End of the War in Europe

The Allied forces, under the command of Dwight D. Eisenhower, had been planning for an invasion of France since 1943.  The Germans, having been expecting this invasion, began to build a series of strong fortifications along the French coast, called the Atlantic Wall.  The planned Allied invasion was given the code name Operation Overlord and by early 1944, the Allied forces had begun training.  Additionally, as part of the invasion plan, the Allies instituted a massive campaign to disperse false information to the Germans with the intention of diverting German attention away from the intended landing target.   As part of this effort, the Allies utilized German spies in Britain who were serving as double agents. These spies convinced the Germans that the invasion would take place near Calais, the point where the English Channel was narrowest.  The planned site for the invasion, in fact, was Normandy.  The deception that insued was rather elaborate.  The Allies code named the plan Operation Fortitude.  To facilitate this deception, additional buildings were constructed and dummy vehicles and landing craft were placed around possible embarkation points.

The D-Day invasion was launched June 6, 1944.  Overnight, Allied airborne troops had been dispersed via parachute and glider just inland of the Normandy coast and were ordered to damage German fortified coastal defenses. Meanwhile, a huge expeditionary force of Allied ships was travelling across the English Channel to land onto 5 separate beaches (Utah, Omaha, Juno, Gold, Sword).  The initial invasion brought 150,000 Allied soldiers to the French shore with an additional 2 million plus entering France via the Normandy beaches over the following weeks.  Normandy is the largest seaborne invasion in history. Opposing the invaders were thousands of German troops manning the fortifications above the beaches.

The first day of the invasion was costly for the Allies in terms of casualties despite the fact that the Germans were vastly outnumbered and rapidly overwhelmed by the incoming forces. The Germans, however, continued to believe that an invasion on a larger scale was imminent, at Calais.  As a result, the Germans withheld reserve forces in the area from moving against the Normandy invaders.  Once the Allied forces broke out of the Normandy coast and moved into inland France, the task became more ardent, due to two German defense posts at Cherbourg and Caen. The Allies were unable to advance inland in significant numbers until after the German forts were defeated by July 28, 1944. 

A second Allied invasion of France took place in the South, beginning on August 15, 1944  Code named Operation Dragoon, the invasion moved along the Mediterranean coast in the south and then rapidly spread northward into France. Due to the success of Operation Dragoon, the Allies were now able to approach Paris from two directions. By mid-August 1944, most of northwestern France was under Allied control, and from there, the Allied advance moved rapidly. Hitler ordered the evacuation of southern France, and German troops also began the process of evacuating Paris itself. At almost the same time, Soviet troops invading from the other front first crossed Germany’s eastern border.  Even as it became inevitable that France would fall to the Allies, the Nazi war machine continued deporting French Jews to Auschwitz and other extermination camps. On August 25, Allied forces entered Paris, by which point all remaining German troops had either evacuated or been taken prisoner.

September 1944 saw Germany dangerously close to defeat, despite the fact that the war would continue for seven more months.   Allied troops overran most of France, pushed deep into Belgium, and were on the verge of entering the Netherlands during September 1944. After the success of Operation Overlord, the Allies had the ability to launch bomber raids from France, Italy, and Britain, which vastly expanded the range and duration of aerial attacks inside Germany. Simultaneously, the Soviets were closing in from the east: although Warsaw was still under German control, the Red Army had taken much of eastern Poland. The Soviets also had advanced into Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia. By the autumn of 1944, Germany was surrounded on all sides. Allied air strikes on German industrial facilities, particularly oil reserves, prevented the Luftwaffe from posing the serious threat that it once had. This gap in Germany’s defense left the country very vulnerable to attack. On October 18, Hitler ordered the conscription of all healthy German men aged sixteen to sixty in order to defend the country from an obviously imminent invasion. Hitler intended for the country to fight to the last man. During the second half of 1944, the Nazi empire gradually imploded as it was invaded from the east, west, and south. German supplies and manufacturing dwindled on a daily basis. The Luftwaffe had some of the best military aircraft in the world but lacked fuel to fly them and parts to maintain them.

