KEY FIGURES OF 8 WORLD WAR II The political consequences of World War II like those of World War I altered the course of 20th century world history The war resulted in the Soviet Union's dominance of the countries of eastern Europe and eventually enabled a communist move ment to take power in China It also marked a deci sive shift of power away from the countries of west ern Europe and toward the United States and the Soviet Union The tense rivalry between those two countries and their allies known as the Cold War would influence events throughout the world for the next 50 years As is the case with all wars the political and military leaders of the countries involved helped determine the outcome of World War II The first chapters of this book offer a year by year account of the major events in the war while the following ones contain profiles of some of the most important fig ures from both sides of the war However it is worth remembering that the war s outcome also depended on the action of many less well known leaders as well as countless soldiers politicians and
CHAPTER ONE EARLY STAGES OF THE WAR the outbreak of World War II followed a series of warlike acts between 1931 and 1939 by Japan Italy and Germany The League of Nations proved ineffective in halting the aggression of Japan in China the Italian invasion of Ethiopia and the German takeover of Austria Britain and France agreed to let the German dictator Adolf Hitler and the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini take the territories they wanted The British and French hoped this policy of appeasement would prevent another war On September 30 1938 Britain and France agreed in Munich to let Germany have a part of Czechoslovakia called the Sudeten land Hitler said this would be his last territorial demand in Europe In March 1939 Hitler broke this pact taking over the rest of Czechoslova kia This ended the British and French policy of appeasement Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain of Great Britain and Premier Edouard Daladier of France promised aid to Poland in case of a Nazi
KEY FIGURES OF 10 WORLD WAR I attack Hitler soon demanded the return of Danzig Gdansk to Germany and a strip of territory link ing East Prussia with the rest of Germany Poland refused In May 1939 Germany and Italy signed a pact pledging to support each other in war Hitler and other German leaders believed Germany lost World War I because it had to fight on two fronts To prevent this in a new war Hitler and the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin signed a ten year nonaggres sion pact on August 23 1939 On September 1 Germany annexed Danzig and invaded Poland and the war began THE WAR DURING 1939 On September 3 1939 two days after the invasion of Poland Britain and France demanded that Germany withdraw its troops When Germany refused Britain and France declared war on Germany THE CONQUEST OF POL AND AN D THE PHONY WAR C The Poles were easily defeated by Germany s blitz krieg or lightning war The first day the German Luftwaffe air force destroyed Poland s airfields and bases Within a week it had crippled the lines of communication At the same time German
EARLY STAGES OF THE WAR 11 panzer armored and mechanized divisions encir cled the Polish armies The Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland on September 17 Poland was soon forced to surren der Germany and the Soviet Union divided Poland between them Some Polish government officials soldiers pilots and naval units managed to escape the swift Nazi and Soviet advances They fled to Britain where they continued the fight against Germany with the Allies After Poland's defeat the Western Front saw little fighting for about six months This period is known as the phony war The war at sea however was active Germany launched a counter blockade against the British German submarines U boats mines and bombs sank many Allied merchant and passenger ships SOVIE T FINNISH WAR The Soviet Union invaded Finland on November 30 Finland had refused to give the Soviets mili tary bases The large Soviet army was expected to defeat tiny Finland quickly The Finns however held off the Soviets for several months Finland's Mannerheim Line of fortifications was finally broken through early in 1940 On March 12 Finland signed a peace treaty that gave the Soviet Union important Finnish
