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World War II Wiki

Germany, officially called the German Reich, and later the Greater German Reich, is a country in Western/Central Europe with it's capital in Berlin. Between 1933 and 1945 it was ruled by the Nazi Party, who geared the nation toward the domination, subjugation, and extermination of all people considered inferior to it's idea of the Aryan Master Race, especially Jews. During the Second World War, Germany was primarily lead by Adolf Hitler.

Germany has a mainly temperate climate. Germany has diverse terrain, with mountains in the southwest and southeast, forests throughout much of the central parts of the country, as well as grasslands in the north, which are part of the greater European Plain. The official language of Germany is German.

History[]

Beginning of World War II[]

Germany threatened Austria's current government to submit its lands to the Reich, or face war. Since most Austrians are partly German, and were having economic struggles, Austria was forced to be annexed into Germany. Then, Germany demanded the Sudetenland, which had ethnic German minorities in the area, from Czechoslovakia. After Hitler made that decision, France and Britain wanted to make an appeasement to Germany. During the Munich conference in September 1938, Germany had agreed to be given the Sudetenland in exchange for Germany stopping its expansion. Eventually, the rest of Czechoslovakia was invaded by Germany in August 1939. Germany was preparing for war as WWII was about to start.

Before a month from the start of World War II, Germany and the Soviet Union made an agreement to invade Poland. Germany would control the western side of Poland, including Warsaw, and the Soviet Union would control the eastern side. Germany and The Soviet Union also made a non-aggression pact to prevent any wars between the two countries.

WWII started in September 1, 1939 when Germany invaded Poland. This caused Great Britain and France to declare war on Germany. After this came Canada, South Africa, India, et al. After a period inactivity or silence, Germany attacked Norway and Denmark, because France and Great Britain interfered with the steel trade from Sweden that helped make more weapons for Germany. Then, they then further invaded Belgium, Netherlands, France, and Luxembourg. First, Netherlands was easily defeated by a strategic move called "Blitzkrieg", which means "Lightning war". Basically, Netherlands was over-run by German tanks, which was called "Panzers".

The Fall of France[]

Then, The Germans were planning to attack France. At first, The Germans would use the old strategy, which involved going into Belgium, then coming from the north into Paris, but instead, The Germans used Blitzkrieg again. First, Germany bombed an area near Alsace-Lorraine, which weakens the troops there. Then, Germany launched a massive amount of troops at that area, and swept through France until it reached the coast near Dunkirk. The best of the British and French army were encircled, and the German troops attacked the encircled army. Thankfully for the Allies, some troops manage to escape via the port at Dunkirk. After that, the city has been captured and Germany prepared to invade the rest of France. German troops breezed into France, and captured Paris. Hitler called this historical event "The Fall of Paris", as of a great nation has fallen to Germany. Germany continued to invade the rest of France, and shortly after, Italy declared war on the Allies. France then surrendered after a huge part of their territory in Europe has been occupied. Germany annexed Alsace-Lorraine, established Vichy France at the south, and kept the rest of the occupied lands for coastal defenses against Britain.

Battle of Britain[]

Germany's next target was Britain. The Germans were ready to flank Britain from the south, but unfortunately, their naval forces were far more superior. The only way Hitler was able to control Britain was to get full dominance in the air. The German's Luftwaffe (Air force) has much more planes, than Britain had. This battle did end shortly, but there was bombing from both sides.

Axis invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece[]

Germany, which has Northern France, had to help their ally, Italy with the Italo-Greek War. They decided to go through the Balkans in order to invade Greece properly. Yugoslavia and Bulgaria were sent a decision, which is to either join the Axis or get invaded. Bulgaria chose to join the Axis, while Yugoslavia refused to join, which led to the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia was partitioned and some new puppet states were made there. After that, Greece was then invaded.

Operation Barbarossa

A map of Operation Barbarossa

Germany's attention to Soviet Union[]

In 1941, Hitler was planning to turn Germany's attention to the Soviet Union. Operation Barbarossa was planned to attack Soviet Union in the east, following up its allies such as Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Finland. The massive invasion led about over 3 million troops. Hitler planned that once the Soviet Union was conquered, he would make all of western Soviet Union controlled states, into a huge home for Germany by destroying Slavic cities, and creating new German cities. Other non-Slavic countries serve as puppet states. This operation caused most of the deaths (besides the holocaust of Nazi Germany) as lots of millions of Soviet troops, and civilians.

