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World War II
M THE MOMENT he took p er in 1933, olf Hi er kn exactly what he wanted. He would use any methods necessary, no matter how immoral. He began by violating the Versailles Trea , secretly building up his army and navy. On March 16, 1935, Hitler ope y announced that Germany would h e an y of one-half million men, yet England and F nce did nothing. On M ch 7, 1936, Hi er's ops occupied e Rhinel d, also rbidden by the Versailles Treaty. The German generals were prepared to withd w at the slightest sign of French opposition, but e French d nothing. On November 1, 1936, Hitler and Mussolini signed a trea mutual de nse. Mussolini said that Germany and Italy uld be "axis" around which the rest of Europe would lve, and hence rth the t countries were known as e Axis Powe . In just ur years Hi er had developed Germa into a mighty milita machine and p ved e we ­ ness of e countries who should have opposed him. On November 5, 1937, Hitler told his General Sta (the leaders of the armed es) to prepa r all-out war.
Bloodless Conquest
His rst goal-which he had outlined in Mein Kamp ough appar­ ently no one really believed it- s to unite all German-speaking peoples under his domination. Austria was target #1. By a combination of terror­ ism within Austria and rea of war, Hitler rced the Austrian Prime Minister, Schuschnigg, sign a document giving Nazis control over e Austrian gove ent. But Hitler wanted total military domination of e
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