1929

-           Stock market crashes and the Great Depression hits. This distracts world leaders from international situation, the rise of Hitler in Germany and Mussolini in Italy.

1931

-           Japan wanted to expand its empire and decided to invade Manchuria, a part of northeastern China.

-           Statute of Westminster occurred, where it became law that the Dominions were equal to Britain within the Commonwealth. This confirmed Canada’s complete independence. 

-           Unemployment had reached 33 percent (6 million people) of the work force in Germany.

-           Many Germans looked to extremist party for solutions.

-           Adolf Hitler was able to capture support for his party by promising full employment for the German people.

1932

-           Franklin Delano Roosevelt becomes president of the United States.

-           By 1932, approximately half of Russia’s farmland is collectively owned. During this process, almost agriculture of the USSR virtually collapsed and millions of peasants were starved to death.

1933

-           Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany.  

-           Hitler begame to re-arm German military forces. He created the Luftwaffe, the German air force. This was a direct defiance of the Treaty of Versailles, but Allies do not want to start a war over this.

    (Luftwaffe)

1934

-           Some Americans were noticing totalitarian regimes emerging in Japan, Italy, and Germany, each with designs to expand territories through means of military force. In 1934, although the US had no intention to engage in war, they began to rebuild the navy.

-           Starting in 1934, millions of Soviet people, diplomats, and generals were convicted of crimes against the state in show trials. Some were executed but more than 10 million were sent to prison camps of Siberia. This is because Stalin had a great fear that people were working to overthrow him, so he because the Great Purge to get rid of “undesirable elements”.

-           Stalin killed between 20 to 30 million of his own people.

1935

-           Franklin Roosevelt and the United States started to pass a series of neutrality acts to keep out of conflicts and war. This is done by forbidding trade with warring nations.

-           Nazis pass the Nuremberg Laws. This removes citizenship rights from the Jews and forbid marriage between Jews and non-Jews.

-           Mussolini invaded Ethiopia in 1935. Ethiopia appealed to League of Nations, but sanctions did not affect Italy’s ability to maintain a military campaign.

1936

-           Ethiopia falls to Italy in May. League of Nations fails to stop aggression.

-           Hitler reoccupied the Rhineland. He once again defies the Treaty of Versailles, but Allies do not want to start war over this. League of Nations also discusses a resolution to condemn Hitler’s actions but nothing came out of it.

-           France and Britain realized Hitler was preparing Germany for war, and both countries started to restock on armed forces.

1937

-           Japan invades north China. Roosevelt did not proclaim United State neutrality and was able to sell weapons to both sides. Japan’s assault is escalated in this full scale invasion.

1938

-           Kristallnacht (“Night of the Broken Glass”) occurs. Gangs of Nazis roam around Jewish neighborhoods, breaking windows, destroying synogauges, homes and shops. Jewish students are also expelled from German schools.

-           In March, German troops cross border into Austria. Then, Hitler declared Anschluss, the political union of Germany and Austria. This is again is specifically prohibited by the Treaty of Versailles. British and French troops again do not protest because they do not want war.

-           Hitler then looked at Czechoslovakia for his next conquest and immideiately positioned troops. Hitler demanded Czechoslovakia turn over an area known as Sudentenland. Czechs refused because Sudentenland was part of Czechoslovakia’s border defences, and it contained much of the industry.  

-           British Prime Minister Chamberlain did not want war, and he thought it could be avoided by a policy of appeasement.  

-           Appeasement involves giving into the demands of an aggressive or potential enemy nation in order to maintain peace.  

-           At a conference at Munich in October, British, French, Italians, and Germans agreed to let Germany have the Sudentenland as long as Hitler had “no more territorial demands in Europe”.  

1939

-           In March, Hitler violated Munich Agreement and annexed the rest of Czechoslovakia.

-           Chamberlain then realizes Hitler cannot be trusted and guaranteed British support to Romania and Poland in case of German attack.

-           In the summer, Hitler demanded the Poles surrender the city of Danzig as well as the Polish Corridor.

-           Poles refused, British government warned Hitler not to invade Poland.

-           Hitler wanted to prevent any Soviet interference, so he negotiated non-aggression pact with Russia, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Treaty signed in late August, to not attack each other and split Poland between themselves. 

-            On September 1^st, Germans invaded Poland, adopting a style of warfare known as “blitzkrieg”.

-           Biltzkrieg is a sudden swift military movement, which is German for “Lightning War”.

-           British sent an ultimatum to Germany, which was ignored.

