European Theater ID’s

Italy Invades Ethiopia

-Mussolini invaded conquering it in 1936. The league of Nations failed to take any effective action against Mussolini in the US just looked on appeasement

-Ethiopia/ Abyssinia, 1935 to 1936

1935 neutrality act

-band arms shipments to any country where a state of war existed

-Also, he could forbid US citizens from traveling on vessels of such countries except at their own risk

-The act did not prohibit the sale of steel copper or oil

-USA in 1935

Spanish Civil War

-Spain had established a leftist democratic government in the 1930s. The Civil War between loyalist Republican forces and Franco’s fascist party later resulted.

-The US France and Britain offered no official assistance to either side, but American volunteers the Abraham Lincoln parade assisted the loyalists

-Fascists win

-Spain 1936 in 1939

1936 neutrality act

-give the president the authority to determine when a state of war existed and prohibited loans to belligerents

-USA 1936

Militarization of the Rhineland

-Germany violates the treaty of Versailles by entering a demilitarized zone with his army

-Germany, March 1936

1937 neutrality act with cash and carry clause

-civil War is qualified as wars and fell under the act Spain

-Band arm sales to belligerence

-President could ban other materials as well

-Cash and Carry: Belligerent nations could trade for other materials than arms as long as they pay cash and transport the goods on non-American ships. FDR knew this would only the allies since they had the cash and the ships were not subject to a blockade like the Germans.

-USA, May 1937

Anschluss

-Hitler invades Austria and United States with Germany

-Violation of the treaty of Versailles

-Austria, March 1938

The Sudetenland and the Munich conference

• Hitler wanted to annex the Sudetenland, a portion of Czechoslovakia whose inhabitants were mostly German-speaking. On September 29, Germany, Italy, France, and Great Britain signed the Munich Pact, which gave Germany the Sudetenland.

• British Prime Minister Chamberlain justified the fact with the belief that appeasing Germany would prevent war → Appeasement

•  Germany, September 1938

Invasion of Czechoslovakia

-Hitler invades the western portion of Czechoslovakia and installed a puppet government in the eastern portion

-Czechoslovakia, October 1938 to 1939

Italy invades Albania

-Italian forces invade Albania

-Albania, April 1938

Non-aggression pact or Nazi Soviet pact

-Germany and Russia agreed not to attack each other, which allowed Hitler to open up a second front and the west without worrying about defending against Russia

-Granted western Poland to Germany, but allowed to Russia occupy Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and eastern Poland. Hitler intended to break the pact

-Germany and USSR, August 1939

Germany and Soviet Union invade Poland

• Following non-aggression treaty with Soviet Union, German troops invade Poland. England and France declare war on Germany.

• Soviets invade Poland, then the Baltic states & Finland

• Poland, September 1, 1939

Phony war

• Period of non-combat after declarations of war when Britain and France mobilized for war against Germany.

• Europe, October 1939 to March 1940

1939 neutrality act with cash and carry

• After a fierce debate in Congress, a final Neutrality Act passed.

• This Act lifted the arms embargo and put all trade with belligerent nations under the terms of "cash-and-carry."

• The ban on loans remained in effect, and American ships were barred from transporting goods to belligerent ports.

•  USA, November 5, 1939

Germany’s blitzkrieg takes Western Europe

-Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France crushed by German offensive

-Western Europe in March to June 1940

Fall of France

• Germany invaded France and set up the Vichy government, which lasted until the Allies invaded in 1944

• France, June 1940

Battle of Britain

-German bombers ruin British cities in attempt to obtain British surrender before U.S. entry. Britain's breaking of German code & use of radar help overcome air attacks.

-Great Britain, begins July 1940

Tripartite Pact

-Germany, Italy, and Japan and packed creating the Berlin, Rome, Tokyo axis

-Germany, Italy, and Japan, September 1940

Destroyers for bases deal

-US agrees to lend its older World War I destroyers to Great Britain. Signal at the end of US neutrality in the war

-USA in Great Britain in September 1940

Lend Lease Act

-Authorized the president to transfer, lend, or lease any article of defensive equipment to any government whose defense was deemed vital to the defense of the U.S.

• Allowed the U.S. to send supplies and ammunition to the Allies without technically becoming a co-belligerent.

• Act designed to help Britain who was running out of cash.

• Also extended to France, China, and USSR.

• USA March 1941

Operation Barbarosa

• Germany breaks non-aggression pact and invades

USSR after failure of Battle of Britain.

• Germany begins two-front war with invasion of Russia.

• Germany fails to capture Leningrad (north), Moscow (central), or Stalingrad (south)

• Turning point of WWll on the Eastern Front.

• Soviet Union June 1941

Atlantic charter

• Document issued by FDR and Churchill during their secret meeting near Newfoundland. It had these 8 main principles:

1. Renunciation of territorial aggression

2. No territorial changes without the consent of the peoples concerned

3. Restoration of sovereign rights and self-government

4. Access to raw materials for all nations

5. World economic cooperation

6. Freedom from want and fear

7. Freedom of the seas

8. Disarmament of aggressors

   -Newfoundland (Canada) August 1941

US undeclared Naval war Germany

4 significant events:

1. In September, a German U-boat fired on US destroyer

Greer

1. FDR ordered U.S. ships to fire on German subs " on sight"

2. US destroyer, Reuben James, sunk by Nazi sub killing Americans in October

3. Congress passes a bill allowing merchant ships to be armed and sail into belligerent ports

• Atlantic Ocean Fall 1941

US declares war in Germany and Italy

-declaration made in response to those nations declarations of war against the US

-USA, December 11, 1941

Battle of the Atlantic

-Sea battles over supply lines between the allies and Germany

-Atlantic Ocean 1941 to 1945

FDR’s promise to Stalin

-FDR promises USSR diplomat that the US would create a second front in Europe by the end of the year. Why?