On December 16, 1944, the Germans began their last major counteroffensive of the war, as three German armies surged into the Ardennes Forest, dividing the Allied front with the ultimate goal of retaking the Belgian city of Antwerp. This time, Allied intelligence failed to intercept the German plans, and the action was a complete surprise. The Germans launched the attack during a heavy snowstorm that grounded all aircraft, making it difficult for the Allies to evaluate the extent of the attack. Furthermore, the Germans deployed a group of about thirty English-speaking soldiers behind Allied lines, dressed in American uniforms and driving captured American vehicles. These special troops succeeded in creating chaos among the Allied troops by reversing road signs, cutting communications wires, and inciting a panic among Allied troops once they realized that they had been infiltrated.

By December 24, the Germans had penetrated deep into French territory, making a distinct bulge in the front line that lent the Battle of the Bulge its name. German forces surrounded a large contingent of U.S forces in the town of Bastogne and attempted to intimidate them with an invitation of surrender. The offer was refused. As the weather cleared and Allied aircraft could fly again, the Germans were pushed back, and supplies were airdropped to the trapped American troops. In the meantime, other Allied armies were diverted from other areas of France to help. By early January 1945, the Germans were once again in retreat, and on January 16, the soldiers trapped at Bastogne were free, and the “bulge” was no more.

Throughout the fall and winter of 1944, Soviet forces slowly but steadily made their way toward Germany through eastern Europe. The brunt of the assault was concentrated on Poland, where most of the Nazis’ concentration camps were located. By early November 1944, the German S.S. was trying frantically to dismantle these camps and hide evidence of the atrocities that had taken place. The Nazis forced those prisoners who were still living to march on foot westward to Germany. On November 20, Hitler himself retreated, abandoning his staff headquarters at Rastenburg along the Polish-German border and relocating to Berlin.

On February 4, 1945, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin came together for a now-famous meeting at Yalta, a resort on the Crimean Peninsula in the USSR. During the meeting, the “Big Three,” as they came to be called, discussed their strategy for the last stages of the war. They agreed that Britain and the United States would provide bomber support for Soviet troops fighting along the eastern front. The three leaders also spoke about the issue of how Europe would be divided after the war, with particular concern regarding the situation in Poland, which was by this point controlled entirely by the Soviet Union. With considerable difficulty, Roosevelt and Churchill managed to pressure Stalin into holding democratic elections in Poland. However, these turned out to be heavily rigged in favor of a pro-Soviet Communist government. Meanwhile, the Red Army had moved deep into Hungary and, by early December, had taken most of the country except for the area immediately around Budapest. U.S. and British aircraft provided support as the Soviets advanced into German territory, making devastating bombing attacks on the cities of Leipzig, Dresden, and Berlin. Dresden, in particular, was almost completely destroyed.

By late March 1945, the Red Army had secured all of eastern Europe. It continued its advance into Austria, capturing the capital of Vienna on April 13. By this time, the Allied forces coming from France had crossed the Rhine River and were moving swiftly toward Berlin from the west. The Allies decided to let Soviet forces enter Berlin first, while British and U.S. forces concentrated on other areas to the north and south.

In April 1945, the Soviets began their final offensive against the Germans. Over the coming days, more than 3,000 tanks crossed the Neisse River, assaulting Berlin’s outer defenses while Allied aircraft bombed the city from above. On April 20, Hitler spent his birthday in an underground bunker and soon resigned to kill himself when the city fell. Although imminent defeat was obvious, Hitler not only refused to allow his troops to surrender but also insisted that the conscripted civilian army was to defend Berlin to the last man.