-           On September 3^rd, British and French declared war on Germany, and World War II began.

-           On September 10^th, Canada independently declared war on Germany.

-           Despite declaring war against Germany, little action was taken. These months of inaction are referred to as “The Phony War”, since no armed conflict took place. ”.The British army moved to France, waited with the French for the Germans to attack.

-           British Commonwealth Air Training Plan was established in December. Bases were set up across Canada to train pilots from the Commonwealth and occupied Europe because the biggest problem was shortage of trained pilots.  

-           All Jewish people have to carry identification cards. Jewish businesses and valuables are taken by the Nazis. A curfew is imposed forbidding Jews to be out after dark.

The Battle of the Atlantic:

·          Canada provided supplies to Britain via the Atlantic Ocean so it was critical to keep this supply line open.

·          Hitler wanted to shut it down.

·          Like the Great War, the Germans used U-boats to try to starve the British into surrender.

·          This time the Germans held France and Norway, so it was easier to reach the Allied ships.

·          Throughout the war the Germans launched continuous campaigns to destroy the convoys and losses were significant.

·          As the losses of Allied ships rose, it looked like we would lose the war. Churchill said it was the only thing in the war he really worried about.

·          Convoys were established from the start of the war.

·          The Royal Canadian Navy took responsibility for guarding the convoys.

·          Little escort ships called “Corvettes” were built and manned by Canadians. It was very nasty duty protecting convoys in the North Atlantic.

·          The RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force) was used to protect the convoys. As the war went on the range of the planes increased. There were always parts of the ocean the planes could not cover, called the “Black Pit”. Here the U-boats had the advantage.

·          By the end of the war, more than 2000 vessels sank to the bottom of the sea.

1940

-           First removal of Jews from Germany in few selected areas.

Norwegian Campaign:

-           Phony War ended in spring of 1940 when the German army invaded Denmark in April 1940 and then launched invasion of Norway. It took Germans less than two months to secure both of these countries.

-           In Norway, Germans used paratroopers extensively. This is especially apparent when they captured Oslo.

-           The British and the French sent troops to support Norway but landed in the mountainous terrain.

-           The Germans had completed control of the sky, they were able to drive off the British ships and defeat the Allied forces on the ground.

-           By May, Norway surrendered and was occupied until the end of the war.

-           On May 10^th, because of disastrous Norwegian campaign, Chamberlain had to resign as Prime Minister of Britain.

-           Winston Churchill became the PM. He used his amazing speaking ability to rally the nation.  

France 1940:

-           Germany then launched blitzkrieg against Holland, Luxembourg, Belgium, and France.

-           Germany had invaded France from the north by first invading Belgium in World War 1.

-           Therefore, the Allies expecting a similar strategy had the best French troops and British Army take up position in Belgium.

-           The Germans did not follow the same strategy, they moved on Sedan and then raced across northern France to the Channel coast, and trapped the British and French soldiers.

-           British were forced to evacuate the army through the port of Dunkirk.

-           The Royal Navy was sent and managed to rescue many of the British and French soldiers. Many ships and boats were used, even private yachts and fishing boats.

-           About 340,000 men were saved, but all tools, materials, and war kits were lost.

-           The Germans turned and attacked south into France. The French did not have a similar escape route and over a million elite French soldiers were forced to surrender.

-            On June 22^nd, France surrendered and Britain was left to face Germans alone.

-           Italy then also declared war on Allies. Mussolini, like many others, thought war was almost over.

-           Churchill refused to surrender. “We shall go on to the end”.

Battle Of Britain

-           Britain refused to negotiate peace, so Hitler was forced to attack Britain head-on.

-           The Germans had to gain control of the sky in order to invade Britain.

-           The RAF (Royal Air Force) defended Britain against the Luftwaffe (German Air Force). Battle of Britain was the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces.

-           At first the Germans seemed to be winning. Many British planes were lost.

-           The Germans made the mistake of switching to bombing cities rather than RAF bases. This allowed the RAF to recover.

-           The limited range of Germans fighters stopped these planes from providing heavy air support, but it was the superiority of the British planes that won the battle.

-           Churchill said “Never in the field of human conflict, was so much owed by so many, to so few”. (radio)

-           It was Britain’s “finest” hour.

The Blitz

-           Hitler launched massive air campaign known as “the Blitz”, which was enacted to disable and demoralize the British.

-           Britain was under relentless attack from German air raids.

-           It was theorized that the bombing of cities would break civilian morale and cause a nation to collapse.  

-           On August 24^th, German bombers fell off course and accidently bombed central London.

