HOW THE WORLD WAR SPREAD THROUGH EUROPE

Treaty of V--Humiliating, draconian, Germans feeling under pressure and seeking solace and prode,
Economic collapse
Rise of HItler and Nazi, -- Restore German pride, diagnose insecurity (Expansion in Europe, Rebuild Eco,
Beat Bolshevism)
1935--Rearmament of Germany,
1935--Compulsory military,
1936--Spanish civil war training (Blitzkrieg practice)

● Propaganda -- Jewish, Bolshevism etc “Judeo Bolshevism” 1917 Russian Rev

● 12 March 1938-- 1st Move in Europe Austria -- many Nazi sympathizers --easy win
● Allies --Appease--harsh treaty, Want to avoid war
● Hitler now looks at Czechoslovakia -- Allies get wary, spring into action
● SEP 1938--Neville Chamberlain visits Germany 3 times in Sep, sign Munich Pact with France 30
Sep 1938
● Signs Secret agreement with Hitler
● Allies allow Hitler to take over Sudetenland (German Speaking Czech SEP_OCT 1938). But Hitler
continues and takes over all of Czech (March 1939)
● Now Hitler looks to Poland -- this worries Allies who warn against invading Poland
● August 1939--Signs non-aggression Pact with Russia (Hitler meanwhile signs a pact with
IDEOLOGICAL enemy Stalin--over POland. Russia invades Poland from the East.
● 1st Sep, 1939 -- Hitler invades Poland (not taking them seriously, think don't care about East
Europe) USES BLITZKRIEG
3 Sep--Eng and France declare war on Germany

● PHONY WAR--8 months (Oct 1939-March1940)

British send BEF troops to France -- wait and watch,
Confident because of Maginot line (fortified line
Britain sends BEF troops to France
Hitler consolidates strategy

● 9 April 1940 Hitler Attacks Denmark and Norway for iron ore (Wins easily)
● Britain sends troops to Norway but ends in disaster because of poor planning

BATTLE OF FRANCE
● 10 May 1940--Neville Chamberlain Resigns (Churchill takes over)
● SAME DAY 10 MAY-- Germany launches air and armored attacks in Holland
(NETHERLANDS--DUTCH), Belgium and France. (GERMANY WANTED to bring French troops
and the BEF into the northern half of Belgium and towards Holland--ALLIES WERE HAMPERED
BY 8 MILLION REFUGEES)
● French reconnaissance -- talks about a border jam near Ardennes -- IGNORED)
● Germans surprise French with an attack from Ardennes -- 3 days 3 nights they power on--USING
DRUGS -- Pervitin or CRYSTAL METH (MANSTEIN AND GUDERIAN PLAN)
● To push them to the coast, In just over six weeks, German armed forces overran Belgium and the
Netherlands, drove the British Expeditionary Force from the Continent, captured Paris, and
forced the surrender of the French government.
 BATTLE OF FRANCE:
May 10, 1940: German invasion of France commences with a massive assault through the
Ardennes Forest, catching Allied forces off guard.
● May 13, 1940: German forces break through the Ardennes region, a heavily wooded area
thought to be impassable by large military formations. German troops cross the Meuse at
Sedan to trap Allies in the Low Countries.
● May 14, 1940: Rotterdam is bombed by the Luftwaffe, leading to the surrender of the
Netherlands.
● May 15, 1940: Dutch forces capitulate to the advancing German army.
● May 17, 1940: Brussels falls to German forces.
● May 20, 1940: German Panzer divisions reach the English Channel, cutting off Allied troops in
Belgium and northern France.
● May 26, 1940--4 June 1940 -- Operation Dynamo, (Lasted 9 days_ the evacuation of British
and Allied troops from Dunkirk, begins. Over 330,000 soldiers are rescued by a fleet of naval
vessels and civilian boats.June 4, 1940: Dunkirk evacuation concludes successfully, though
many heavy equipment and vehicles are abandoned.
● May 28, 1940: King Leopold III of Belgium surrenders to the Germans.
● June 5, 1940: German forces enter Paris, marking a significant psychological blow to the
French.
● June 10, 1940: Italy declares war on France and the United Kingdom.
● June 14, 1940: German troops parade through Paris, symbolizing the fall of the French
capital.
● June 17, 1940: Philippe Pétain becomes Prime Minister of France and begins negotiations
for an armistice with Germany.
● June 22, 1940: France signs an armistice agreement with Germany, effectively surrendering
and dividing the country into occupied and unoccupied zones.
The armistice agreement between France and Germany on June 22, 1940 was
signed in the same railway carriage that served as the location for the
signing of the armistice ending World War I in 1918. This location was near
Compiègne, France. Hitler deliberately chose this location as a symbolic act of
revenge against France.
●
● June 25, 1940: The armistice officially goes into effect, marking the end of major combat
operations in the Battle of France.