On April 25, the Allied armies advancing from east and west met for the first time, when a small group of American and Soviet soldiers met at the German village of Stehla. The hugely symbolic meeting was marked by celebrations in both Moscow and New York. On April 28, the former dictator of Italy, Benito Mussolini, under arrest since his ouster nearly two years before, was executed by Italian partisans and hung upside down in the center of Milan. Two days later, on April 30, Adolf Hitler killed himself in the bunker in which he had been living since the beginning of the month. Later that evening, the Red Army hung a Soviet flag from the top of the Reichstag, the German parliament building in Berlin. Over the following days, there was a great deal of confusion throughout Germany. Some German forces surrendered, while others continued to fight. Among the remaining leaders, some went into hiding or sought escape abroad. Others followed Hitler’s example and committed suicide.

Early on the morning of May 7, 1945, German officials signed the official surrender . Sporadic fighting continued in the different areas, particularly in Czechoslovakia. On May 8 nearly all remaining German forces surrendered, and that night, additional members of the German high command signed a formal surrender. The Western Allies thus celebrated May 8, 1945, as V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day). Because some fighting between Soviet and German forces continued into the next day, May 9 became the official Victory Day in the USSR.

The War in Africa and Italy

While the war in Europe was continuing, British forces were also fighting the Axis powers in North Africa and Italy.  North Africa was vital for the Allies because in controlling North Africa they could protect the Suez Canal, the major shipping route that linked the Mediterranean Sea with the oil fields in the Middle East that were vital to the allied war effort.  In the fall of 1940, Italian forces attacked the British in Egypt.  Although the attack was a failure, and the British reinforced their control over Egypt, Italian forces drove into Libya and threatened to gain control of North Africa.  Despite the fact that it was primarily Italian forces fighting in this region, Hitler was forced to send troops to aid the Italians in securing North Africa.  These German and Italian forces combined were called the Afrika Korps and were led by the German General Erwin Rommel, nicknamed the Desert Fox.  Although the Afrika Korps pushed the British back into Egypt, they had trouble resupplying their forces which caused issues regarding their effectiveness.  The Allies and Afrika Korps fought continually through 1941 and 1942.  From October 23 to November 3, 1942, a key battle at El Alamein in Egypt turned the tide of the war in Africa.  The Allies, under the command of General Bernard Montgomery, took advantage of the supply problems of the Afrika Korps.  The British won a large victory and the Axis power in North Africa was severely weakened. 

On November 8, 1942, Allied forces launched Operation Torch, the code name for their invasion of North Africa.  Carrying out an amphibious landing on the coast of present-day Morocco, the invasion encompassed in excess of 100,000 men and 600 ships.   Operation Torch was highly successful and enabled the Allies to take more than 1,000 miles of North African coastline.  Knowing the invasion by the Allied forces was eminent, the Axis forces began retreating into Tunisia, as the desert terrain was ideal for creating a defensive fortification.  It was in Tunisia that Rommel decided to make his stand against the Allies.  Despite the fact that Operation Torch landed forces in Africa on November 8, it was not until November 25, 1942 that the Allies began their offensive against the Axis in Tunisia.  This delay afforded the Axis powers the opportunity to airlift additional troops and equipment into Tunisia.  Therefore, by the time the Allies began their assault, the Germans and Italians gravely outnumbered them.  As a result of the delay, the Allied progress in Tunisia was extremely slow as the Axis powers fought tenaciously throughout the winter and into the spring of 1943.  Despite the protracted length of the battle, the Allies continued to make considerable gains against the Axis forces finally taking the city of Tunis on May 7 and capturing more than 200,000 POWs.  The war in Africa came to an end.

Following the defeat of the Axis in North Africa, the Allies pursued them to the island of Sicily. Operation Husky, the code name for the Allied invasion of Sicily began on July 10, 1943, with U.S. and British forces invading Sicily using troops deployed by gliders, parachutes, and boats. Due to the high winds the Allied troops had difficulty regrouping once they landed on the ground in Sicily and throughout the first few days, the Allies encountered significant resistance.  The resistance however was quickly overcome and on July 22, Palermo, the capital of Sicily, fell to the Allies.  Sicily was secure. 

