-
Period: to
1930-1939
-
September 1931: Japan Invades Manchuria
In September 1931, they claimed that Chinese soldiers had sabotaged the railway, and attacked the Chinese army. -
Italy attacks Ethiopia
1935 and Mussolini has turned Italy into a power to be reckoned with. On October 3, 1935, Italy attacked Ethiopia without a declaration of war. -
Germany occupies Rhineland
On 7 March 1936 German troops marched into the Rhineland. This action was directly against the Treaty of Versailles which had laid out the terms which the defeated Germany had accepted. It was Hitler’s first illegal act in foreign relations since coming to power in 1933 and it threw the European allies, especially France and Britain, into confusion. -
September 1938: Germany takes Sudetenland
Sept. 30, 1938, leaders of Nazi Germany, Great Britain, France and Italy signed an agreement that allowed the Nazis to annex the Sudetenland, a region of Czechoslovakia that was home to many ethnic Germans. Nazi Fuhrer Adolf Hitler had threatened to take the Sudetenland by force. The Czechoslovakian government resisted, but its allies Britain and France, determined to avoid war at all costs, were willing to negotiate with Hitler. On Sept. 29, Hitler met in Munich with Prime Ministers Neville Ch -
March 1939: Germany seizes Czechoslovakia
The new political leader of Czechoslovakia was 66-year-old Dr. Emil Hácha, an inexperienced politician with a bad heart condition. He had replaced Czech President Eduard Benes who fled to England after the Munich Agreement fearing assassination by the Nazis. Hácha now presided over an ever-shrinking republic. By early 1939, two outlying border areas had already been seized by Poland and Hungary with Hitler's approval. At Hitler's instruction, nationalist Slovaks living in the eastern portion of -
April 1939: Italy conquers Albania
Deciding that Adolf Hitler had been upstaging him, Benito Mussolini decided it was time to launch another invasion to put Italy in the news. Despite King Vittorio Emanuele III's objections, Mussolini used King Zog's oppression of fascists in Albania as an excuse for aggression. On 25 Mar 1939, Mussolini delivered an ultimatum to the Albanian capital of Tiranë, demanding Albanian to subject to Italian annexation. After King Zog's refusal, Italian warships bombarded the Albanian coast, with troops