World War II began after years of German dominance in central Europe. Germany had annexed many nearby nations before war was finally declared in September 1939. Nazi Germany had many early successes because their military had been mobilized for a long time while the allies, who at this point were only Britain and France, were less prepared. Germany also was highly mechanized and used a new type of warfare (blitzkrieg) that the world had never experienced before. Hitler wisely signed a non-aggression pact with Stalin and by doing so Germany easily overwhelmed Poland and other lands in Eastern Europe by the end of 1939. By this point the allies were entrenched in France expecting a repeat of World War I. In the spring of 1940, the Nazi blitzkrieg continued as they occupied Denmark, Norway, and Holland. Now, Germany turned toward France and surprised the allies by invading through Belgium. Within several weeks France was occupied and the British had been driven off the continent. By July 1940, Germany dominated nearly all of continental Europe, as Italy was an ally and Russia was neutral. Germany saw Britain as its last remaining enemy and so prepared for an invasion. In order to do so Hitler recognized that air supremacy would be necessary for any successful invasion to take place. The German air force, the Luftwaffe, was met with great resistance, and by late 1940 Hitler gave up hope of an immediate invasion of Britain. At this point, the best strategy for Germany would have been to attack North Africa and the Middle East as this would give Germany the Suez Canal and therefore would cut off Britains supply of oil. Hitlers obsession with a vast eastern European empire had already determined that his next course of action would be to invade the Soviet Union. With western Europe secure, for the time being, Hitler decided on a massive campaign through the Soviet Union. ...