Benito Mussolini, was overthrown by a peaceful coup the day after the fall of Sicily.  Italian officials approached the Allies about an armistice. However, prior to Mussolini’s expulsion, Allied forces had planned an invasion of the Italian mainland.  Despite the fact that Italy officially surrenders to the Allies on September 8, 1943, the Allied invasion of Italy proceeded as planned.  The decision to continue with the Allied invasion of the mainland was due to the large number of German forces stationed in the country. The main invasion began on September 9, the day after Italy’s surrender. German resistance was heavy and the Allies suffered great casualties. After nearly a three weeks of perilous fighting, the Allies captured Naples on October 1, fundamentally placing all of southern Italy firmly under Allied control.

Even though the Italian government had surrendered, the Germany was resolute in its vow to not allow the Allies to take Rome.  With their position firmly secured in Southern Italy, the Allies moved northward and the German forces dug in a formed a fortified entrenched line across Italy, just South of Rome.  This barricade was called the Winter Line and crossed the center of the country at the fortified monastery of Monte Cassino. The heavily defended Winter Line was an arduous obstacle for the Allied forces, who assaulted the German forces entrenched in the Winter Line continuously only to be repeatedly pushed back.   The stalemate that resulted lasted for more than six months until Monte Cassino fell to the Allies on May 18, 1944. On June 5, Rome was liberated from Axis control and the Germans retreated to the North of Italy and dug in again forming the Gothic Line which held out until the Spring of 1945.  

Italy’s participation in World War II was of little strategic benefit for Germany.  In actuality the decisions made by Italian leader Benito Mussolini fundamentally hindered the German war effort because valuable German resources and forces were diverted to assist the Italians.   Mussolini’s decisions were so erratic and costly that his own subordinates overthrew him and eventually surrendered to the Allies. Indeed, the battles that resulted from Italy’s aimless campaigns were devastating and potentially cost Germany the war.

The Invasion of the Soviet Union

After failing in his attempt at attacking Great Britain, Hitler was undaunted and turned his attention in another direction.  In June 1941, Hitler turned on the Soviet Union in the East, breaking the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, although it was never the intention of Hitler to adhere to the terms of the pact, it was merely a tactic to stave off a two front war.  For Hitler, the destruction of the Soviet Union, the elimination of the Communist threat to Germany, and the seizure of Soviet land for lebensraum was key to his plan.  Under the codename Operation Barbarossa, Germany with some 3 million troops, invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 in the largest German military operation of WWII. The Germans once again engaged in the same blitzkrieg tactics that had been successful in Poland.  Although the Soviets had millions of troops to outmatch the Germans, the Soviets were poorly trained and ill equipped to deal with the strength of the German military.  It was the intent of the German military to wage a war of annihilation against the Soviet Union.  Special Units, called Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units), were deployed by the Germans behind the lines to physically annihilate Jews, Communists and other persons deemed to be a threat to the establishment of German rule.

Despite the great amount of loss that the Soviets suffered at the hands of the Germans, the country did not collapse.  Although by the Fall of 1941, the Germans had invaded deep into Soviet territory, they had failed to reach Leningrad or Moscow, their intended destinations.  As winter encroached, the Germans were ill-prepared for a Soviet winter.  They lacked the necessary warm clothing, and their equipment was nearly inoperable in the frigid conditions.  When the winter of 1941 set in, German progress in the Soviet Union came to a standstill.  While the Germans were stalled by the severe Russian winter, the Soviets were given an opportunity to recover from the vast numbers of casualties they suffered at the hands of the Germans in the initial attacks. 

