Pétain’s defense at the ten-month-long Battle of Verdun during World War I made the then general a national hero. During the crisis of May 1940, when Hitler launched his blitzkrieg offensive in the West, it became clear that French forces were overwhelmed and that military collapse was imminent. Maréchal (Marshal) Pétain, who had been called out…
Doenitz had served aboard U-boats during World War I. He was a keen proponent of undersea warfare. In 1935 he was made commander of Germany’s small submarine force and oversaw its gradual but not insignificant expansion leading up to the outbreak of World War II. Doenitz’s career took off when Hitler lost faith in his country’s surface…
Mussolini was the first fascist dictator in Europe, coining the term fascism in 1914. After an undistinguished military career during World War I, Mussolini launched the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento, a fascist organization that attracted many unemployed war veterans. In 1921 he founded the National Fascist Party in Rome and was elected to the Chamber of…
Winston Churchill held several important political positions in Great Britain during World War I, including First Lord of the Admiralty. Between the wars he was a Member of Parliament but held no cabinet post. In the Thirties he was out of office and politically “in the wilderness.” During this time he was a vocal supporter of…
Berlin, Germany · September 27, 1937 On this date in 1937 the Reichssicherheitshauptamt, Reich Security Main Office (known by its acronym RSHA), was created by Reichsfuehrer-SS Heinrich Himmler through the merger of the SS (Schutzstaffel) intelligence service, the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), or Security Service, and the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo), or Security Police. The SiPo comprised the notorious…
Washington, D.C. · October 2, 1939 On January 31, 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt held a closed-door meeting with the Senate Military Affairs Committee at the White House. Reportedly FDR made the comment that “the frontier of the United States is the Rhine,” meaning France’s eastern border with Nazi Germany. When the statement was leaked…