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Period: to
Pre-World War II
In these prerequisite years of WWII many events occured that served as a catalyst to the inevitable war. -
Italy Invades Ethiopia
Bennito Mussolini desired to create an empire in the Meditarranean and North Africa. Italy invaded Ethiopia and soon annexed it to the Empire. The League of Nations was ineffective due to the fact that both Italy and Ethiopia were members. -
German Forces enter Rhineland
In direct opposition to the rules set by the Treaty of Versailles, Hitler sent troops into the Rhineland therefore remilitarizing this zone. Hitler met no opposition and this would be the first of many territorial acquisitions for Hitler and Germany. -
Spanish Civil War
The conflict occured between the Fascist side and Loyalist side of the Spanish government. Soon the Germans would side with the Fascists. Francisco Franco and his Fascist forces won the war and turned the once democratic Spain into a fascist dictatorship. -
Rome-Berlin Axis
Mussolini and Hitler were building strong and agressive empires. They formed an alliance that was very dangerous to the democracies of Europe due to the fact that both of these nations were large and had large armies. Japan would eventually join this alliance. -
Anti-Comintern Pact
Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan came to an agreement directed towards Communism, spefically in the Soviet Union. Hitler was interested in Japan's success during the early stages of war in China, and the Japanese were angry about the USSR's sale of aircraft to the Chinese along with the Soviet-Chinese nonaggressin pact. Japan would eventually renounce this agreement due to the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact. Italy would also become part of this agreement. -
Neutrality Act of 1937
In 1937, Congress prohibited the trade of war materials with Spain. The US was hoping to stay neutral by not getting involved in the Spanish civil war. The provisions of the previous Neutrality act was also extended tocover civil wars. Americans were prohibited from traveling or transporting on ships of belligerent nations. -
Japan invades China
Japan began its invasion of China with the bombing of the Marco Polo bridge near Beijing. Japan sought to obtain the vast resources in China. Russia backed the weaker China to prevent an invasion of Siberia. Roosevelt refused to declare this an sctual war to keep the neutrality acts in place. This allowed munitions to continue to flow into China and sustain China's resistance. Japan would eventually leave the League of Nations as Germany did. -
Roosevelt's Quaratine Speech
Due to increased aggresion from Japan and Italy, Roosevelt sought a solution to stop the dictators. He planned to "quarantine" the dictators economically. This plan was not received by the public well. -
Austria merges into Germany
To go along with his plan of uniting all German speaking peoples, Hitler told Austrian chancellor to accept all his terms or have his country taken by force. Needless to say, two days later Hitler was greeted by crowds as he arrived in Vienna. He was not challenged in this endeavor -
Munich Agreement signed
Major powers France, Britain, and Germany met and decided the Sudetenland would be given to Germany. The powers assumed if they gave Hitler this he would attempt to make more territorial acquisitions -
Plan Z
Hitler's attempt to surpass the British Royal Navy was known as Plan Z. This 5 year project aimed at increasing the overall size of the German fleet was to be completed by 1944. -
Hitler invades rest of Czechoslovakia
Hitler invaded the German speaking Slovak side of this nation only a short period of time after the Munich Agreement was signed. Soon, the powers realized Hitler would not stop his acquiring of territories and vowed to fight if Poland was attacked. This event would come in the future. -
Albania Invaded by Italy
Atempting to mimmick Hitler's territory acquisition, mussolini sent troops into the Balkin country of Albania to gain control of the Adriatic Sea. Under the control of Italy, Albania soon withdrew from the League of Nations. The Albanian foreign ministry was soon merged with the Italian foreign ministry. -
Hitler renounces Anglo-German Naval Agreement/German Polish Aggression Pact
In a speech to the Reichstag, Hitler openly renounced the guidelines placed by these two agreements. This was just one of many defiant acts of Hitler during his time in power in Germany. -
Nazi-Soviet Non-aggresion Pact
The Soviets and Nazis signed a pact that set down guidelines for nonaggresion towards each other. In this they also divided up Poland where Germany would take the German speaking parts, and the Soviets would get the rest -
Poland invaded by Germany