Although the Germans were stopped by the Soviet winter of 1941 - 1942, they did not give up.  After failing to capture the city of Leningrad, Hitler ordered his troops to lay siege to the city, instituting a military blockade and forcing the citizens to surrender.  Under the Siege of Leningrad, nearly 1 million Soviet citizens died.  As the Spring of 1942 emerged, Hitler renewed attacks on the Soviet Union.  Although the Soviet troops were weary from fighting, they rediscovered a tactic to aid them in their defeat of the Germans, the fighting retreat, which inevitably put a strain on German supply lines. Soviet soldiers were instructed to retreat instead of stand their ground.  By the end of the summer 1942, the Axis powers, including German, Italian, Hungarian and Romanian troops had moved within striking distance of Stalingrad, a major industrial city and economic port located on the Volga River.  The goal of taking Stalingrad for Hitler was to secure important oil fields in the Caucasus. The Battle of Stalingrad lasted from August 1942 – February 1943.  As the Germans encroached the people of Stalingrad were trapped and Stalin refused to allow any evacuation from the city that was named for him and insisted on its defense at all costs.  The battle for the city descended into one of the most brutal in WWII. Individual streets were fought over using hand-to-hand combat. The Germans took a great deal of the city but they failed to fully assert their authority. Areas captured by the Germans during the day, were re-taken by the Russians at night.

By November 1942 the Soviets had gathered forces for a counter attack, code named Operation Uranus.   The Soviets broke through the Axis defenses and surrounded approximately 250,000 German troops, cutting them off from the remainder of the Axis troops.  Hitler refused to allow the trapped troops to retreat and promised to send air reinforcements as the winter months approached.    The Germans, starving and running out of ammunition lasted until the end of January/ beginning of February 1943, when the remaining troops, approximately 90,000, surrendered to the Soviets.  Despite the fact that nearly 1 million Soviet soldiers died defending Stalingrad, the battle was a crushing defeat for Hitler and the Axis Powers as the German army began to retreat to the West.  Stalingrad marked a major turning point in the war.

The Start of War

After reaching the agreement with the Soviet Union, Hitler was prepared for an all out war.  On September 1, 1939, the German military, along with the Soviets in the east, attacked Poland.  Using the blitzkrieg method, the invasion began with air attacks that damaged Polish defenses and caused civilian panic.  Additionally, on the ground, fast moving mobile artillery and tanks struck the Polish countryside followed by foot soldiers to dispel any further resistance.  The effect on Poland was devastating.  The Polish Air force was obliterated.  Although Poland did not have much of a solid defense, they did have the backing of the British and French who had promised to come to the aid of Poland if it were attacked.  War was declared against Germany by the British and French on September 3, 1939.  Despite this promise and alliance, the Allies were of very little assistance to Poland, which fell within weeks with a total loss of 70,000 lives.  Even before the final defeat of Poland, Germany began to move soldiers along its western border with France.  Although the war lay relatively stagnant from the end of September to the beginning of April, a time which is called the Phony War, the Germans were preparing for an assault on France. 

On April 9, 1940, Germany began to attack again, starting with Denmark and Norway.  Although both countries had claimed neutrality at the beginning of the war, control of Norway’s extensive coastline would have been very important in the battle for control of the North Sea and easing the passage of German warships and submarines into the Atlantic. The control of Norway would also aid Germany’s ability to import iron ore from Sweden.  German occupation of Denmark was important due to its proximity to France and the airfields located at the Northern end of Denmark. 

Once Germany secured control of Norway and Denmark they quickly moved to their assault on France.  On May 10, 1940, Germany began its invasion of France and the low countries, attacking Belgium and the Netherlands first, because they lie between France and Germany.  Although Allied forces rushed to meet the invasion, they were no match for the German military and both countries quickly fell.  While the attack on the low countries was taking place, German forces stationed in the Ardennes, between France and Belgium, began their assault.  Due to the thick forests of the Ardennes, the French believed that it was relatively impassable for German forces, therefore they left it practically undefended.  The Germans used tanks to cut through the thick forests and emerged in France to quickly overwhelm the resistance.  German tanks drove northward toward the English Channel.  The Allies were unable to stop German advances and the Germans reached the coast in a matter of 6 days.  Allied troops, primarily members of the British Expeditionary Force, were unable to evacuate and became trapped by the Germans when they retreated to the coastal city of Dunkirk.  At Dunkirk a daring rescue operation consisting of Allied military and civilian ships, rescued over 300,000 troops.

