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Period: to
Betweeen the First World War and Second
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Treaty of Versailles
Germany had to sign the treaty. It stated that Germany had to take responsability for the First World War and had to pay reparations along with shrinking their army and naval forces to a very small number. The map of Europe was also redrawn, giving Germany a smaller area of land. Germany was very unhappy about this, considering the terms of the treaty too harsh. -
War Guilt Clause
Stated that Germany must take blame for the First World War. The German people were very unhappy about this and other terms of the Treaty of Versailles. -
Failure of the Weimar Republic in Germany
The Weimar Republic, the German democracy created after the Kaiser abdicated his throne, was created in a hope that they would please the Americans and cause them to make demands from the Treaty of Versailles more lenient. This failed and in desperation the German peoples abandoned democracy in favour of Adolf Hitler -
Mussolini Doesn't Win Election
Because he did not win the election Mussolini overthrew the government and went into power. With it came the rise of totalitarianism. More Italians were willing to give up democracy for solutions to their problems. The "Black Shirts" were also formed. Italy became a totalitarian and fascist state. -
Stalins Five Year Plans
This was Josef Stalin's plan to take complete control over Russia's economy. After Stalin came to power he made Russia into totalitarian state also. -
Germany goes into Depression
Germany goes into the worst depression. There is major unemployment, and democracy was blamed for that. The NAZI Communist Party took this to their advantage and promised to get Germany out of the depression and cease all negotiations under the League of Nations. -
The Stock Market Crashes- Sign of the Great Depression
The US stock market crashed on Black Tuesday, Oct 29th and was an indicator that the Great Depression was coming. It sent world economies into a downward spirale that lasted many years. People were fired and there was no work. The Great Depression was the basis for Hitler coming into power as he promised that he would get Germany out of the depression. -
Japan Invades Manchuria
Japan was hit hard by depression and Japanese lords wanted a bigger empire and thus invaded Manchuria, in China. The League told Japan they had to leave Manchuria and when Japan refused, they told other countries to stop trading with them. Other countries didn't want to because of the Depression. Japan simply withdrew it's membership from the League. -
NAZI Become Large Power
The NAZI's became very popular with the German's because of their promise to get the German economy back on their feet. Adolf Hitler was voted into power, though he did not gain a majority vote. -
Enabling Act
The Enabling Act gave Adolf Hitler all power. He became the Chancellor of Germany and ended democracy in Germany. When he came in to power he also began to secretly build up the German army and weapons. He also introduced anti-semitism, Anti-Jewish. He treated the Jewish very poorly and used them as the scapegoat. -
Hitler Builds Up his Army
In 1934 Hitler increased his army, began to build warships and even formed a German Air Force. He also brought back conscription to Germany. All of these went completely against the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. -
Italy's Full Scale Invasion of Abyssinia
Italy attempted to invade Abyssinia back in 1896, but failed. Now they wanted revenge. They launched an invasion and succeeded. The League imposed trade sanctions with Italy, but did not include oil, Italy's main import. -
Germany Enters the Rhineland
Because of the League's failure to stop Japan from invading Manchuria, Hitler decided that he would be able to send troops into the Rhineland without being punished. His actions indeed did go unpunished. -
Germany Annexes Austria
Germany wanted to reclaim the land that they had lost because of the Treaty of Versailles and waltzed into Austria. Austria held a vote and most of Austria wanted Anschluss, or union with Germany. This was his first promise to stop expanding and other countries did nothing for a fear of war. Six months later, this all changed. -
Hitler Demands Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia
Hitler wanted the Sudetenland in Czevchoslovakia in return for promising that it would be the end of his demands and he would not pursue any other violence. The Munich Agreement was formed, giving Germany the Sudetenland. -
Germany Takes over Czechoslovakia
Hitler did not keep his word when it came to leaving the rest of Czechoslovakia alone. He took over the rest of Czechoslovakia. War was drawing ever closer. -
Nazi-Soviet Pact
Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-agression pact, agreeing to not invade each other or take military action against each other -
Germany Invades Poland
Britain and France believed that Poland would be Germany's next target (as that was more land taken away from Germany), and promised to go to war if Germany decided to invade Poland. Germany invaded Poland on Sept. 1 and Germany, France, and Britain went to war. -
Invasion of the Soviet Union
Though it happened after Germany and the Soviet Union declared war against Britiain and France, the (failed) invasion of the Soviet Union caused increased agression between countries. -
Japan Bombs the US port of Pearl Harbour in Hawaii.
Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbour on December 7th 1941, destroying several US naval boats. Though it was after Germany declared war on Britain and France, this event caused the US and Japan to announce war on each other. This also caused Germany and Italy to announce war on the US too.
