APUSH Notes of 4/1

WWII Europe September 1939-1940

Hitler gathered his Northern flank and invaded Denmark and Norway (who was seen as powerful)

Finland during WWII

1939, Soviets attempted to invade Finland (and did for some parts), but had 380,000 casualties because of the cruel winter (Winter War).

Hitler was emboldened to invade USSR ahead of schedule, as he thought they were weak.

France & Low Countries

Hitler had a period of time (sitzkrieg) where his Nazi forces didn’t do anything. He then focused his forces on France, who was a powerful Allied Power, startling many Americans.

The Fall of France

France fell in 47 days, mainly because there was a General in Vichy France who had all of the attack plans. He was pro-nazi, and handed the plans to Hitler, leading to France crashing and burning.

Charles DeGaulle

Led the French forces against the Nazi regime and French Nazis (Vichy), and later became president

Operation Sea Lion, The Battle of Britain

June-October 1940, Hitler tried invading Britain, but Britain had a powerful air force

Lebensraum

Hitler’s idea that Germany needed to expand into the USSR in his Book Mein Kampf

The USSR

Hitler tries to invade USSR by taking Ukraine and go down to the Crimean Oil fields, and the Red Army was close to falling.

Holocaust/Racial Extermination in Ukraine

General Plan Ost was initiated, killing any differing ethnicities and races with Einstazgruppen, used for mass murder

The Battle of Stalingrad, August 1942-February 1943

This battle was a turning point, as many German soldiers died in the bad Soviet winter, and great battle between Stalin’s forces and the Nazi forces.

The Germans ended up withdrawing

US entrance to WWII

December 7th Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor was followed by attacks on Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia, so America steps in

The Soft Underbelly plan

Churchill believed the best approach was to land in North Africa and move to take Italy and Mussolini. The only issue was that the Nazi’s had Erwin Rommel, who was their best general. Luckily, we had George Patton to match him, who knew all of his books (plans)

The fall of Italy 1943-1944

This was the final step, as Mussolini was on his decline, and Churchill knew we would be able to KO Italy if we defeated them in WWII b/c there would be less support for Mussolini.

As Allied Powers went up the peninsula, Italian forces did not fight (unless they were Nazis, in which case they did)

The fall of Italy meant the loss of 1/3 of the Axis power.