User:Naryathegreat/European Theater of World War II

This is the page on which I plan to rewrite the article European Theater of World War II. I'd love help and support, if you'd like to give it! I am first going to organize the basic structure of the article.

Structure

• An introduction would be nice, and include a way to insert the title.
  • Talk about the enormity of the war
  • Wide-ranging scope and effects
  • etc.
• Prelude, preceding events, etc.
• First moves, i.e., Poland
• Section on tanks, strategy (i.e. Blitzkrieg)
• Phony War
• Norway, Denmark
• Low Countries, France
• Battle of Britain
• Section on air power during world war ii (in europe, of course)
• Operation Barbarossa
• American entrance (Pearl Harbor)
• Section on the home fronts
• Tide turns, invasions of North Africa, Italy, Stalingrad
• Normandy
• The end of Mussolini, Italy
• The fall of the Third Reich

Introduction

The European Theater of World War II occured in Europe from September 1, 1939 until May 7, 1945. The main participants were the Axis of Germany and Italy and the Allies of France, Britain, the USSR, and the United States. The events of World War II involved millions of Europeans. In addition to the tens of millions dead, many millions more were displaced, lost their homes, or had their lives utterly destroyed. The causes of World War II are extremely complex. No one explanation is correct. In dealing with a war on such a scale however, it is amazing how much of the pain and suffering can be traced to one man: Adolf Hitler.

Preceding events

Main Article: Events preceding World War II in Europe

Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, through a combination of political manipulation and popular support. By then, most of the Eastern European nations had fallen victim to dictatorships. Italy had been under the control of the fascist Benito Mussolini since 1922. Germans, on the eve of Hitler's ascension to power, were not overwhelmingly behind the leader. This soon changed. The first step was consolidation of his power. By the passing of the Enabling Act, after a suspicious fire burned down the Reichstag (German parliament building) and allowed him to ban the Communist Party, Hitler became the actual dictator of Germany.

Because of the hated Treaty of Versailles which ended World War I and treated Germany very harshly, Hitler's militant programs attracted popular support from the German people at large. His first act was to begin rebuilding the German armed forces. While this was still in motion, Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland on March 7, 1936, in direct violation of the Versailles Treaty. However, Britain and France wanted to avoid war, and let the Germans slide. In the same year, Hitler signed an Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan, which Italy also joined in 1937. On March 12, 1938, Hitler gained his first conquest: Austria. Known as the Anshluss, it was an important gain for Hitler. Hitler's next turned upon Czechoslovakia, specifically the ethnic Germans in the Sudetenland. Desperate to avoid war over the country, Britain's Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain organized a conference in Munich, where the Munich Agreement was signed in 1938, giving Hitler exactly what he wanted, while no Czech representative was even at the conference. After having stated that he wanted no more territory, Hitler went back on his word on March 15, 1939, occupying the rest of the Czech country, and establishing an independent puppet state in Slovakia. On May 22, Germany and Italy signed the so-called Pact of Steel, forming an alliance in the event of war. By now, it was obvious that Poland was next on Hitler's list.

Germany ignites World War II

By the fall of 1939, Adolf Hitler had not only already planned the conquest of Poland (codenamed Fall Weiss), but did not believe the Western Allies would intervene when he did invade, even though Britain and France had issued assurances of territorial integrity to Poland after the events in Czechoslovakia.