One of Europe’s first dictatorships arose in Italy. In 1919 Benito Mussolini found Italy’s Fascist Party. By 1922, Mussolini would seize power and he worked quickly to setup a dictatorship.

Vladimir Lenin established communists governments throughout the Russian Empire. In 1922, they renamed these territories the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Lenin died in 1924 and Stalin replaced him after a power struggle. Stalin began to industrialize the country and proved to be a very brutal dictator.

Adolf Hitler joined the Nazi Party shortly after World War I.

In 1923, Hitler and the Nazi Part tried to seize power in Germany which failed. While in prison, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle).

By 1932, the Nazis were the largest part in Reichstag which led to Hitler being named Chancellor the next year. Hitler also moved quickly to establish a dictatorship in Germany.

In 1934 Hitler became president, which gave him control over the military. He then gave himself the new title of Der Fuhrer, or “The Leader.”

Military leaders seized power in Japan during the 1920’s.

In 1931, the Japanese army invaded Manchuria, a resource-rich region of northern China.

The Japanese lacked natural resources and had population issues.

World War II Started in Asia in 1937 when the Japanese invaded the rest of China.

The United States followed a policy of Isolationism.

The United States passed three neutrality laws during the late 1930’s.

Roosevelt was an internationalist who believed the United States should be more actively involved in events in Europe and Asia.

In 1935 Hitler began to defy the Treaty of Versailles that had ended World War II. Germany started to build a new air force and draft men into the military.

Hitler called for the unification of German speaking people into one nation.

Hitler occupied the Rhineland in 1936. Hitler sent troops into Austria in March

1939.

Hitler then announced German claims to the Sudetenland, and area of Czechoslovakia.

At the Munich Conference, Britain and France gave into Hitler’s demands that came to be known as appeasement.

In March 1939, Hitler invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia.

Hitler then demanded territory in Poland. France and Great Britain said an attack upon Poland would mean war.

Germany signs a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union in August, 1939 which shocks the world.

Hitler invades Poland on September 1, 1939. Great Britain and France declare war on Germany. World War II begins in Europe.

The Germans develop a new type of warfare called the blitzkrieg or “lightning warfare.”

By October 5, 1939, the Germans had defeated the Polish military.

The Germans do not attack western Europe during late 1939 and early 1940. The lull in the fighting is known as sitzkrieg or “phony war.”

On May 10, 1940, Hitler launched a new blitzkrieg on western Europe.

The British are able to save over 330,000 troops at Dunkirk. The miracle at Dunkirk was a military blunder by the Germans and saved a substantial British force to fight another day.

On June 22, 1940, the French surrender to the Germans. The British are now alone to face the Nazi threat in Western Europe.

Winston Churchill becomes the new Prime Minister of Great Britain and rallies the British people to resist the German threat to their country.

Hitler then prepared for an invasion of Great Britain.

Against overwhelming odds, the Royal Air Force (RAF) is able to inflict heavy losses on the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain.

Hitler calls off the invasion of Great Britain.

Winston Churchill

The Fall of France 1940

RAF “Battle of Britain”

The Holocaust was the deliberate extermination of European Jews and others that the Nazis considered inferior.

By the war’s end, the Nazis were responsible for mass murdering 12 million people, including 6 million Jews.

We will watch a video dealing with the Holocaust on Friday.

After Hitler and the nazis came to power, they passed Nuremberg Laws that took citizenship away from Jewish Germans and banned marriage between Jews and other Germans.

Kristallnacht was a series of attacks that were led by the Nazis against the German population in Germany.

Jewish rights in Germany are eliminated by the Nazis.

The Gestapo began rounding up Jewish citizens and took away their property and businesses.

After the Nazis seized territory in Europe, they began targeting the Jewish populations in those countries.

In Poland, Jews were either sent to the ghettos or concentration camps.

On January 20, 1942, Nazis leaders met at the Wannsee Conference and established the “final solution” to the Jewish question.

The Nazis established extermination camps where they planned to eliminate the Jewish population and other “undesirables.”

1. How did the Nazis come to power in Germany?

2. What event was the height of appeasement by Great Britain and France towards Germany?

3. What was blitzkrieg? 4. What event started the war in Europe? 5. What was the “miracle at Dunkirk?” 6. What was the result of the “Battle of

Britain?”