat at El Alalmein
  in Africa Germany would now be on the retreat.
• By the end of 1943 Hitler was now willing to
  defend his Fortress Europe against allied
  invasion but increasingly he became convinced of
  his own invincibility and the fact that the USSR
  would not last in an alliance with Britian and
  the USA

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The End of the Reich

• D Day June 1944 signalled the end of the war as
  the USA and Britain pushed across France, Holland
  and Belgium before finally entering Germany and
  linking up with the Russians
• The Russians managed to capture back their own
  land and progressed across Germany before
  entering Berlin in the seach for Hitler
• By 1945 much of Germanys infrastructure had been
  destroyed by the continuous night time and day
  time bombing by the allies. Much of the army now
  consisted of fanatic Nazis, old men and young
  boys forced into fighting, quite often with
  whatever weapons they could find.
• On the 30 April 1945 Hitler committed suicide and
  the war was over.

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Activity

• Watch the following on Youtube
• Episodes of the World At War on Clickview
• Draw a timeline of the events of world war 2 and
  annotate your timeline.