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Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was the most important of the peace treaties that brought World War I to an end. The Treaty ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. The treaty required Germany to disarm, make ample territorial concessions, and pay reparations to certain countries that had formed the Triple Entente. -
League of Nations Established
The League of Nations was an international organization, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, created after WWI to provide a forum for resolving international disputes. -
Benito Mussolini Takes Power in Italy
Mussolini was the 27th Prime Minister of Italy. He was elected in 1922, and constitutionally led the country until 1925, when he established himself as a fascist dictator. He stayed in power until the king dismissed him in 1943. -
Stock Market Crash in the USA
In October of 1929, the stock market in the USA crashed, causing global economic collapse; a time in history that is now known as the Great Depression. By 1933, nearly half of America's banks had failed, and unemployment was approaching 15 million people. -
Japan Invades Manchuria
After the Japanese staged an explosion of one of their railways in Mukden, the Japanese army invaded Manchuria, under the pretence that China attacked first. -
Hitler Appointed Chancellor of Germany
On January 30, 1933, President Paul von Hindenburg named Adolf Hitler, fÜhrer of the National Socialist German Workers Party (or Nazi Party), as chancellor of Germany. Hindenburg, initially refused to make him chancellor, but ex-Chancellor Franz von Papen, convinced Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as chancellor. -
Italy Invades Abyssinia
In 1935, Italy invaded a poorly equipped Ethiopia, (then commonly known as "Abyssinia" in Europe). Despite condemnation by the League of Nations, the Prime Minister of Italy, Benito Mussolini, was defiant, and allied Italy with Nazi Germany. -
Germany Reoccupies the Rhineland
In 1936, Hitler sent German military forces into the Rhineland, a demilitarized zone along the Rhine River in western Germany, breaking one of the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles. -
Germany’s Anschluss with Austria
The Anschluss was the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany. Prior to the Anschluss, there had been strong support from people of all backgrounds, (not just Nazis), in both Austria and Germany for a union of the two countries. -
Munich Agreement
The Munich Agreement was a settlement reached by Germany, Great Britain, France, and Italy, that permitted German annexation of the Sudetenland, in western Czechoslovakia. -
Germany Occupies Czechoslovakia
In 1939, Germany occupied Czechoslovakia, beginning with the annexation of Czechoslovakian border regions known collectively as the Sudetenland. -
Germany invades Poland
Germany's invasion of Poland marked the beginning of the second world war. In response to German aggression, Great Britain and France declared war on Nazi Germany.