Despite the rescue at Dunkirk, France was doomed.  The Allied forces which remained in France were unable to stop the German advance on Paris.  To make matters worse, Italy joined in the war as part of the Axis powers and declared war on Great Britain and France on June 9, 1940 as the government of France fled Paris for Tours.  On June 22, 1940, France surrendered to Germany.  Germany then occupied much of France, and placed part of France under the control of French officials that cooperated with Germany.  This area of France was known as Vichy France.  Although under German control the French did not stop fighting.  Resistance within France continued, while some French leaders, including Charles DeGaulle escaped to Great Britain where they led a government in exile that was considered by many to be the official government of France. 

Once Hitler had taken France he quickly set his sights on what he believed to be the last resistance in Western Europe, Great Britain.  Conquering Britain was more difficult than Hitler had imagined.  Winston Churchill was now Prime Minister of Great Britain and he had inspired the British to stand up against the Germans.  Hitler’s invasion of Britain was given the code name Operation Sealion.  The initial plan was to land 160,000 German soldiers along a forty-mile coastal stretch of south-east England.  However, Hitler’s generals were concerned about the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the harm it could inflict upon the German army.  Hitler agreed to postpone the invasion until the RAF had been effectually incapacitated or destroyed.  On the 12th August, 1940, the Luftwaffe (German Air force) began its mass bomber attacks on British radar stations, aircraft factories and fighter airfields. During these raids radar stations and airfields were badly damaged and twenty-two RAF planes were destroyed. This attack was followed by daily raids on Britain. The climax of the Battle of Britain came on the 30th-31st August, 1940. The RAF were close to defeat when Hitler then changed his tactics and ordered  the Luftwaffe to switch its attack from British military targets to civilian targets in London.  This decision was the result of a bombing attack on Berlin by the British.  These air attacks, occurring between September 1940 and May 1941 are known as the London Blitz. As a result of the German Blitz, approximately 60,000 London civilians lost their lives and 60% of the homes were destroyed, while 87,000 civilians were injured.  The goal of the blitz was to terrorize the people of London into pressuring their government to surrender.  It didn’t work as the British resolve increased and more Germans began to lose their lives.  Hitler postponed his plans to invade Britain in May 1941, and began to focus on another front of the war.  

Hitler's Growing Power

Once Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, he quickly began to rebuild the German Military.  Eventually, he made no secret of his plans to rearm Germany, which was a direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles.  Despite its controversy, the action to rearm Germany went for the most part, unchallenged by the European Community.  In 1935, GB signed a new treaty with Germany allowing them to build submarines and warships under the guise of affording Germany the opportunity to defend itself from the threat of communism by the Soviet Union.  Hitler’s claim to rebuild to defend against communism was a smokescreen designed to hide the fact that Germany was planning to build a mighty German empire.

In addition to rebuilding the German military, in 1936, Hitler sent a small armed force to the Rhineland, a German territory that bordered France.  Hitler claimed this action was actually a reaction to  a French-Soviet military agreement that he claimed threatened Germany.  This Militarization of the Rhineland was yet another way that Hitler directly violated the treaty of Versailles, which required German troops and military to stay away from that particular region.  Although the French and British complained about Hitler’s actions, they took no direct action to stop the militarization of the Rhineland, therefore, troops remained in this region and Hitler became increasingly bold and powerful. 

 

In 1938, Hitler continued his quest to build a mighty Germany empire.  Knowing that Europe hoped to avoid another World War, Hitler continued his aggression, and this time aimed for Austria.  Hitler demanded that Austria accept annexation by Germany.  The Austrian Anschluss by Germany was successful as it became clear that Germany would take Austria by force if necessary.  Additionally, many Austrian people supported unification with Germany.  Germany formally took control of Austria in March 1938, when they marched into Austria, facing no opposition. 

