The+Start+of+World+War+Two


 * __Therese Long__**

A secret meeting took place deep in the heart of Nazi Germany on November 5, 1937. Hitler assured the ambassador that Germany would respect Poland's territory on its eastern border. He started by swearing those present to secrecy. He believed there could only be one possible answer and he figured that Germany must soon seize Eastern Europe. They provided a picture of the threat and headed down the road to war. Hitler wanted to destroy his major enemies in Europe, who had just struggled to recover and rebuild following World War One.

British prime minister, Neville Chamberlain , believed that his policy towards Hitler of appeasement , or giving into aggressive demands to maintain peace , had prevented the outbreak of needless war. Others believed that Hitler was not going to stop after gaining the sudentenland, as he had promised Chamberlain. In 1939 Hitler sent his troops into Czechoslovakia. Now even Chamberlain realized that Hitler could not be trusted, and his aggression was far from over. His next move was to build alliances, he hoped they would help him in the future. But first, he established a pact with Italy. Then in August of 1939 he announced a nonaggression pact with Stalin's Soviet Union. With this pact, Hitler won Stalin's agreement to stay out of Germany's way.

Hitler wanted more land, especially in the East , to expand Germany according to the Nazi policy. Hitler used the harsh limitations that were set against Germany in the Versailles Treaty as a pretext for Germany's right to aquire land where German - speaking people lived. Germany successfully used this reasoning to envelop two entire countries without starting a war. In Austria : On march 13, 1938 , Germany took over **Austria** - a contigeny specifically disallowed in the versailles treaty. **Czechoslovakia :** At the Munich conference on september 28-29 ,1938, the french and the british handed Germany a large portion of Czechoslovakia.

On August 31, 1939 , Nazi's took an unknown prisoner from one of their concentration camps , dressed him up , and took him to Gleiwitz , thenshot him. Hitler used this staged attack as an excuse to invade Poland. The German troops immediately launched a massive invasion on Poland. On September 3, 1939 , Great Britain and France declared war on Germany.They were called Allies. They had been forming their own strategy. Instead of attacking Germany, they waited on Hitler's next move. They became surprised when Germany did not attack during the winter of 1939 - 1940. This period became known as the Sitzkrieg. The Germans were busy making their plans on their next attack.

After the German leaders were busy making plans, The lull in the fighting ended April 1940. Hitler sent his forces to Denmark and Norway. The Germans finally made their strike towards France in May 1940. While Hitler's troops were capturing the Netherlands and Belgium, more German soldiers were carrying out the planned surprise attack through the Ardennes. Now Great Britain stood alone against what appeared to be an unstoppable German war machine.

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