-           Winston Churchill was sure this was a deliberate attack on civilians so he responded by ordering three consecutive night-raids on Berlin.

-           Hitler was infuriated and launched a 57-day bombing campaign on London beginning on September 7^th.

-           Damage to British cities was extensive. In one night 50,000 buildings were destroyed and 568 people were killed.

-           The British showed no signs of weakening, so Hitler turned his attention elsewhere.

1941

 Germany and Russia:  

•           Two years after Hitler signed the 10-year non aggression pact with Russia, Hitler began his invasion into the Soviet Union.

•           The invasion started in June and Hitler thought it would be a quick campaign so he failed to provide winter clothing.

•           At first it looked like Hitler would be right, The Russians suffered huge losses. In the Battle of Kiev over 1 million Russians were captured, including Stalin’s own son. 

•           By December, the Soviets launched their counter-attack, and the Germans were fighting the Russians and their bitter climate.

•           The Soviets had the majority and forced the Germans away from Moscow.

•           Germany was in trouble now, because they were at war in multiple fronts as they failed to capture either Britain or Russia.

US and Japan: 

•           Japan was looking to expand its empire and had already invaded some on China.

•           It was now eyeing the rest of Asia, hoping to gain over vital raw materials.

•           The US opposed this, so when Japan took control of the French Indochina in the summer, the US cut off oil supplies to Japan.

•           Tensions were very high and war seemed imminent.

•           Great Britain then decided to reinforce Hong Kong. Canada lent to Battalions to this force which was light and under-trained, due to the fact it was believed there was plenty of time to do further training.

•           Then weeks later, on December 7, the Japanese launched a surprise attack on the USA at Pearl Harbor Hawaii.

•           The US responded by declaring war on Japan.

•           At the same time, Japan attacked Northern Malaya, the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, and Hong Kong.

•           Hitler then declared war on the US in support of Japan.

•           On Christmas Day, Japanese forces overran Hong Kong and the Canadian force surrendered suffering 286 casualties and another 266 being sent to Japanese concentration camps.

•           In the Battle of Hong Kong, one Canadian won the Victoria Cross by jumping on a grenade.

1942

Battle of Dieppe

-           Canadians raided the French port of Dieppe with the hope of establishing whether an attack from the sea was possible.

-           The objective of the attack was to hold the town long enough to destroy its harbor installations and then withdraw.

-           On August 19^th, 6100 soldiers set out, roughly 5000 were Canadians.

-           They first encountered a small German convoy and were able to repel the German attack but the noise warned of the raid. The encounter with the convoy also set back the timing of the attack.

-           By the time the forces hit the beach, they lost two main advantages: surprise and darkness.

-           The losses were a nightmare. Of the 4963 Canadians, 882 were killed, 587 were wounded, 1873 were taken prisoner, and only 2210 would return to England.

-           If measuring a single day’s loss, Dieppe was the deadliest battle the Canadians would participate in.

Racism at Home:

-           There was much racism at home during the war. People were caught in the frenzy of the war, and many German Canadians came under attack.

-           Hundred of German and Italian Canadians were arrested without any evidence.

-           Their businesses and homes were sold off.

-           Thousands had their citizenship revoked, which classified them as “enemy aliens”.

The Internment of Japanese Canadians:

-           Even before the war, Japanese Canadians had been targets of anti-Asian rioting. They were often treated as second-class citizens.  

-           The attack on Pearl Harbor created a wave of hysteria.  

-           It opened the doors for longstanding racism and hostility.  

-           Despite reports from RCMP that Japanese Canadians posed no threat, the government began to round up all Japanese Canadians in March.  

-           They were placed in internment camps in the interior of British Columbia.  

-           The men were put to work building roads, and were paid only 25 cents.  

-           Women, children and the elderly were confined to the camps.  

-           The Canadian government gave these people inadequate shelters and they were deprived of their liberty.  

-           Furthermore, their property was also confiscated and sold at government auctions.  

1943

Canadians in Italy:

-           It was important that the Allied forces keep the Axis forces occupied on multiple fronts.

-           Allies pushed to open a front in the south.

-           The First Canadian Division took part in the Allied landings in Sicily on July 10^th.

-           Sicily was taken easily, but 10 000 German troops escaped into the mainland.

-           The taking of Sicily was rather meaningless because the mainland was now held by German troops.

-           In December, the Canadian troops were assigned to take the town of Ortona, a key German stronghold.

-           Two days after Christmas, the town fell.

-           There were many obstacles such as fatigue, sickness, cold, but the victories were very major and important.

