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== Germany's Attempt to Conquer Europe and the Mediterranean

__World War II__
toc World War II was a global battle ranging from western Russia all the way to the eastern United States. The war took place in many different locations, but this page is more specified on battles and conflicts from May 1940 all the way to the later months of 1941. In this time period Hitler conquered a majority of Europe and focused on France, Britain and the Mediterranean. Hitler overpowered many countries throughout the European continent. The first countries that Hitler conquered were the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. The next country was France (see Fall of France). Then Hitler continued on throughout the European continent to take Britain. This attempt failed due to British resistance (see Battle of Britain). Hitler continued his campaign through the Mediterranean to meet the Russian forces (see Conflict in the Mediterranean).

**__Britains Rescue Mission__**
﻿Before the Fall of France, Germany had invaded the Northern French city of Lille. THe British and French were both trapped with the German army to their front and the British channel to their backs. Britain Heroically rose up to the pressure of the German army and set out to rescue their trapped army. The British navy had 850 ships and sailed back and forth across the English channl, along with many civilian crafts. Between May 26, to June 4, the boats carried 338,000 British soldiers to safety, all the while enduring heavy fire from German bombers. (Roger B. Beck, et. al, 493) .

** __Fall of France__ **


Although Britain endured the attack from Germany, France wasn't as well off as them. On June 22, 1940, France officially surrendered to Germany (Jeffries). Germany took over all of Northern France and set up a puppet government in Southern France. Henri-Philippe Petain was in charge of this government, but hesupported Hitler, so was easily influenced by Germany, which was why it was a puppet government (Jeffries). Many French citizens were upset by the surrender to Germany, especially one man, Charles de Gaulle. Charles de Gaulle was the minister of war, but was in danger of being arrested when Petain took over so he moved to London, England. From London he set up resistance attempts against Germany by broadcasting over the radio to all French citizens who would listen. De Gaulle eventually became known as the leader of the Free French, and they were extemely active against the Germans (Beck et. al, 493).



** __Battle of Britain__ **
The Battle of Britain happened directly after the Fall of France. After the end of France Britain stood alone in the fight against the Nazis. Hitler put the majority of his forces in the Battle of Britain. The majority of the fight was between the two air forces. The British Royal Air Force (RAF) and the German Luftwaffe. The Luftwaffe was a strong and skillful group of pilots. The RAF was inexperienced but large in numbers and in aircraft. Although the Luftwaffe was very successful they did not get enough kills to fully defeat the RAF. Finally Hitler had decided to bomb London. He hadn't planned on bombing them originally. (John Merriman). They finally choose to do this because the RAF dropped a few bombs on Berlin. When the Luftwaffe finally bombed Britain in the "Blitz". "Blitz" was short for blitzkrieg. The blitzkrieg was apart of Hitler's "lightning war". The "Blitz" consisted of constant sudden bombings. Followed by multiple waves of sudden constant bombings. This was a new form of warfare, although it was similar to the old style of guerilla warfare. Even using this new style of warfare they were met in full from their opposition (John Merriman). The Germans lost the Battle and it swung the moment in favor of the Alliance. Proving the Nazis could be defeated (Mrs. Redifer).

[[image:http://www.learnnc.org/lp/media/uploads/2009/10/soviet_union_admin_1989_baltics.jpg width="300" height="256" align="left"]]
Hitler was determined to fight the Soviet Union, but he had other places in the Balkans and Mediterranean that were blocking his path in getting there. He created bases around these areas to begin his process of coming for the Soviet. First, Hitler took over by threat Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary (Beck et. al 494). Next, Yugoslavia and Greece resisted German rule and went into war with Germany in April 1941. Hitler won against these two small countries in less then 17 days. Having the Balkans and Mediterranean under control, Hitler went in for his plan to invade the Soviet Union, operation barborassa (The Battle for Moscow). Rumors had spread to the Soviet that Hitler was going to attack any day, but Stalin, the Soviet Union's leader, did not believe in these remarks he had heard (Bondi 227). On June 22, 1941, the Soviet Union was caught by suprise when the German forces came to attack and declare war amongst them. The U.S.S.R. was completely unprepared, so the U.S. sent out supplies to help aid them. The city of Leningrad was where the battles started to stop moving (Beck et. al. 495). German troops were stationed there and the Soviet Union people were paying for it. Houses were robbed and people were left to die out in the -30 degree weather which led to one million people dieing. The Red Army, Soviet's troops, had been getting weaker since Stalin killed all of the army's leaders (Russian Winter). Leningrad was making no progress, so Hitler wanted to head towards the heart of the Soviet city, Moscow (Beck et. al. 496). The Soviet's tactic of scorch earth policy was too much for the Germans to handle, though. General Georgi Zhukov counterattacked the Germans move to Moscos where it lead to the Germans to have to stop fighting in March (Beck et. al.). 500,000 germans had ended being killed and a victory had not been made (Beck et. al.)

