-
June 1919 - Treaty of Versailles is signed
The Treaty of Versailles was a treaty created during the Paris Peace Conference that took place after the first world war. It was signed on June 28th 1919, ushering the first war to it's end. Part of this agreement was to have Germany attempt to pay back the allies for the damages of the war. Germany ended up owing 31.4 billion dollars in war damages. -
August 1919 - The Weimar Republic is established in Germany
For the first time a parliamentary democracy is set up in Germany. -
January 1920 - The League of Nation is created
The League Of Nations was creates shortly after the end of WWI with the primary objective of keeping world peace. There were 58 countries involved in total. Notably, the united states never joined. -
November 1923 - Beer Hall Putsch
The Nazi party attempted to storm into the Feldherrnalle, an important German monument to try and overthrow the government. 4 police and 16 members of the Nazi party were casualties of the exchange. Several others were injured, and many of the members of the Nazi party were arrested. Hitler fled the scene and was found two days later in the countryside. He was promptly apprehended and charged with treason. -
January 1923 - French occupation of the Ruhr
After WWI, Germany was struggling to come up with the ridiculous amount of money requested from them in damages. As a way to try and get them to pay more, France and Belgium invaded the industrial district Ruhr in German territory. The German civilians revolted, which resulted to a total casualty count of 130 dead German citizens. -
April 1924 - The Dawes Plan is created
Created by Charles D. Dawes, this plan was created to get allied powers off of German soil and prevent further conflict. He later won a Nobel Peace prize for his work -
June 1925 - Benito Mussolini becomes dictator of Italy
Mussolini rises to power with the National Fascist Party. -
October 1925 - The Locarno Treaties are signed
Seven agreements discussed in Switzerland. The main goal of these treaties were to bring peace back between France and Germany. -
August 1928 - The Kellogg-Briand Pact is signed
This pact was signed in Paris in 1928. The countries involved were France, Germany and the United States. The goal of the pact was to further condemn acts of war and prevent further conflict. If any of the involved countries became involved in war their benefits under the pact would be revoked. In retrospect this treaty was a failure, it failed to prevent the militarization of the countries involved and was ineffective at stopping the second world war. -
October 1929 - Beginning of the Great Depression
This event coincides with the wall street crash. This crash eventually lead to the London stock exchange crash, which was the official beginning of the Great Depression. -
September 1931 - Japan invaded Manchuria
With Japan's military and industrial increases, they grew tired of relying on the United States for oil and metal imports and expanded their territory into parts of China and southeast Asia. This resulted in their immediate termination from the League of Nations -
January 1933 - Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany
Hitler was elected under the Nazi party and was able to economically reform Germany, making it one of the first countries to get out of the great depression. -
October 1935 - Italy invaded Ethiopia
Under Mussolini's command Italy invaded Ethiopia as part of Axis expansionist policies. The Ethiopians were unable to hold off the attack of Italy as they had inferior weapons and technology. In this fight 377 500 Ethiopian soldiers were killed, along with 208 000 of the Italian force. -
March 1936 - Germany reoccupied the Rhineland
In direct disobedience to the Kellog-Briand pact Germany invades Rhineland with their military forces. Germany had been barred from entering past the Rhine. -
October 1936 - Creation of the Rome-Berlin Axis
The Axis powers were the opposing force to the Allies. -
November 1936 - Creation of the Anti-Comintern Pact
Anti communist pact signed between Germany and Japan. -
September 1938 - Signing of the Munich Agreement
Agreement signed with most of Europe to not fight Germany on their new stolen land. This was done in order to prevent the war that Germany had threatened from being carried out. -
March 1938 - Germany’s anschluss with Austria
Germany invades Austria to unite them both as German speaking nations. -
March 1939 - Germany occupied Czechoslovakia
Germany invades Czechoslovakia under Hitler's guise that ethnic Germans were suffering within the country. Hitler was able to take most of Czechoslovakia, except for a small region that was taken under the protection of poland. -
August 1939 - Creation of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
Pact between the soviet union and the Germans to divide up Polish land between the two. -
September 1, 1939 - Germany invaded Poland
The start of WWII. -
September 3, 1939 - Britain declared war on Germany
Britain's response to Germany invading Poland.
