1940: The fire begins

1940, the year that really started it all. After the success in September 1939, against an inferior army in Poland, Germany set it's sights on foes in the west that were at least equal, and in terms of the number of tanks and airplanes they were superior. Britain and France had declared war on Germany that fall so they were obvious targets. Norway also became a strategic scapegoat to impress an embargo against Britain. The Atlantic Sea War began in earnest after the United States pledged it's support of Great Britain with supply ships. U-boats prowled a blockade in the English Channel and the North Sea. To conquer Europe, Germany declared free game on all who dared cross them. Their philosophy of eminent domain stemmed both from the economic slump caused by the Treaty of Versailles after the Great War 'to end all wars', and from several centuries of glorifying the warfare class since stories of Charlemagne and recent rulers like Frederick the Great and Kaiser Wilhelm. Nazi ideology had been building for most of the previous decade under Hitler, touting belief not only in their own supposed superiority, but also in an all-or-nothing effort to prove to the world that Europe belonged to the rightful victor from glorious battle. The torches were set to fire all of western civilization into a bonfire of pride and desperation.