USSR had been fighting Germany alone.

This will not be fulfilled until D-Day*

• USA May 1942

North Africa campaign

• Huge Allied landing forces Germany to retreat to Tunisia, where they are surrounded by British and American forces

• Germans Surrender at Tunisia

Over 250,000 German and Italian troops are captured and Allies prepare to invade Sicily and Italy.

-North Africa November 1942- May 1943

Casablanca conference

-FDR and Churchill met to settle future strategy of the Allies following the success of the North African campaign. They decided to launch an attack on Italy through Sicily before initiating an invasion into France over the English Channel.

¿Also announced that the war would continue until the

"unconditional surrender" of all Axis enemies.

• Morocco January 1943

Stalingrad

• Germans surrender after fierce hand-to-hand fighting and huge casualties for each side

• Turning point in the war in the East: Germans lose the Eastern Front

• Russia February 1943

Allies invade Sicily

• In largest amphibious invasion in history, over 250,000

American and British troops land.

-Germans and Italians escape to maintain of Italy.

• Sicily July 1943

Allies invade Italy

• Italy Surrenders. Although Italian troops quit fighting Allies, Germans continue in fierce fighting.

• Rome finally surrenders on June 4, 1944.

• Italy September 1943

Cairo conference

• A meeting of Allied leaders Roosevelt, Churchill, and Chiang Kai-shek in Egypt to define the Allies' goals with respect to the war against Japan; they announced their intention to seek Japan's unconditional surrender and to strip Japan of all territory it had gained since WWI.

• Egypt November 1943

Tehran conference

• FDR, Stalin, and Churchill ("the big three") agreed to a second front in the west to relieve the Russians within 6 months.

• USSR pledged to enter the war against Japan when

Germany was defeated

• An international organization for peace was planned (future United Nations)

• Iran Nov-Dec 1943

D-Day Normandy invasion

• Largest amphibious attack. Led by Eisenhower, over a million troops (the largest invasion force in history) stormed the beaches at Normandy and began the process of re-taking France.

• The turning point of WWII.

• Allies use 4,600 ships to invade German-held France.

Suffering heavy casualties, the Allies were able to retake Paris in August.

• Fulfills FDR's obligation to Soviets of creating a second frontal attack on Germany

• France June 6th, 1944

Dumbarton Oaks conference

• (Washington Conversations on International Peace and Security Organization)

• Representative of the US, USSR, UK, and China formulated a plan to create the United Nations (UN):

• Every nation would be represented in the General Assembly.

• 5 permanent members (US, USSR, UK, China, and France) would be the Security Council (SC), along with temporary delegates from other nations.

• Each major power could veto SC decisions

*These agreements were the basis for the drafting of the

UN charter at a conference of 50 nations in San Francisco in April 1945. The UN charter is ratified by the US Senate, August 8, 1945

-Washington DC, August-October 1944

Operation market garden

• Goal was to circumvent the German defenses by landing behind enemy lines and capturing the bridges leading into Germany

• Failure of this meant the war would not be over by Christmas

• Holland & Germany, September 1944

Battle of the bulge

• After recapturing France, the Allied advance became stalled along the German border.

• In the winter of 1944, Germany staged a massive counterattack in Belgium and Luxembourg which pushed a 30 mile "bulge" into the Allied lines.

• The Germans almost won, but the Allies stopped the German advance and threw them back across the Rhine with heavy losses.

• French-German-Belgian border, Dec 16 1944- Jan 25 1944

Yalta conference

• Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met to make final war plans, arrange the post-war fate of Germany, and discuss the proposal for creation of the United Nations as a successor to the League of Nations.

• They announced the decision to divide Germany into three post-war zones of occupation, although a fourth zone was later created for France.

• Russia also agreed to enter the war against Japan, in exchange for the Kuril Islands and half of the Sakhalin Peninsula. The USSR was given half of Poland and an occupation zone in Korea.

• The plan for the UN was ratified.

• Stalin gets a lot from this meeting (FDR doesn't know how long it will take to defeat Japan; counting on support from USSR to do so): sets the stage for future Cold War clashes

• Crimea (southern Ukraine) February 1945

Battle of Berlin

-soviets take German capital after house to house fighting

-Hitler commits suicide

-Germany, April 16 to May 2, 1945

Potsdam conference

• Allied leaders Truman, Stalin, and Churchill met in Germany to set up zones of control in Europe and to inform the Japanese that if they refused to surrender unconditionally at once, they would face total destruction.

• Germany July 1945

UN Charter

-President Truman sign the UN charter and the US joins the UN

-USA, August 8, 1945

Nuremberg war crime trials or Tokyo war crime trials

-International military tribunal tried major war criminals at Nuremberg, Germany, and in Tokyo Japan. In Germany, 12 criminals were sentenced to be hanged and in Japan seven criminals were sentenced to be hanged

-Germany in Japan 1945 to 1948