A POWDER KEG WORLD By 1939 global politics was chaotic It was akin to a powder keg with several slowly burning fuses attached At any moment one of these fuses could cause it to explode into war The leaders of the world's most powerful nations saw a new world war on the horizon One contributing factor to the war was the Treaty of Versailles which had ended World War I 1914-1918 This treaty had harshly punished Germany for its role in the war barring it from building up another strong military Historian A. J. P. Taylor later noted that the treaty's weakness was that it did not include any way for its provisions to be enforced Instead it relied on German cooperation Once Hitler became the leader of Germany in 1933 that cooperation stopped Hitler with his vision of Lebensraum or living space for Germany tried to build a massive German empire In March 1938 he annexed neighboring Austria TREATY OF VERSAILLES Some historians believe the Treaty of Versailles which ended World War I was a major contributing factor to World War II Among its provisions was the removal of German territories including the port city of Danzig and the area of Alsace Lorraine It also cut the German army to 100,000 soldiers reduced the German navy to 36 ships and no submarines and banned Germany from possessing an air force The treaty required Germany to accept total blame for the war and to pay large sums of money in reparations German public opinion was against the treaty Political groups including the fascist nationalist Nazis rose to prominence by denouncing the treaty 10
Large crowds greeted Chamberlain upon his return to the United Kingdom He then threatened Czechoslovakia Many ethnic Germans lived in a section of Czechoslovakia known as the Sudetenland and Hitler wanted to seize this land for Germany Desperate to avoid war British and French officials met with him in Munich at the end of September and agreed he could take the Sudetenland No Czechoslovakian representatives were present Hitler claimed this would be his final territorial request When British prime minister Neville Chamberlain 11
returned home he said I believe the Munich Agreement is peace for our time This peace ended up lasting less than a year On September 1 1939 Germany invaded Poland beginning World War II THE WORLD AT WAR In response to the invasion of Poland France and the United Kingdom declared war on Germany on September 3 1939. Two weeks later thanks to a secret portion of a nonaggression pact between the Soviet Union and Germany the Soviets invaded Poland Initially the war went well for Germany BLITZKRIEG Hitler unleashed his blitzkrieg or The key to the German army's early success lightning war against the Poles who could in World War II was blitzkrieg and the key to do little against the massed German tanks blitzkrieg was speed The idea behind blitzkrieg and planes Warsaw the Polish capital was to use fast mechanized vehicles to race surrendered on September 27. Germany through the front lines and attack the enemy's rear areas where vital communication and and the Soviet Union led by Joseph supply links could be disrupted Then the Stalin divided the conquered country main body of troops would sweep through between them and attack what was left often a confused After several months of little activity and disorganized mass of soldiers Germany's a period known as the Phony War opponents were unprepared for blitzkrieg leading to early German successes during Germany sprang to life in the spring of the war 1940 and invaded Norway Denmark Belgium Holland and France Several of the defenders including French commander Charles De Gaulle put up 12
a strong resistance but they all fell to Germany Chamberlain who had sadly misjudged Hitler resigned his position on May 10 1940. Winston Churchill replaced him as the United Kingdom's prime minister Churchill assumed control of a nation that now stood alone against the Nazis From mid July through the end of October the German air force the Luftwaffe bombed the United Kingdom Germany hoped to pave the way for a land invasion But the British Royal Air Force RAF fought back fiercely preventing Germany from controlling the skies over the United Kingdom The invasion never occurred On September 22 1940 Germany Italy and Japan entered into an alliance with the signing of the Tripartite Pact The three countries became known as the Axis powers On June 22 1941 Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa a surprise invasion of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union immediately switched to the British side and fought back On December 7 1941 Japan attacked the US military base at Pearl Harbor Hawaii More than 2,000 Americans died Pressured by his nation's powerful military Japanese emperor Hirohito had approved the attack The United States had been technically neutral though it had been supplying the United Kingdom with aid After Pearl Harbor US president Franklin D. Roosevelt asked the US Congress to declare war on Japan It did so immediately Several days later Japan's ally Germany declared war on the United States The United States was now at war on two continents The United States the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom were known as the Allies 13
