Hitler agrees to a Ceasefire in 1941

Hitler Agrees to Ceasefire in 1940
On June 8th 1940, the Third French Republic agreed to a ceasefire with Hitler's victorious Third Reich. By the terms of the Treaty of Vichy, France would:
 * Cede Alsace-Lorraine to Germany.
 * Hand over the territories of French Togoland, French Cameroon, Syria and Lebanon to Germany.
 * Recognise the new state of The United Aryan States of Benelux (UASB)created from the defeated states of Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxemburg.
 * Agree to a new government, led by the pro-German Marshall Petain.

On June 10th, German SS troops captured and executed General Charles de Gaulle attempting to flee the country to Britain. On June 11th, Hitler demanded that Britain sign a peace deal or fall as France did. The new Prime Minister Winston Churchill refused.

On July 10th, Hitler launched the decisive aerial offensive that became known as the Battle of Britain. After initial successes, a change in targets by the Luftwaffe gave the RAF time to regroup and on September 15th they delivered an almighty blow to the Luftwaffe's aerial supremacy. Churchill now believed that Hitler would be more likely to listen to more reasonable peace terms. On September 21st,the leaders of Britain, France, Germany,Italy, Benelux and the ex-governments of Belgium and the Netherlands met in Malta to discuss peace terms. The September 26th Treaty of Malta was as follows:
 * Britain will recognise the new French government.
 * Britain will recognise the new government of Benelux.
 * Britain will recognise Germany's new territorial accuisitions since Spetember 1st 1939.
 * Germany will withdraw all troops from France, Benelux, Denmark and Norway.
 * Germany will recognise the Congo Free State, formerly Belgian Congo, as independent.
 * Germany will recognise the Netherlands government in-exile as the government of the new Union of Dutch Free States which encompasses all of the Netherlands former colonial possessions.
 * Germany will withdraw all claims to former colonial possessions now under British control. Italy will withdraw from all British colonial possessions and Egypt.

As a result of this treaty, the war which had the potential to escalate into an inconceivable world armageddon was contained. Hitler was satisfied, Britain accepted the situation and thanked the stars it had not been worse but Italy was angered by Germany's unfair demands that they sign a peace deal with Britain. This prompted them to withdraw from their alliance with Germany.

Hitler, angered by his ally's betrayal of him, ordered an invasion of Italy on October 28th. Mussolini's army proved useless against the efficient might of the Wehrmacht. On Christmas Eve 1940, Mussolini was arrested by pro-German police in his hideout on Sicily. All of Italy's colonial empire was ceded to Germany. Britain had hoped that by allowing the two Axis powers fight it out, they could gain more power over a weakened Germany. However, they were surprised by Hitler's speedy victory and, as a result of Hitler's new power in Africa, increased the troop numbers in key holdings such as Egypt. A Cold War was developing between the two European superpowers.