Post WWI to WWII Quiz 2

The SA

Also known as the storm troopers or "brown shirts", was the Nazi's paramillitary group. Many of their activities were done outside the law, and thus allowed them to perform acts of terror on the German population.

The SS

Originally the personal bodyguards of Hitler, they grew into the Nazi party's elite guard. The leader, Heinrich Himmler, believed them to be the racial and millitary peak of Germany. They served as the chief means of violence and terror during Nazi rule, managing the concentration camps, and spied on German citizens.

Gestapo

German secret police who spied on the public to find those who opposed the Nazi regime.

Munich Conference

1938 conference at which European leaders attempted to appease Hitler by turning over the Sudetenland to him in exchange for promise that Germany would not expand Germany's territory any further.

German Rearmament

1935 - As soon as Hitler gained power he mobilized society, military, and the economy to focus on rearming the millitary. He claims these actions are compeltely defensive

Rhineland Remillitarization

1936 - Rhineland is invaded and remillitarized by Hitler and the newly rearmed German forces.

Anschluss

1938 - German invasion of Austria, after which the country was annexed into Germany via vote. This vote was unfair however, with supervised votes resulting in an impossibly overwhelming majority.

Sudetenland

An area in western Czechoslovakia that was coveted by Hitler in 1938, due to him claiming that the German peoples there are being oppressed, but most likely coveted the vast resources in the Sudetenland. This led to the Munich Conference.

Munich Agreement

Agreement between Chamberlain and Hitler that Germany would not conquer any more land, and if did, would declare war

Invasion of Poland

Germany invaded, breaking their agreement, so Britain and France declared war, starting World War II

Blitzkrieg

"Lighting war", typed of fast-moving warfare used by German forces against Poland in 1939, where weak points in the enemy defenses are targeted and attacked via a spear formation

Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Treaty

1939 - Agreement between Hitler and Stalin to not attack each other. Both sides knew all along that it would be broken by Hitler, by Stalin used it to by time to rebuild his military. In addition it secretly detailed how Russia and Germany would split up the Eastern European countries.

Dachau Concentration Camp