1935 1936 Germany remilitarizes Hitler visits a factory

1935 -1936 Germany remilitarizes Hitler visits a factory and is enthusiastically greeted. Many Germans were grateful for jobs after the misery of he depression years.

1935 -1936 Germany remilitarizes • Hitler announces new Air Force • Compulsory Military Service • Troops enter the Rhineland League of Nations lodges a formal protest.

1935 Italy Invades Ethiopia • Ethiopian Forces cannot stop the invasion • Ethiopia Annexed • Rome-Berlin Axis formed League of Nations imposes trade sanctions on Italy. U. S. refuses to do so…

1936 -1939 Spanish Civil War • Francisco Franco leads a military rebellion in Spain • Italy and Germany send supplies, weapons and troops • Franco wins and sets up a totalitarian dictatorship

Some U. S. volunteers fight but congress passes Neutrality Acts keeping the U. S. from getting involved…

1937 Japanese troops massacre civilians in Nanjing • Japanese army invades Nanjing • 300, 000 dead • 20, 000 women raped • “Rape of Nanjing” Roosevelt calls for “quarantine” against aggressive nations like Japan invades Vietnam, Formosa, Korea, much of China and several Pacific Islands…

1938 German Anschluss with Austria • Hitler pressures the Austrian Government to join with Germany. • March – troops cross border without opposition League of Nations lodges a formal protest.

1939 Germany invades Czechoslovakia • Hitler claims that Germans need I Bring You “Lebensraum” – Living Space Peace In Our • Wants to join the “Sudetenland” of Time! Southern Czechoslovakia with Germany – threatens to invade • British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signs the Munich Pact September, 1938 • Troops enter the Sudetenland…

On March 15, 1939… • Hitler invades the rest of Czechoslovakia… Britain and France warn them not to invade anyone else…

1939 Germany Attacks Poland • Early ‘ 39 Germany signs a “non-aggression” Pact with the Soviet-Union! (we thought Hitler hated Communism…) • Pact allows German forces to invade Poland without Soviet interference • Blitzkrieg tactics • Soviets invade from the East

• September 1, 1939 Germany invades Poland! France and Britain declare war on Germany. They are helpless to prevent the takeover of Poland… World War II BEGINS…

1940 Germany Invades Low Countries and France • Hitler moves troops to Germanys western borders. • He attacked and captured Denmark, Netherlands and Belgium • Invades France trapping British and French troops • Italy declares war on France and England

Reaction! • Britain sends every boat possible to evacuate trapped allied forces at Dunkirk • FRANCE SURRENDERS!

1940 Germany attacks Britain (Battle of Britain) • German planes flew raids against British ports, airfields and industry • Later, bombing targets shift to large cities

British fighter pilots shoot down more than 600 aircraft. British citizens withstood bombing raids. U. S. begins sending aid to Britain under the Lend-Lease act

1941 Japan attacks Pearl Harbor • 300 Japanese bombers and fighter planes attack the U. S. military base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii • They cripple the U. S. fleet, damaging or sinking 18 ships and 300 aircraft

reaction! • The Next Day, President Roosevelt asks Congress to declare war on Japan