Once Hitler had attained control over Austria, with little interference, he believed he was virtually untouchable.  He next set his sights on the Sudetenland,  a large German speaking population that lived in an area of Czechoslovakia.  The Sudetenland had been a part of the German Confederation and Germany until after WWI, when it was incorporated into the newly formed Czechoslovakia.  Although initially okay with being under Czech rule, once Hitler and the Nazi’s came to power, German speakers in the Sudetenland began to complain about Czech dominance and became eager to rejoin Germany.  The Czech government however, was not willing to turn over the Sudetenland.  Czechoslovakia believed that if it confronted Germany in a war, France would come to its aid.  Hitler agreed to meet with Chamberlain, and representatives from France and Czechoslovakia to work out an agreement.  Hitler threatened to invade Czechoslovakia unless they agreed to support his takeover of the Sudetenland.  The other representatives believed his demands were unfair and refused an initial compromise.  Hitler, however, knew that Great Britain and France did not want to go to war.  Mussolini suggested to Hitler that one way of solving this issue was to hold a four-power conference of Germany, Britain, France and Italy. This would exclude both Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union, and therefore increasing the possibility of reaching an agreement and undermine the solidarity that was developing against Germany. The meeting took place in Munich on 29th September, 1938. Desperate to avoid war, GB and France agreed that Germany could have the Sudetenland. In return, Hitler promised not to make any further territorial demands in Europe. On 29th September, 1938, German, Italy, Great Britain and France signed the Munich Agreement which transferred the Sudetenland to Germany. When Czechoslovakia protested at this decision, Great Britain told him that Britain would be unwilling to go to war over the issue of the Sudetenland. The German Army marched into the Sudetenland on 1st October, 1938. As this area contained nearly all Czechoslovakia's mountain fortifications, she was no longer able to defend herself against further aggression.

Great Britain’s Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain now believed that his policy of appeasement had avoided unnecessary war.  Other’s however, were not convinced and believed that allowing Germany to annex the Sudetenland would result in further aggression by Hitler. 

 

In the summer of 1939, Hitler reached an unlikely agreement with the Soviet Union.  The agreement was unlikely because the Fascist and Communists were strongly opposed to one another due to their radical differences.  Although the British and French were in formal talks with the Soviet Union to form an alliance due to their concerns over Hitler’s growing aggression, Stalin believed that the British and French would not provide the necessary back up if the Soviet Union was attacked.  Therefore, Stalin began secretly negotiating an agreement with Germany.  The Nazi Soviet Nonaggression Pact was formalized in August 1939 and each side agreed not to attack the other.  For the Nazi’s it allowed further expansion in Europe.  Additionally a secret part of the treaty agreed to divide up Poland into areas for the Germans and the Soviets.  The British and French were shocked at the revelation of this agreement and now realized that the only way to stop Hitler was through force. 

The Rise of Hitler and the Nazis

The conditions brought about by the Treaty of Versailles and the revenge enacted by the French afforded the perfect conditions for a totalitarian regime to come to power in Germany.  The German people were distrusting of their government and were humiliated by the terms of the treaty.  Adolf Hitler, who was born in Austria in 1889, had served in the German army during WWI.  During the 1920s he became embroiled with right wing activists and joined the Nationalist Socialist Party, aka the Nazis.  As a member of the Nazi party, Hitler, who had not been a particularly bright student, discovered that he had a natural gift for leadership.  This ability, coupled with his talent for public speaking, afforded him the opportunities necessary to become a key figure in the Nazi Party.  Hitler led an attempt to overthrow the Weimar Republic in 1923, known as the Beer Hall Putsch.  This effort failed and Hitler was sentenced to a short prison term, during which he wrote Mein Kampf, “My Struggle”.  In his book, he detailed his political ideas, among which were the ideas of nationalism and the racial superiority of the German people.  He also wrote about his belief that the Jews were a racial problem for Germany, which could not be corrected by conversion to another religion. Additionally, Hitler discussed other groups that he believed soiled the German race, including communists, and criminals. However, he did not see these groups as conspiring against the German state the way he viewed what he believed to be the conspiracy of the Jews.  

