-
End of WWI
World war one was a major war centered on Europe. This conflict involved all of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies and the Central Powers. -
Hit;er joins the Nazi party
Hitler rapidly established a totalitarian regime known as the Third Reich. -
Fascist Party established under Mussolini in Italy
The National Fascist Party was an Italian party, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of fascism. -
Establishment of the USSR
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (also known as the USSR) consisted of Russia and surrounding countries -
Mussolini takes over in Italy
-
Death of Aladimir Lenin; control of USSR to Joseph Stalin; deaths od 8-13 million Russians
Stalin assumed the leading role in Soviet politics after Vladimir Lenin's death in 1924, and gradually marginalized his opponents until he had become the unchallenged leader of the Soviet Union. -
US and 61 other countries sign Kellogg-Briand Pact
The pact renounced aggressive war, prohibiting the use of war as "an instrument of national policy" except in matters of self-defense -
Japanese invasion of Manchuria
The Japanese occupation of Manchuria lasted until the end of World War II. -
Roosevelt takes office
FDR's combination of optimism and activism contributed to reviving the national spirit. Working closely with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin in leading the Allies against Germany and Japan in World War II, he died just as victory was -
US begins passing Neutrality acts
The acts passed between 1935 contained provisions limiting arms sales to nations that were not at war, gave the United States the power to keep citizens from traveling on belligerent ships or to belligerent nations, prohibited loans to belligerent nations and nations that were not repaying previous debts, and forbade American shipping to carry arms to belligerents. -
Hitler begins military buildup
By March 1935, Hitler felt strong enough to go public on Nazi Germany's military expansion - which broke the terms of the Versailles Treaty. -
Italian troops conquer Ethiopia
The war was fought between the armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy and the armed forces of the Ethiopian Empire.The war resulted in the military occupation of Ethiopia and its annexation into the newly created colony of Italian East Africa. -
Civil War begins in Spain under Francisco Franco
Franco and the military participated in a coup d'état against the Popular Front government. The coup failed and devolved into the Spanish Civil War during which Franco emerged as the leader of the Nationalists against the Popular Front government -
German troops invade Rhineland
Under the terms of Versailles, the Rhineland had been made into a demilitarised zone. Germany had political control of this area, but she was not allowed to put any troops into it. Therefore, many Germans concluded that they did not actually fully control the area despite it being in Germany itself. -
Japan invades China
Before 1937, China and Japan fought in small, localized engagements, so-called "incidents". Yet the two sides, for a variety of reasons, refrained from fighting a total war -
HItler announces secret plans for lebensraum
An important component of Nazi ideology. It served as the motivation for the expansionist policies of Nazi Germany, aiming to provide extra space for the growth of the German population, for a Greater Germany -
HItler becomes Chancellor of Germany, establishing the Third Reich
The Nazis organized a massive torchlight parade in Berlin to celebrate the appointment of Hitler as Chancellor of Germany -
HItler takes Austria
At the end of 1937 Austria's conservative, authoritarian government found Germany conspiring with National Socialists inside its borders, with Germany aiming to take power in Austria. -
Munich agreement; Sudentenlland to Germany
The Sudetenland were areas along Czech borders, mainly inhabited by ethnic Germans. The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe without the presence of Czechoslovakia -
Franco is sucessful in Spain
The Spanish Civil War began in July 1936 and officially ended with Franco's victory in April 1939, leaving 190,000 to 500,000 dead. -
Totalitarian government established in USSR
Although the USSR was nominally a union of Soviet republics with the capital in Moscow, it was in actuality a highly centralized state with a -
Russian army into Finland (Finns surrender in three months)
On November 30, 1939 the Soviet Union attempted to annex Finland. -
Czechoslovakia falls to Hitler
On March 15, 1939, the German Wehrmacht moved into the remainder of Czechoslovakia and, from Prague Castle, Hitler proclaimed Bohemia and Moravia the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The occupation ended with the surrender of Germany following the Second World War. -
Non-aggression pact; Germany and Russia; divide Poland
During the first years of the war, this economic agreement helped Germany bypass the British blockade. -
German invasion of Poland; blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg is an anglicized word describing all-mechanized force concentration of tanks, infantry, artillery and air power, concentrating overwhelming force at high speed to break through enemy lines, and, once the latter is broken, proceeding without regard to its flank. -
Defeat of the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg by Germany
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, executed on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. -
British and French defeat at Dunkirk
The Battle of Dunkirk was a battle in the Second World War between the Allies and Germany -
Itlay enters the war on the side of Germany and invades France
On June 22, France signs an armistice agreement by which the Germans occupy the northern half of the country and the entire Atlantic coastline. In southern France, a collaborationist regime with its capital in Vichy is established. -
German invasion of Denmark and Norway
The German invasion of Norway was a dramatically daring military operation. The decision to embark on the venture was made by Adolf Hitler as Chief of State and also as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the German Reich.
