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Treaty of Versailles
In June 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed. This was an agreement between France, Britain and a forced Germany. It was a treaty created to try and help keep peace in Europe and to punish Germany. Under this treaty, Germany lost Rhineland was prohibited to have troops there. Their military was significantly reduced and was to pay for war reparations. Today, it would've cost up to 38 billion dollars. -
The Weimar Republic is born
In August of 1919, the Weimar Republic was born. It was the name given to a democratic government that was in created in Germany. It ran from when it was created to the beginning of the Nazi party in 1933. This government was very fragile and carried with it violence, economic crisis, and drastic social changes. -
Creation of the League of Nations
On January 1920, the League of Nations was created. It was made up of England, France, Italy, and the United States. It was created to stop future wars and conflicts throughout the world. It was put in place to help resolve conflicts between countries. It was the first international organization for peace. After it's failure to prevent the second world war, it was disbanded and was re-adopted as the United Nations. -
French occupy Ruhr
A condition in the Treaty of Versailles, a region between Germany and France called Ruhr was not to be occupied by either party. Germany began to fall behind on it war reparation payments in the early 1920's. In response to this, France sent troops to Ruhr and compensation. As one would expect, this angered the Germans. -
Beer Hall Putsch
The Nazi party and Adolf Hitler were gaining popularity. In the 1920's they believed they create a new government for Germany. On November 9, 1923 Hitler and some of his followers tried to overthrow the government, the Weimar republic. Hitler and several Nazis were thrown into jail. This only made Hitler and his party more popular to the citizens of Germany. -
Dawes Plan
As Germany continued to not pay war reparations, the United States came up with a plan. The Dawes Plan. The plan was: the United States loaned money to Germany so it could be used to rebuild its economy and help pay off the war reparations. In exchange, France was to remove its troops from Ruhr. This plan failed due to the Great Depression and completely bankrupted Germany. -
Benito Mussolini: Dictator of Italy
In June 1925, Mussolini became president and dictator of Italy. He was the worlds very first fascist leader. Mussolini and his Blackshirts eliminated all opposition and terrorized the people, including the king, into allowing him to come to power. This had a great influence on Hitler when he became dictator of Germany. -
Locarno Treaties
The Locarno Treaties were series of agreements between the Allies and Germany. The agreement was, the Allies would allow Germany to rebuild and recover from World War 1 and have friendly and peaceful relations with Germany. In exchange Germany promised to never go to war again. These agreements allowed Hitler to gain power and strength without outside interference. -
Kellogg-Briand Pact
This was a general agreement between the various countries involved in World War 1, stating that they would never use war to resolve a conflict. It was signed by Germany, France, Britain and the United States. 11 years later, World War 2 began partially due to Hitler breaking this pact. -
Beginning of the Great Depression
Due to a Stock Market crash, the world economy crumbled. It triggered a worldwide depression and economic crisis. millions of people were unemployed and economies were in such bad shape that people were desperate. This allowed Hitler and Mussolini to rise to power in Germany and Italy. -
Japan Invades China.
In September 1931, Japan was experiencing an economic crisis with the rest of the world due to the Great Depression. Japan was desperate for resources. This lead to Japan invading China, Manchuria to be precise. This region was known for its coal and iron. This event proved the ineffectiveness of the League of Nations as it had failed to react to Japan's aggressive invasion. -
Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany
Germany was desperate to repair itself and to have some sort of stability in its government. Germany's president Hindenburg was desperate to do just that, and he believes that Hitler could do it, due to persuasion. In this position, Hitler was able to seize control of Germany and he began rearming the military. He created a fascist dictatorship with himself as leader. -
Italy Invades Ethiopia
Mussolini leads an invasion on the African nation Ethiopia, in an effort to build an empire and resources. This was another example of failure on the League of Nations as nothing was done to stop Italy or assist Ethiopia from the invasion. -
Germany takes control of Rhineland
Another condition of the Treaty of Versailles, was Germany was forbidden to occupy Rhineland. In violation of siad treaty, Germany marches it's troops into Rhineland. The League of Nations did nothing to stop this violation. Hitler was free to continue his agreesive expansion. -
Anti-Comintern Pact
One month after the Rome-Berlin Axis was signed, Germany and Japan signed the anti-communist agreement. This was an agreement that both Japan and Germany would fight against communist countries like the Soviet Union. This brought together Japan and German and later on Italy. -
Rome-Berlin Axis
The Rome-Berlin Axis was signed by both Germany and Italy. It was an agreement between the two countries to support each other. At this time, Germany and Italy were the only fascist countries. Both Hitler and Mussolini had similar interests in expanding their territory. Germany, Italy and their other allies, during World War 2, became known as the Axis Powers. -
Germany's Anschluss with Austria
Anschluss is the idea of uniting German-speaking people, in Germany and Austria. Due to the Treaty of Versailles Germany was forbidden from having any kind of alliance with Austria. However, Hitler believed that Austria must be united as they are both Germanic people. Germany decided to occupy Austria and was met with very little resistance. -
The Munich Agreement
After Hitler occupied Austria his next target was Czechoslovakia. Hitler and Mussolini made an agreement with Britain and France stating that Germany could occupy the German-speaking part of Czechoslovakia, known as the Sudetenland. The one condition, Hitler was to stop trying to occupy other territories. This became the Munich Agreement and eventually Hitler took over all of Czechoslovakia. -
Germany seized control of Czechoslovakia
After the Munich Agreement was signed, Germany worked its way into all of Czechoslovakia, This was all of Czechoslovakia and not just the agreed Sudetenland. This violated the terms f the Munich Agreement but nothing was done about it as neither Britain or France responed. -
Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
With intentions of trying to broaden his territory, even more, Hitler needed to create an agreement with the Soviet Union. It was to make sure they didn't have a very powerful enemy and to perhaps make a new ally. Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin agreed to a non-aggression pact, which Hitler would later break in the midst of the war. -
Germany Invades Poland
After Czechoslovakia, Hitler's next target was Poland. He had made an agreement with Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union to divide Poland between the two countries. Soon after this proposition, and Stalin agreed, Germany marched into Poland. This violated the Munich Agreement and was evidence that the policy of appeasement of Hitler's aggression had failed. -
Britain Declares War on Germany.
After Germany's invasion on Poland, Britain came to a sudden realization that they had failed to keep peace in Europe. They believed they had no choice but to stand up to the aggressiveness Germany was presenting. On September 3rd, 1939 Britain declared war on Germany. This was the beginning of World War 2.