-           The campaign in Italy was successful in terms of land and troops captured, and pulling German divisions away from the west coast. Therefore, it was a major success in the push toward Rome.

1944

Operation Overlord: The Plan to End the War:

-          The Allies decided conditions were right to prepare their invasion of Europe. 

-          Normandy was chosen as the landing location because it offered the best odds for success. The Allies still needed to divert German forces from this location.  

-          Operation Overlord was thus made up of several smaller operations that distracted the Germans throughout the war, making sure the German force at Normandy was as small as possible.  

-          Phase one had begun in 1941, when British arrested as many German spies as they could identify in Britain.  

-          British intelligence officers then assumed the German spy’s identity. They fed accurate information to Berlin, but only on minor operations, to ensure the gain of German trust but lack of actual damage.  

-          The British intelligence army fooled the Germans into believing the invasion force was amassing for a landing in Calais.  

D-Day: The Normandy Invasion:

-           The British D-day Invasion had the largest naval armada ever assembled. It was able to ferry upwards of one million ground troops within 2 or three weeks of the invasion.

-           The success of the misinformation campaign was apparent, when German command refused to move forces to Normandy believing it was just an attempt to divert them from their real defense in Calais.

-           Prior to the actual invasion, Allied aircrafts extensively bombed behind German positions so that reinforcements could not get through.

-           156,000 American, British and Canadian troops met heavy resistance from the German forces defending the area, but were able to punch inland, securing safe landing zones for reinforcements. 

-           The German failure to successfully defend the Normandy area from the Allied liberation forces in doomed Hitler's dream of a Nazi Europe and marked the beginning of the end for Germany. 

-           By early September, with no more German troops in France, the Allies nearly reached Germany.

-           With supply lines dangerously low, Allied armies were forced to stop their eastward march.  

-           The assault on Germany would not begin until February 1945 and Hitler used this time in between to strengthen German forces.  

1945

-           As the main Allied armies started their advance into Germany, Canadians were given the task of liberating Belgium and Holland.

-           This task was crucial as many citizens were starving and Germany had flooded much of the country.

-           By mid- April German units had surrendered or were cut off and Holland and Belgium were liberated.

The Great Land Grab-  

-           A new question had emerged of who would control the newly liberated countries.

-           The East and West were allies in the war, but in peace time they were

rivals.

-           Stalin used the delays on the western front to seize territory in Eastern Europe.

-           The “land grab” ended on May 8^th when Germany officially surrendered, further geographical changes would be considered at a negotiating table in the future.

End of the War in the Pacific:  

-           The Americans had done most of the fighting against the Japanese and it took them three years to get their forces close enough to bomb Japan.

-           The atomic bomb was a new type of weapon that who’s idea had been circulating.

-           The highly-secretive project was called “The Manhattan Project”, which started in 1942 and ended on July 17^th 1945, when they tested the first successful atomic weapon.

-           New US president Harry Truman decided to try ending the war by dropping two atomic bombs on Japanese cities.

-           The first bomb, named “Little Boy” was detonated 500 metres above Hiroshima on August 6^th. 80 000 people died instantly in the explosion and firestorm, and another 80 000 to 100 000 died later from the effects of burns and radiation.

-           Three days later, on August 9^th, a second bomb called “Fat Man” was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. It instantly killed 40 000 people with another 60 000 dying from effects.

-           Faced with American fire-bombing, a prospect of total demolition, and the entry of the Soviets into the war, Japan surrendered on August 15^th 1945.

Nuremberg Trial:

-           In November the Nuremberg Trial started.

-           24 high-ranking German officials were charged with one or more of the following counts:

-                   Count 1: Conspiracy to wage aggressive war

-                   Count 2 : Crimes against peace

-                   Count 3: War crimes

-                   Count 4: Crimes against humanity

-           The world had decided that “the men who led Germany down her tragic road were going to pay the bills.”

-The International Military Tribunal wanted to give each defendant a fair trial, despite the fact many people wanted swift judgment against them.

-       The world learned detailed information about the death camps and activities of Hitler’s Thousand-Year Reich.  

- Some defendants said they were just “simply following orders” and they were not individually responsible for their actions.

-      In the end, nobody could deny the fact that the Holocaust had happened. A year after the trial started, on October 1^st 1946, the verdict read:

·          12 defendants were sentenced to death

·          3 sentenced to life imprisonment

·          4 were given prison sentences ranging from 10-20 years

·          3 were acquitted

                                                          (Defendants at Nuremberg Trial)