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Treaty of Versailles is signed
The Treaty of Versailles was a significant peace document that brought the first world war to an end. The treaty put many restrictions upon Germany and is cited to be the key influence for the historic dictator Adolf Hitlers rise to overthrowing Germany. -
The Weimar Republic is established in Germany
The Weimar Republic was a democratic government that was in power in Germany from 1919 up until the rise of the Nazi party in 1933. The Weimar Republic is seen as a failure as it was unable to properly deal with the impacts that the Treaty of Versailles had on Germanys economy, social structure, as well as they were unable properly deal with The Great Depression. -
The League of Nations is created
The League of Nations was created in order to prevent another world war. Although it was weakened by numerous nations not participating, notoriously the United States. The League of Nations failed miserably in preventing another world war as world war II broke out in 1939. They did however succeed in providing assistance to bankrupt nations. -
French Occupation of the Ruhr
The Ruhr region bordering nations France and Germany was not to be occupied by either's individual army's through the agreement in the Treaty of Versailles. But when Germany began to fail to pay their war reparation payments in the early 1920's, France thus decided to send their army into the region and reclaim the land. This angered many Germans and was a factor in the growing grudge among Germans against the French. -
Beer Hall Putsch
In the early 1920s, Hitler and his ideas of a newly reformed government which included the Nazi Party began to reach across the public. Hitler and his Nazi party tried to overthrow the government, but subsequently failed and was sent to jail -
The Dawes Plan is created
In the midst of Germany being unable to pay war reparations, the United States drew up a plan which would help rebuild Germanys economy and repay due reparations. This settled tensions between Germany and France as in exchange for the reparations, France would move their troops out of the border nation Ruhr. Unfortunately, this plan failed due to the looming Great Depression and further bankrupted Germany. -
Benito Mussolini becomes dictator of Italy
After years of terrorizing the King, the people of Italy, and demolishing opponents, Benito Mussolini and his blackshirt wearing fascist party rose to power, with Mussolini declaring himself Dictator and President of Italy. Mussolini also had great influence on what Adolf Hitler would soon become. -
The Locarno Treaties are signed
The purpose of the Locarno Treaties was to make sure Germany promised not to go to war again. The Allies and Germany came to an agreement that allowed both parties to remain friendly and allow Germany to recover and rebuild from World War I only if Germany held up their part of the deal. These treaties were another factor in Adolf Hitler gaining power without interference from outside nations. -
The Kellogg-Briand Pact is signed
The pact was created in order for the countries involved in the first world war to come to an agreement to not settle feuds and disputes with War. Although, almost 11 years later Adolf Hitler broke the pact kickstarting the second World War -
Beginning of the Great Depression
The global stock market crashed and subsequently harmed many nations causing a worldwide depression. Consumer spending and
investment dropped severely. Millions went jobless as many companies closed down. As many nations were very vulnerable, figures like Hitler and Mussolini easily took power -
Japan invaded Manchuria
Although Japan had a highly developed industry, the land they called home isn't as rich in resources as the surrounding areas. And with the great depression in full effect, Japan was desperate. This was an act of defiance towards the League of Nations, further proving how much of a failure the organization was. -
Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany
The political climate of Germany was very chaotic during this time popularity among the Nazi party and their leader, Adolf Hitler, rose rapidly among the public. President Paul Von Hindenburg of Germany was franticly trying to find a solution, he then came to a conclusion to name Hitler Chancellor of German to ease tensions among the public regarding the political climate. Hitler with his newfound power revamped Germany, and established himself in a fascist dictatorship role. -
Italy invaded Ethiopia
The failure of the League of Nations is once again very clear in this act of defiance. Benito Mussolini led an invasion against Ethiopia in a desperate attempt for resources and to try and grasp more power for a planned Italian empire under his ruling. -
Germany reoccupied the Rhineland
In the Treaty of Versailles it states that Germany was forbidden to enter Rhineland. Hitler in his journey to try and further Germanys power marched his troops into the once forbidden nation. The League of Nations did not act accordingly to the raid and thus let Hitler continue his expansion -
Creation of the Rome-Berlin Axis
The Creation of the Rome-Berlin Axis' main purpose was to informally link fascist led countries, Italy and Germany. It is believed this pact was formed because of both countries leaders shared interests in expanding their empires. -
Creation of the Anti-Comintern Pact
In the active fight against communism nations Germany and Japan signed an agreement that said countries would participate in the fight against the disgraced political system. This pact strengthened relationships between German, Japan, and later Italy. -
Germany’s anschluss with Austria
Hitler had a personal belief that all Germanic people should be connected, this included the people of Germany and Austria because they share the same linguistic background. But because of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was not allowed to have any alliance with Austria. This clause became one of the many Hitler broke in his reign as Chancellor. The act of the two nations uniting was met with little resistance from the people of Austria and the allied nations -
Signing of the Munich Agreement
Hitlers lust for expansion only grew with the annex of Austria, his next target was to be Czechoslovakia. Britain and France started to take notice that both Mussolini and Hitler might be a problem. So they came to an agreement that allowed Hitler to occupy the Germanic-speaking area known as Sudetenland. Only if he was to stop taking over other nations. -
Germany occupied Czechoslovakia
Hitlers did not just want a part of Czechoslovakia, he wanted the whole nation. He then went against the Munich agreement and thus invaded and took over Czechoslovakia. Although Britains authority has been dismissed by Hitler and the Nazi's, Britain did not retaliate. -
Creation of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
Although Hitler had previously signed Anti-Comintern Pact he would soon find himself dealing with the same people he agreed to fight, the communists. Hitler and Soviet Union leader Joesph Stalin came to an agreement to not attack each other. Hitler had done this because his ambition to take more control of Europe would not have been realistic if he didn't have the Soviet Union on his side. Hitler would later break the pact when he invaded Russia in 1941. -
Germany invaded Poland
Hitlers growing addiction to conquering other nations was far from over. After successfully taking Austria and Czechoslovakia he decided the next European country he would take would be Poland. Hitler came to an agreement with Joesph Stalin to split Poland between the two nations. This invasion violated the Munich agreement and shows Hitlers devotion to harnessing all the power. -
Britain declared war on Germany
With Hitler gaining power in Europe quickly, Britain needed to come up with something to stop him before he had total control. They decided to declare war on Germany and thus started the beginning of what is known today to be World War II
