[b][size=25][center]Ww2 breaks out in Europe[/center]
[/b][/size][size=21]
In Europe, Germany and Italy were becoming bolder. In March 1938, Germany [/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/Anschluss][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]annexed Austria[/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21], again provoking [/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/Appeasement_of_Hitler][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]little response[/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21] from other European powers.[/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/l%20cite_note-25][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff][26][/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21] Encouraged, Hitler began making claims on the [/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/Sudetenland][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]Sudetenland[/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21]; France and Britain [/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/Munich_Agreement][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]conceded these[/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21] for a promise of no further territorial demands.[/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/l%20cite_note-26][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff][27][/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21] Germany soon reneged. In March 1939 [/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/German_occupation_of_Czechoslovakia][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]Germany and Hungary fully occupied Czechoslovakia[/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21].
Alarmed, and with Hitler making further demands on [/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/Free_City_of_Danzig][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]Danzig[/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21], France and Britain [/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/Polish-British_Common_Defence_Pact/lBritish_Guarantee_to_Poland][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]guaranteed their support for Polish independence[/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21]; when [/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/Italian_invasion_of_Albania][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]Italy conquered Albania[/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21] in April, the same guarantee was extended to [/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/Romania][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]Romania[/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21] and [/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/Greece][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]Greece[/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21].[/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/l%20cite_note-27][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff][28][/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21] Shortly after the Franco-British pledges to Poland, Germany and Italy formalized their own alliance with the [/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/Pact_of_Steel][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]Pact of Steel[/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21].
The Soviet Union attempted to ally with France and Britain, but was rebuffed due to western suspicions about Soviet motives and capability.[/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/l%20cite_note-28][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff][29][/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21] Since France and Britain were unwilling to create a formal military alliance with the USSR[/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/l%20cite_note-29][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff][30][/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21] and apprehensive of a possible war with Hitler while the Western powers remained neutral or tacitly favorable to Hitler,[/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/l%20cite_note-30][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff][31][/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21] the Soviet Union signed a [/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/Molotov-Ribbentrop_Pact][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]non-aggression pact[/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21], named after the foreign secretaries of the two countries, on August 23, with Germany, including a secret agreement to split Poland and Eastern Europe between them.[/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/l%20cite_note-31][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff][32][/u][/color][/size][size=21]HYPERLINK \l "cite_note-32"[/size][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff][33][/u][/color][/size][/url]
[url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/Image:German_Soviet.jpgHYPERLINK/wiki/USSR][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]Soviet[/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21] and [/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/Third_Reich][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]German[/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21] officers in [/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/Poland][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]Poland[/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21].
On September 1, 1939, [/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/Adolf_Hitler][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]Adolf Hitler[/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21] launched his [/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/Invasion_of_Poland_(1939)][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]invasion of Poland[/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21] and World War II broke out. France, Britain, and the countries of the [/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Nations][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]Commonwealth[/u][/color][/size][/url] [url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/Declaration_of_war/l1939][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]declared war on Germany[/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21] but provided little military support to Poland other than a [/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/Saar_Offensive][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]small French attack into the Saarland[/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21].[/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/l%20cite_note-33][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff][34][/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21] On September 17, 1939, after signing an armistice with Japan, the [/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/Soviet_invasion_of_Poland_(1939)][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]Soviets launched their own invasion of Poland[/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21].[/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/l%20cite_note-34][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff][35][/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21] By early October, [/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/Polish_contribution_to_World_War_II][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]Poland had been defeated[/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21] and divided [/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/Polish_areas_annexed_by_Nazi_Germany][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]between Germany[/u][/color][/size][/url] [url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/Polish_areas_annexed_by_the_Soviet_Union][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]and the Soviet Union[/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21]. At the same time as the battle in Poland, Japan launched its [/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/Battle_of_Changsha_(1939)][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]first attack against Changsha[/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21], a strategically important Chinese city, but was repulsed by early October.[/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/l%20cite_note-35][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff][36][/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21]
Following the invasion of Poland, the Soviet Union began [/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/Occupation_of_Baltic_states/lUltimatums_to_Estonia.2C_Latvia.2C_Lithuania][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]moving troops into the Baltic States[/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21]. Finnish resistance to similar pressure by the Soviet Union in late November led to the four-month [/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/Winter_War][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]Winter War[/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21], ending with [/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/Moscow_Peace_Treaty][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]Finnish concessions[/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21].[/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/l%20cite_note-36][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff][37][/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21] France and the United Kingdom, treating the Soviet attack on Finland as tantamount to entering the war on the side of the Germans[/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/l%20cite_note-ChinaBitter16-37][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff][38][/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21] responded to the Soviet invasion by supporting its expulsion from the League of Nations.[/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/l%20cite_note-ChinaBitter16-37][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff][38][/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21] Though China had the authority to veto such an action, it was unwilling to alienate itself from either the Western powers or the Soviet Union and instead abstained.[/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/l%20cite_note-ChinaBitter16-37][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff][38][/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21] The Soviet Union was displeased by this course of action and as a result suspended all military aid to China.[/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/l%20cite_note-ChinaBitter16-37][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff][38][/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21] By June 1940, the [/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/Soviet_Armed_Forces][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]Soviet Armed Forces[/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21] completed the [/size][url=https://algassania2.mam9.com/wiki/Occupation_of_Baltic_states/lSoviet_invasion][u][size=21][color:5fa0=#0000ff]occupation of the Baltic States[/u][/color][/size][/url][size=21]
H.a[/size]
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