Origins of World War II Timeline by Andrew Nichol

Mussolini Takes Control of Italy

Oct 1, 1922

Hitler Publishes Mein Kampf("My Struggle")

Jul 18, 1925

Japan Withdraws From The League of Nations

Feb 24, 1933

League of Nations orders Japan to withdraw its army from Manchuria region which was taken over in 1931.

Germany Withdraws From The League of Nations

Oct 14, 1933

Germany Remilitarizes

Period: Jan 1, 1935 to Dec 31, 1936

Germany begins to remilitarize which went against the Treaty of Versailles.

FDR Signs The Neutrality Act of 1935

Aug 31, 1935

Italy Invades Ethiopia

Oct 3, 1935

Spanish Civil War

Period: Jan 1, 1936 to Dec 31, 1939

Germany and Italy aid nationalists in Spanish Civil War

Rape of Nanjing

Dec 13, 1937

Japanese troops massacre civilians in Nanjing. aka Rape of Nanjing. 300,000 Chinese civilians where killed. 20,000 Chinese women were brutally raped by Japanese soldiers.

The Anschluss

Mar 12, 1938

Austria was annexed into the German Third Reich

Germany Invades Czechoslovakia

Mar 15, 1938

On 15 March 1939, German troops marched into Czechoslovakia. They took over Bohemia, and established a protectorate over Slovakia.
Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia was the end of appeasement:
It proved that Hitler had been lying at Munich.
It showed that Hitler was not just interested in a 'Greater Germany' (the Czechs were not Germans).
On 17th March, Chamberlain gave a speech saying that he could not trust Hitler not to invade other countries.
On 31st March, Chamberlain guaranteed to defend

World War II Begins

Sep 3, 1939