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First Concentration Camp Established
Concentration camps were camps that the Jewish, Gypsie, or other people were forced to go to, to be tortured. Adolf Htiler and the German Nazi Soldiers did not like those kind of people so they decided to put them in camps, called Concentration camps. They put them in these camps mostly because of their looks and their religion. The camps were built to fit many people in them. They also had many bunk beds to save room. This is a major reason why people found Hitler to be insane. -
Burning of the Reichstag
The burning of the Reichstag was a planned fire by the Natzi's that gave Hitler complete control. The communists were blamed for the fire. By going into a state of emergency he gained complete control. He became a true dictator after the fire. -
Hitler becomes the Furher
Adolf Hitler and the Natzi Party rise to power in Germany in 1934, forming a fascist regime committed to repudiating the Treaty of Versailles, persecuting and removing Jews and other minorities from German society, expanding Germany's territory, and opposing the spread of communism. This is important because people in Germany were desperate to listen to anyone. Other countries in Europe would start giving Hitler whatever he wanted because they were afraid of what he would do. -
Nights of the Long Knives
Hitler's thugs (SS) carry out murders of Hitler's own men who are against him. Hitler moved against the SA and its leader, Ernst Röhm, because he saw the independence of the SA and the penchant of its members for street violence as a direct threat to his power. This was important because this shows that Hitler is taking advantage of his power and thinks that he can do whatever he wants. Many people were realizing how powerful he really was. -
Germany Issues the Anti-Jewish Nuremberg Laws
The Nuremberg Laws by their general nature formalized the unofficial and particular measures taken against Jews up to 1935. The Nazi leaders made a point of stressing the consistency of this legislation with the Party program which demanded that Jews should be deprived of their rights as citizens. This was important because this was the beginning of the problems that Hitler caused for the Jews. -
Japan Invades China
Known as the Second Sino-Japanese War , Japan invaded China in 1937 which was a major cause of WW2. Although the two countries had fought intermittently since 1931, total war started in earnest in 1937 and ended only with the surrender of Japan in 1945. The war was the result of a decades-long Japanese imperialist policy aiming to dominate China politically and militarily. This is important because it shows Japan was as crazy as Germany. -
Japanese troops occupy capital and conduct the "Rape of Nanking."
Between Japan and China, began in Shanghai and ended with the fall of the capital, Nanking, China. Japanese troops, a few days after the Republic of China Government had evacuated the city and relocated to Wuhan. The Nanking Massacre followed the fall of the city. This was important because it showed how much power Japan had and that they were a powerhouse. -
Hitler Annexes Austria
There had been several years of pressure from Germany and there were many supporters within Austria for the "Heim ins Reich" movement, both Nazis and nonNazis. Earlier, Germany had provided support for the Austrian National Socialist Party, which was also called the Austrian Nazi Party, in its bid to seize power from Austria's Austrofascist leadership.This is important because this was one of the first conutries he took over and the beginning of his power. People started to see how crazy he was -
invasion of Austria
At daybreak on the 12th March, 1938, German troops marched into Austria, and met with no resistance. It was announced in the German press that Seyss-Inquart had been appointed the successor to Schuschnigg, and the telegram which Goering had suggested, but which was never sent, was quoted to show that Seyss-Inquart had requested the presence of German troops to prevent disorder -
Invasion of Czechoslovakia
The invasion began on October 1, 1938, a day after the Czech government refused to abide to the Munich Agreement, and ended March 15, 1939 with Germany and Hungary dividing and annexing the whole of Czechoslovakia. -
German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact Signed
The German-Soviet Pact, also known as the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact after the two foreign ministers who negotiated the agreement, had two parts. An economic agreement, provided that Germany would exchange manufactured goods for Soviet raw materials. Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union also signed a ten-year nonaggression pact on August 23, 1939, in which each signatory promised not to attack the other. This is important because this act also allowed Germany to invades Poland. -
Invasion of Poland
The Polish army was defeated within weeks of the invasion. From East Prussia and Germany in the north and Silesia and Slovakia in the south, German units, with more than 2,000 tanks and over 1,000 planes, broke through Polish defenses along the border and advanced on Warsaw in a massive encirclement attack. After heavy shelling and bombing, Warsaw surrendered to the Germans on September 27, 1939. Britain and France, standing by their guarantee of Poland's border. -
Britain and France declare war on Germany
Britain and France declare war on Germany because Germany had invaded Poland. Britain and France had to defend Poland so they had no choice but to declare war on Germany. This is important because this was the beginning of WW2. -
"Peace for our Time"
Often misquoted as "peace in our time", it is primarily remembered for its ironic value. This is important beucase the Munich Agreement gave the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia to Adolf Hitler in an attempt to satisfy his desire for Lebensraum or "living space" for Germany. The German occupation of the Sudetenland began on the next day, 1 October.