Totalitarian Aggression
Causes of World War II
Versailles Peace Treaty 1919
• War Reparations
• Territorial Issues
• Disarmament
• All lead to German discontent and economic distress – inflation, unemployment, high debt
1914 Political Map of Europe
Map of Europe after WWI
Nazi Aggression 1936-1938
Reoccupation of Rhineland March 1936
Anschluss – Occupation of Austria March 1938
Munich Conference September 1938 – Appeasement
“Peace in our time”Neville Chamberlain
Invasion of Czechoslovakia- March 1939
Non-Aggression Pact or Marriage from Hell
Blitzkrieg in Poland September 1, 1939 – WWII begins
Fall of France - June 1940
Battle of Britain August-September 1940
(Operation Sea Lion)
Hitler invades Soviet Union – July 1941 (Operation Barbarossa)
Winston Churchill Quote to Parliament in early 1940 as the German war machine was preparing to invade France
We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills;
we shall never surrender,