Hitler continued to work to gain power after his release from prison.  He found in his efforts an ally of sorts, the Great Depression, which had hit the German people hard.  Due to their financial crises Germans were searching for a strong leader who could alleviate their economic struggles and social desperation.  In Hitler, they found what they believed they were looking for.  He promised to improve their lives and rebuild the German military.  He propagandized about the mightiness of the German empire and the master race of the Aryan people.  As a result of his claims, the Nazis won new support from many German people, who were desperate to believe that the words spoken by Hitler were true.  As a result of Hitler’s efforts, the Nazis gained more and more power during the early 1930s. Although not the only political party in Germany at the time, the Nazis were the most popular and prominent.  Although he lost his election bid for President in 1932 to Paul Von Hindenburg, on January 30, 1933, he was appointed by Hindenburg as the chancellor of Germany, effectually ending the Weimar Republic and instituting the new era in German politics, Hitler's Third Reich.  Hitler quickly moved to dispel any and all opposition, beginning with signing the Reichstag Fire decree, which suspended the rights of German citizens, followed by the Enabling Act, which turned Germany into a Dictatorship.  The Nazi Party set about using propaganda to build an idealized and public image of Hitler, who was glorified as the Führer (leader).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuzf1aZyAag&feature=fvst

Leading to War

The Treaty of Versailles, which ended WWI, was not necessarily just or beneficial to all involved in the peace process and contained problems from its inception.  As a result of the German surrender in WWI coming a year earlier than anticipated, the Allied Powers were not unified in their strategy on how to handle a defeated Germany and its allies.  As a result of this ill preparedness, the attempted compromise did not work well for anyone. The Big 4 involved in the peace process, the United States, France, Great Britain, and Italy, had different expectations and goals when deciding peace after the war.  This caused major hurdles to be established at the beginning of the peace process.  

What did each victor want???

Representative	Country	Demands
Georges Clemenceau	France	to punish Germany and seek reparations for the damage caused by Germany during the war. From the beginning the French were out to make Germany pay because their country, industry and youth were decimated by the war.  This would effectually weakening Germany so they would never again be able to cause the amount of destruction as realized during WWI. Clemenceau took a belligerent tone from the beginning right through the end of the Paris peace settlement.  also wanted Germany to take full blame for the war.
David Lloyd George	Great Britain	ideologically between the USA and FRANCE in a request for a peace plan. Desiring reparations, while at the same time realizing that totally weakening Germany was not in the best interest of Europe as a whole.
Woodrow Wilson	USA	stabilization and peace in the world in an effort to promote world peace, delivered the Fourteen Points which called for a reduction of weapons, the right of self determination, and the proposal for a peace organization, the League of Nations, to ensure stability and peaceful solutions to conflicts between nations.

The immense changes which enveloped Germany after WWI allowed Hitler to rise to power in a time of political conflict and instability.  In 1919, at the conclusion of WWI, a new parliamentary republic was formed in Germany.  This new government, called the Weimar Republic for the German city where the new constitutional asssembly took place, was immensely unpopular with the German people.  Blamed for Germany's loss and subsequent harsh punishment through the Treaty of Versailles, the Weimar Republic, took over at a time when the German economy was overwhelmed by inflation and the German Mark was virtually worthless. 

As time progressed, Germany was left to its own devices, as occupation ended earlier than specified in the Treaty of Versailles. In addition, the supervision of disarmament in Germany was abandoned and financially, the reparations agreed upon under the peace agreement were eventually either reduced or cancelled. Despite the fact that in the early 1920s the German economy saw a small mark of improvement, the late 1920s again brought economic devastation to the German economy as the Great Depression spread throughout Europe.  These increased economic problems brought with them increased political and social chaos within Germany. 

Inevitably the peace agreement that was supposed to prevent another war on the catastrophic level of WWI, led to the emergence of the problems that fostered in WWII. Was the Treaty of Versailles successful, I argue no. Twenty years after its inception, a war on a much grander scale would occur as a result of the deficiencies leveled in the WWI peace settlement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKzZ1OwPXgk&feature=related