the battles begin
TRANSCRIPT
Sudetenland
Rhineland
GERMANY
FRANCE
ITALY
UNION OF SOVIETSOCIALIST REPUBLICS
GREATBRITAIN
POLAND
ROMANIA
AUSTRIASWITZ.
ALBANIA
DENMARK
TURKEY
SPAIN
IRELAND
NORWAY SWEDEN
HUNGARY
YUGOSLAVIA
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
BULGARIA
ATLANTICOCEAN
Black Sea
Mediterranean Sea Axis PowersAxis control
N
S
EW
Pre-war Expansion
264
The Battles BeginFighting Before the War
Even before World War II officially began, many countries were fighting. In 1935 Italy invaded Ethiopia. Just two years later Japan invaded China. In 1938 Germany took over Austria. The two countries did not fight, but many Austrians wanted their country to be free. Then in 1938 and 1939, even more trouble occurred.
First, Adolf Hitler demanded that Germans in Czechoslovakia be allowed to join Germany. France and Great Britain had promised to help Czechoslovakia. Instead, they let Hitler take pieces of the country. But that was not enough for Hitler. In March 1939 he took over the entire country.
Hitler next wanted to conquer Poland. But the USSR to Poland’s east also wanted some of the country.