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Neutrality Acts
The United States at this time saw Europe as a powder keg ready to explode and on 31 August 1935, so the United States Congress decided to pass a few neutrality acts. These acts were trying to keep the United States out of the war, which was the same idea that George Washington had started when the United States was first created. -
Hitler Reoccupied Rhineland
After World War One the war ended with the Treaty of Versailles which stated that the Rhineland which was an area between the heart of Germany and France, had to be a demilitarized zone. However, Adolf Hitler did not want to follow these rules, and he remilitarized the Rhineland on 7 March 1936; this was a big deal because it could let Germany invade France or other countries that border the Rhineland. -
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War began on 17 July 1936, Adolf Hitler supported the Nationalist side along with Benito Mussolini because they disagreed with the communists. The war was between the two main groups: the Nationalists and the Republicans, the Republicans believed in radical, and communist beliefs, and the Nationalists believed in anti-communism and monarchies. -
Anschluss
The Anschluss began on 11 March 1938, when the almost complete Austrian public voted in favor of them becoming part of Germany. Britain and the rest of the world thought it was fair because it seemed like they were just uniting into one German state; however, Adolf Hitler was actually trying to gain more land, power, and influence. -
Evian Conference
The Evian Conference took place in Évian-les-Bains in France on 6 July 1938. Here the representatives of thirty-two different countries decided what to do with all of the Jewish refugees who fled from Austria, and Germany in fear of the Nazis. -
Munich Conference
The Munich Conference took place in Munich, and it occurred on 30 September 1938. It was the end of many negotiations between Germany, Italy, France, and Britain; Germany was trying to get the Sudetenland, which was a mostly German-speaking part of Czechoslovakia. -
German Occupation of Sudetenland
The Sudetenland is the part of Czechoslovakia closest to Germany, where most of the population is German, and speaks German. On 1 October 1938 Germany annexed the Sudetenland and its three million inhabitants; this was difficult for Germany to pull off, but after negotiations they got approval. -
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht is German for the night of broken glass, and it was called that because of all of the Jewish homes, and businesses because there were many Nazi lead riots against Jewish Germans, and Jewish people living in newly German land. These riots were committed by Nazis or Nazi supporters, and they took place all over Germany and acquired land from Austria, and Czechoslovakia on 9 November 1938. -
Pact of Steel
The Pact of Steel was a pact between Germany and Italy, and it was a total agreement between the two countries to aid each other economically, and militarily, and go to war with whoever went to war with the other. It was agreed upon on 22 May 1939, and this was the beginning of Italy, and Germany really coming together as a force, and it was bad for England and France because the force they might have to fight was getting stronger and stronger. -
Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact (Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact)
Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union made a Non-Aggression Pact on 23 August 1939; the pact was an agreement between the two countries that neither would attack each other when taking control of Poland. As soon as Germany’s army set foot on Poland World War Two began.