**__Mussolini: Hitler's Right Man__**
Mussolini was Hitler's man to invade North Africa to try and get a win against Britain. Mussolini was the dictator of Italy, but it was not always like that. The country of Italy had actually been neutral throughout World War II. Then, after France had been defeated, Italy declared war on France and Britain. Mussolini had had a group in Italy that he had formed during the time of political changes throughout Italy. Mussolini wanted to go against what the government was doing, socialism. Most people in Italy were afriad of this type of government, including the wealthy. The fact of this created more people to go with what Mussolini was doing. Thus, Mussolini becoming the dictator of Italy and the king becoming only a figurehead. After Italy became part of the Axis powers, Mussolini became the man that Hitler would go to. (Moss 156)

**__The Fight to Defeat Britain__**
__﻿__On, September 1940, Mussolini went into North Africa to try to abolish the British another way then just going into Britain itself (Beck et. al.). They went directly into Egypt to fight the British and wanted to cross the Suez Canal to get to the east. This was during the time of the Battle of Britain. Italy, led by Mussolini, forced the British army 60 miles into Egypt, where the British began to fight in December. In a couple of weeks (Beck et. al.), Britain had taken 130,000 Italian prisoners, so Hitler stepped in to help the mission. Erwin Rommel was sent in to command the Afrika Korps, German tanks. Erwin attacked Britain in Libya where everyone retreated back to where they had started (Beck et. al.). By the end of the fight, Germany had won (Beck et. al.)

__Effects of Battle of Britain, Fall of France, and Battle against Soviet__
Within the years of 1940-1941 Hitler made great strides with his conquest of Europe along with Asia. He defeated France with great force and a skilled army, conquered most Mediterranean and Balkan countries, and was defeated in the key Battle of Britain and surprisingly, in the Soviet Union. Germany tends to go too far when wanting to conquer European countries, for they eventually come into World War II in the side of the Allies. For more information about the Postdam Conference visit Patty's Page. For more information about Post WWI Europe visit Jesse's Page.


 * __Sources:__ **

Beck, Roger B, et al. //Modern World History: Patterns of Interaction// . N.p.: McDougal Littel, 2007. Print.

Bishop, Chris, and Chris McNAB. //Campaigns of WWII Day by Day// . London: Amber Books Ltd, 2006. Print.

Bondi, Victor. //American Decades 1940-1949// . Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1995. Print.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Jeffries, John W. “World war II.” <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">//Encyclopedia of American History: The Great Depression and world war II// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -36pt; vertical-align: baseline;">American History Online, 2010. Web. 3 May 2011. <http://www.fofweb.com/​activelink2.asp? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -36pt; vertical-align: baseline;">ItemID=WE52&iPin=EAHVIII337&SingleRecord=True (accessed May 4, 2011)>.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: -36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Luttwak, Edward N. “Russian winter.” <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">//Commentary 123.1// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. Global Issues in Context, 2007. Web. 3 May 2011. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -36pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><http://find.galegroup.com/​gic/​infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&idigest=a8a297a877374de788460eb1279140c7&type=retrieve&tabID= <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -36pt; vertical-align: baseline;">T002&prodId=GIC&docId=A159078684&source=gale&userGroupName=dubl73056&version=1.0>.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: -36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mishra, Paban Patit. “World War II.” <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">//Encyclopedia of World History: Crisis and Achievement, 1900 to 1950// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. Modern World History Online, 2008. Web. 2 May 2011. [].

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: -36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Moss, Joyce, and George Wilson. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">//Literature and Its Times// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. N.p.: Joyce Moss and George Wilson, 1997. Print.