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Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany
Hitler became Chancellor because he had offered rearmament and opposition to the Treaty of Versailles. His plan was to make Germany a powerful, pure Aryan, unified, one party state, thus, he ordered rapid expansion in the East. Despite Hitler’s ambitions, Britain and France were facing internal economic problems, so they didn’t do anything about it, especially since Germany had still a small army, and British navy was powerful as well as the French army. This marked the begining of Nazi Germany. -
Hitler leaves the League of Nations
Hitler was forced by the League of Nations to obey the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, so once he withdrew Germany from it, he no longer had to obey it so he was able to rearm and expand German territories. France and Britain didn’t see this as a move towards war, so they allowed him and ignored the League. This was significant because it meant that Germany was preparing for war, even though at the time, some countries didn’t look at it that way. -
Anglo-German Naval Treaty
Britain ignored the Treaty of Versailles and made an agreement with Germany in order to satisfy its interests and control the increasing German battleship expansion and keep it less than Britain’s. Hitler benefited from this because he was able to expand its navy even more. This meant Germany violating again restrictions imposed by Versailles and driving a wedge between France and Britain. -
Italy invades Ethiopia
Mussolini invaded Ethiopia in order to boost Italian national prestige. Ethiopia appealed to the League of Nations, but Britain and France feared that and angry Italy could ally with Nazi Germany so they did nothing to intervene in the aggressive act. At the end, Hitler benefited from the division between Italy, Britain and France. -
Germany remilitarizes the Rhineland
Hitler introduces conscription, which means Germany was now a revived military power. Also, Hitler breached again Versailles and remilitarized the Rhineland, which only result was a great increase in Germany's army. Again, Britain and France didn't do anything against it because arms production increased. This was important becuase it meant that Germany was getting more powerful, and could break into war at any moment. -
Germany occupies and annexes Austria
Austrian Nazis conspired to seize the Austrian government by force and unite their nation with Nazi Germany. After a series of events, it finally happened, the Anschluss was proclaimed and Austria had called for German annexation. German troops occupied Austria. Once again, Britain and France didn’t do anything about it. However, British prime minister hoped to negotiate a revision of Versailles, while he prepared for the worst and built up Britain’s defences. -
Sudetenland is taken by Germany
30 sept at the conference at Munich, Hitler threatened to invade Czechoslovakia unless Britain supported Germany's plans to takeover the Sudetenland. After, Italian mediation, Britain and Czechoslovakia agreed that Germany could have the Sudetenland (in October). In return, Hitler promised not to make any further territorial demands in Europe. At the end, Hitler gained his objective and continued to rearm. Other countries knew this problem remained, but meanwhile British rearmament increased. -
Nazi Germany takes the rest of Czechoslovakia
Nazi Germany becomes more radical: there is great anti-semitism. Hitler invades the rest of Czechoslovakia, showing that he was interested in gaining more land. As well, it marked that appeasement had failed. As a result, rearmament in Germany accelerated and conscription was introduced in Britain. Also, Britain had promised Poland a guarantee of independece in case Germany invaded. -
Germany occupies Memel and demands for Polish corridor
Germany demanded the cession of Danzig and the creation of an extraterritorial German corridor across the Polish Corridor. Poland rejected these demands and obtained a French and British guarantee against aggression. Soon, the Polish-German crisis culminated in the German invasion of Poland and the declaration of war amongst countries. -
Germany and USSR sign a non-aggression pact
The USSR non-aggression pact offered the chance to amass forces against Poland. This marked the beginning of the racial war in the east. Britain tried to negotiate with the USSR. Soon, Britain declared war on Germany and France followed it.
