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Rhineland
- March 7, 1936, Hitler sent troops to Rhineland
- Rhineland was declared as demilitarized by the ToV
- France had the right to fight for Rhineland, but they wouldn't unless they had British support, and Great Britain didn't support
- Britain viewed the attack of German territory by German troops as a reasonable action of dissatisfied power
- Britain said the Germans were only "going into their own back garden"
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Appeasement
- A policy based on the belief that is European states satisfied the reasonable;e demands of unsatisfied powers, the unsatisfied powers would be content and stable and Europe would have peace
- Great Britain practiced this when Rhineland was attacked by Hitler
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Rome-Berlin Axis
- Hitler allied with Mussolini
- Mussolini wanted to create a new Roman Empire in the Mediterranean
- Hitler had helped Fascists invade Ethiopia in October 1935
- 1936, Germany and Italy sent troops to help Franco in the Spanish Civil War
- The Rome-Berlin Axis was the alliance between Germany and Italy
- Germany and Japan signed the Anit-Comintern Pact which was against communism
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Anschluss
- Hitler made an Anschluss, or union, with Austria in 1938
- The new govn invited German troops to enter Austria and helped reinforce law and order
- One day later, Hitler annexed Austria to Germany
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Munich Conference
- Hitler wanted to destruct Czechoslovakia
- Sept 15, 1938, Hitler demanded Sudetenland would be given to Germany
- Hitler arranged the Munich Conference
- British, French, German, and Italian representatives didn't object to Hitler's plans
- German troops were allowed to occupy Czechoslovakia after Hitler and Chamberlain (Great Britain) had created an appeasement
- Hitler promised Chamberlain that he would not make any more demands (like many others, he believed Hitler)
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Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact
- Hitler feared the Soviet Union and the West might make an alliance and create a two-front war for Germany
- August 23, 1939, Germany and the USSR signed the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact and promised not to attack each other
- Because Hitler was going to fight the Soviet Union anyway, it didn't matter what he promised Stalin
- Sept 1, Germany attacked Poland, and two days later, France and Britain attacked Germany
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Manchuria
- Sept 1931, Japan seized Manchuria since it had natural resources Japan needed
- Was carried out by the Japs disguised as Chinese
- Japan w/drew from the LoN when he investigators issued a report preventing the seizure
- The next several years, Japan strengthened its hold on Manchuria, later renamed Manchukuo, and began to expand northern China
- Us refused to recognize Japs takeover of Manchuria but was unwilling to threaten force
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Economic Sanctions
- Restrictions intended to enforce international law
- Japan badly needed oil and scrap iron from US
- They decided to launch a surprise attack on the US and European colonies in Southeast Asia
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Blitzkrieg
- "Lightening war"
- Hitler used panzer divisions to attack Poland swiftly and efficiently
- The forced broke quickly through Polish lines and encircled Polish troops
- Sept 28, 1939, Germany and USSR divided Poland
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Maginot Line
- A series of concrete and steel fortifications armed w/ heavy artillery along France's border w/ Germany
- German panzer divisions broke French defensive positions and races across northern France
- French and British forces were surprised when Germany went around the Maginot Line instead of across, which split Allied armies and trapped French troops and the entire British army
- June 22, French signed an armistice and German armies occupied about 3/5ths of France
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Isolationism
- Pres Franklin D. Roosevelt denounced aggressors, but the US followed a strict policy of isolationism
- Prevented the US from taking sides or being involved in any European wars
- Roosevelt felt the acts encouraged Axis aggression and wanted acts removed
- They were slowly relaxed as the US supplied food, ships, planes, and weapons to Britain
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Battle of Britain
- The Luftwaffe (German air force) bombed the British air and naval bases, harbors, communication centers, and war industries
- British fought back w/ radar systems that gave them advatage
- Hitler hoped to break British morale, but the British were able to rebuild their air strength quickly
- Soon the British were harming the Luftwaffe bombers
- Hitler postponed the invasion indefinitely at the end of Sept
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Invasion of the Soviet Union
- Hitler believed he USSR had a weak army and could be defeated quickly
- The invasion was delayed, so Hitler ended up invading June 1941, thinking the Soviet Union would be defeated before winter
- Battle stretched out for 1,800 miles and Germans advanced rapidly and captured 2 million Russian soldiers
- An early winter and fierce Soviet resistance had stopped German advance
- A counterattack in Dec 1941 by Soviets came as an ominous ending to the year for the Germans
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Pearl Harbor
- Dec 7, 1941, Japs aircraft attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and the same day, other Japs launched assaults on the Philippines and began advancing towards Malaya
- Spring 1942, almost all of Southeast Asia and much of western Pacific had been conquered
- Japan had hoped the attack at US bases would destroy the US fleet in the Pacific and the US would accept their domination, but BOY WERE THEY WRONG!
- This attack had caused Americans to be involved w/ war and joined Europe and China to defeat Japan
- Four days later, German and US were at war and it had turned into a global war, WWII
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Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
- Japan declared a community of nations that would be under Japs rule
- Japs announced they would liberate colonial areas of Southeast Asia from Western rule
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Unconditional Surrender
- Required Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, Japan) to surrender w/o any favorable condition
- 1943, Allies (US, Great Britain, Soviet Union) agreed to fight until Axis Powers surrendered unconditionally
- It cemented the Great Alliance by making it nearly impossible for Hitler to divide his foes
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Erwin Rommel
- Nicknamed "Desert Fox" and commanded Reich's Afrika Korps
- His tactics helped the Germans break through British defenses in Egypt and advance through Alexandria
- British forces stopped Rommel's troops at El Alamein and Germans retreated
- Nov 1942, US and British forces invaded French North Africa and forced German and Italian troops to surrender May 1943
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Battle of Stalingrad
- Between Nov 1942 and Feb 1943, Hitler decided to takeover Stalingrad, which became the most terrible battle of the war
- German troops were stopped and surrounded and supply lines were cut off during winter
- Hitler knew that he could not take over Soviet Union after that
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Battle of the Coral Sea
May 7-8, 1942, US naval forced stopped Japs advance and saved Australia from invasion
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Battle of Midway
- June 4, Asia came to Midway Island
- US planes destroyed four attacking Japs aircraft carriers and defeated Japs navy
- Fall 1942, Allied forces in Asia gathered two operations
- 1) Commanded by Douglas MacArthur and would move into the Philippines through New Guinea and South Pacific Islands
- 2) Would move across Pacific w/ a combination if US Army, Marine, and Navy attacks on Japs-held islands
- Japs fortunes were fading after a series of bitter battles
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