WW2 Germany outline

Early Foreign Policy (1933–1936)

  • Rearmament (1933–1935)

    • Secret rearmament in violation of Versailles Treaty

    • Publicly announced rearmament in 1935

  • Withdrawal from the League of Nations (1933)

  • Non-Aggression Pact with Poland (1934)

    • Temporary diplomatic move to prevent a two-front war

  • Reoccupation of the Rhineland (1936)

    • Demilitarized zone reoccupied without Allied resistance

III. Formation of Alliances

  • Rome-Berlin Axis (1936)

    • Germany and Italy form an ideological and military alliance

  • Anti-Comintern Pact (1936)

    • Germany and Japan (later Italy) unite against communism, targeting the USSR

  • Pact of Steel (1939)

    • Formal military alliance between Germany and Italy

  • Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact (1939)

    • Non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union

    • Secret protocol: division of Poland and Eastern Europe

IV. Acts of Aggression Leading to WWII

  • Annexation of Austria – Anschluss (March 1938)

    • Germany annexes Austria with little resistance

  • Sudetenland Crisis and Munich Agreement (Sept 1938)

    • Demands Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia

    • UK and France appease Hitler; agreement signed

  • Occupation of Czechoslovakia (March 1939)

    • Full occupation, violation of Munich Agreement

  • Invasion of Poland (Sept 1, 1939)

    • Blitzkrieg tactics used

    • Triggers WWII: UK and France declare war (Sept 3, 1939)

V. Early WWII Aggression and Expansion (1939–1941)

  • Invasion of Denmark and Norway (April 1940)

  • Fall of France (May–June 1940)

    • Germany bypasses Maginot Line via Belgium

    • France surrenders in June 1940

  • Battle of Britain (July–Oct 1940)

    • Aerial campaign fails to subdue the UK

  • Balkan Campaign (1941)

    • Invasions of Yugoslavia and Greece

  • Operation Barbarossa (June 22, 1941)

    • Invasion of the Soviet Union

    • Breaks the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact

  • Battle of Stalingrad (1942–43)

    • Major defeat; turning point on the Eastern Front

  • Allied Invasion of Normandy – D-Day (June 6, 1944)

    • Opens Western Front

  • Fall of Berlin (May 1945)

    • Soviet troops capture Berlin

  • Germany surrenders (May 8, 1945 – VE Day)