Declaration of war against the United States[]

Following the Pearl Harbor attack, Germany declared war on the United States, to support Japanese conquests in the Pacific. Perhaps this was one of the mistakes that caused Germany's fall in 1945.

Africa[]

Germany decided to gain several materials to fight against the allies. Oil, was one of the main sources for Germany's powerful tanks and planes. As the Germans advanced on, the allies stopped Germany from reaching the primary source of oil, which was in the middle east. Unfortunately, Italy couldn't stop the allies from coming up to north-western Africa from Sicily. As Italian fascism fell, the Germans had to protect northern Italy from going into mainland Germany.

D-Day, and the Soviet Retaliation[]

After a few months of fighting in Africa, and the holding up on the eastern front, the Soviets started to retaliate with a massive army that was recently recruited. Since it was the winter of 1943, the Germans didn't have resources to supply themselves in the cold. Adolf Hitler told the German commander in the east to keep fighting their way to the eastern cities. However, the Germans either died off in the war in the eastern front, or died in the cold while advancing. Instead, some Germans even made camps to protect themselves against the Soviets. Unfortunately, the Soviets slowly make their way to eastern Europe, while destroying any German camps nearby. The Germans, and their allies in the east quickly depleted, before they even got into Moscow. Meanwhile, the allies were in a stalemate in Italy, while defeating German troops in the Middle East so the allies can supply oil to themselves.

In early June, 1944, the Germans were fortifying themselves in the western front to prevent any liberation against the allies. The allies surprised Germany by invading Normandy (Operation: D-day)  with the allies gaining the advantage. Since most of the German troops were in the eastern front, the allies were successful in liberating northern France.

The Fall of Nazi Germany[]

After a couple months of fighting in the eastern, and western fronts, Germany's army started to deplete rapidly, with only a couple of defensive cities that Germany had fortified before the allies invaded. The Soviets in the east had very little resistance against the Germans, which made it easy for the Soviets to capture the eastern countries. The allies in northern Africa liberated a few countries in the Balkans, and all African countries that were under the Axis controlled areas. In late 1944, the allies had liberated France from German forces.

Battle of Berlin

A Soviet soldier raising the flag over the Reichstag during the Battle of Berlin

In early 1945, Germany was starting to face defeat, and Adolf Hitler lived in an armored bunker in case the Soviets had reached Berlin already. In April 1945, before Hitler committed suicide, the Soviets were having an intense battle with the last remaining German soldiers, but this time, Berlin was very well fortified. In the last day in April, the Soviets were victorious, and Adolf Hitler committed suicide with his wife in the bunker before the Soviets got to them.

However, the allies were still fighting German forces after the first few days in May. Germany decided to surrender under the Soviets, and the allies officially, on May 8, 1945. Within the surrender, Germany was divided into four zones, which were controlled by the British, French, American, and Soviet forces. Berlin was also divided up into four zones, because the Soviets had more control over eastern Germany than the allies had.

Legacy[]

Nazi Germany, overall, was a very powerful country in Europe at that time. Since the Germans were blamed for killing 6 million Jews, and other disabled attributes of people, Germans today promised not to do anything like that ever again. However, Nazism today seem to spread influence into several other countries. Germany is responsible for paying anything that is associated with Nazism since the criminal code was established .The influence of Nazi Germany still is just a haunting shadow of the world today.

The Holocaust[]

More Info: The Holocaust


The Holocaust was a massive killing of mostly Jews, people with disabilities, and people who aren't with the Nazi regime. When Adolf Hitler started to appoint himself as chancellor of Germany in 1935, he established the Nuremberg Laws, which indicates that all Jews were required to wear a Jewish badge, and follow brutal laws in German lands. However, before the laws were established one month earlier, Adolf Hitler warned all Jewish people to move out of Germany, or they might face severe consequences. The Jews that Hitler considered to be bad, were killed in Jewish concentration camps found mostly in Poland.

Political Geography[]


References[]



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