HITLER’S EARLY FOREIGN POLICY

1. HITLER’S EARLY FOREIGN POLICY • Mein Kampf (My Struggle) • Need to takeover Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland • Conquest of Eastern Europe and Soviet Union for lebenstraum • Need to defeat France • Future war with U.S.

2. CAUTIOUS AT FIRST • WHY DID WEST NOT TAKE STEPS TO STOP HITLER WHEN THEY HAD THE CHANCE? • At first he acted cautiously • Talked of desire for peace • Never had predetermined timetable • Took advantage of opportunities as they arose, avoided risks, and accepted success when it occurred • Emphasized desire to avoid war • Stressed that all he wanted to do was make fair changes to Versailles Treaty

3. 1935-1938 • 1935: announced he would rebuild German military • 1936: reoccupies Rhineland • 1938: invades and takes over Austria (Anschluss) • Holds plebiscite to justify takeover • 1938: demands Sudeteland region of Czechoslovakia

4. MUNICH CRISIS 1931 • Demands Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia • Neville Chamberlain gives in to him at Munich (1938) – epitome of appeasement • Chamberlain receives promise that Hitler will leave rest of Czechoslovakia alone • Hitler breaks promise after a few months • Great Britain and France make up minds to stand up to Hitler next time –when he begins to demand territory from Poland

5. DEAL WITH STALIN • Hitler signs Non-Aggression Pact with Stalin • Soviet Union would not interfere with Nazi invasion of Poland • Soviet Union received eastern third of Poland and free hand in the Baltic in exchange

6. WAR • Nazis invade Poland on September 1, 1939 • France and Great Britain declare war on Germany and Italy on September 3, 1939 • But then do nothing concrete to help Poland • Sit behind Maginot Line in France and wait for Hitler to attack them

7. PEARL HARBOR • When Japan announces intention to conquer Malaya and Indonesia, U.S. cuts off oil exports • Japan feels threatened by U.S. and links up with Germany and Italy • Convinced that U.S. is out to destroy Japanese economy, Japan makes up mind to go ahead with conquest anyway • Realizing this will result in war with U.S., Japan decided to strike first and cripple American Pacific Fleet • Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941

8. 1940 • Nazi conquer Poland in six weeks using blitzkreigtactics • Phony War (September 1939 – Spring 1940) • Hitler invades and captures Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, and Belgium • June 1940: Nazis conquer France • Puppet government installed in south (Vichy Regime) • Nazis take direct control of northern France and Paris

9. BATTLE OF BRITAIN • Hitler needs control of skies above English Channel in preparation for invasion • Massive battle for air supremacy between German luftwaffe and British RAF (Royal Air Force) • Germans would have succeeded if Hitler had sustained attack • Switched to indiscriminate bombing of civilian centers • British hang on • Led by Winston Churchill

10. INVASION OF SOVIET UNIONJUNE 1941 • BEFORE BRITAIN IS FINISHED OFF, HITLER INVADES SOVIET UNION • INTIALLY SUCCESSFUL BECAUSE STALIN IS UNPREPARED • GERMANS FAIL TO ACHIEVE THREE PRIME OBJECTIVES BEFORE WINTER HITS • Capture of Leningrad • Capture of Moscow • Capture of southern oil fields

11. THE NEW ORDER • BASED ON RACISM • HIERARCHY OF RACES CREATED • Slavs close to bottom –subhumans • Jews at very bottom –marked for complete extermination • FINAL SOLUTION • Cold-blooded murder of every Jew in Europe • Extermination camps set up in Poland • Auschwitz • 12,000 people killed per day • Six million Jews killed • Two million others (gypsies, homosexuals, communists, and other “undesirables”) murdered

12. THE NEW ORDER: IMAGES

13. GRAND ALLIANCE • United States • Great Britain • Soviet Union • Unbelievable potential military strength • Rebuilt and relocated industry after 1941 • Stalin appealed to patriotism (not ideology) • Helped by growing resistance movements in Nazi-occupied countries • And by “governments-in-exile” of defeated countries • Such as “Free French,” headed by Charles De Gaulle in London

14. THE TIDE TURNS IN THE EAST • NAZIS RENEW INVASION OF RUSSIA –SPRING 1942 • BATTLE OF STALINGRAD • June 1942 • Red Army wins • Germans suffer huge losses and lose momentum • Red Army goes on offensive, one that will eventually lead to “liberation” of Eastern Europe and capture of Berlin in 1945

15. TIDE TURNS IN THE WEST I • Americans and British invade and capture North Africa from Germans and Italians (1942-1943) • Allies invade Sicily in July 1943 and then Italy in September 1943 • Italians surrender but Germans send reinforcements • Allied progress through Italy towards Germany difficult and slow

16. TIDE TURNS IN THE WEST II • Allies launch long-delayed cross-Channel invasion of France • D-Day June 6, 1944 • Move east through France towards Germany • Germans try one last attempt to stop Allied advance –Battle of the Bulge (November-December 1944) • Allies invade from West; Soviet Union from the East • Hitler commits suicide as Red Army approaches Berlin and Germany surrenders on May 7, 1945

17. PACIFIC THEATER • Americans regain control of Pacific • Battle of Coral Sea (May 1942) • Battle of Midway (June 1943) • Begin “island hopping” campaign • Capture string of islands leading to Japan • Battle of Okinawa (June 1945) brings U.S. with 400 miles of Japan

18. THE START OF THE ATOMIC AGE • Japan beaten but won’t surrender • Invasion of Japan would take at least a year • Estimated one million American casualties • Estimated three million Japanese casualties • America decides to drop atomic bomb on Hiroshima • Japan still doesn’t surrender; another atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki • Japan surrenders in early September 1945