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Adolf Hitler
Hitler was determined to gain power through peaceful means. Seizing on public discontent and offering an appealing vision of German greatness, Hitler gradually built support. By 1933 the Nazis were the most powerful party in the nation. Hitler became Germany's chancellor, a top position in the government. Hitler now moved to establish himself as a totalitarian dictator. -
Italy invades Ethiopia
In 1935 Mussolini's Italy invaded the East African nation of Ethiopia. Italy's history with Ethiopia was several decades old. Italian efforts to establish a colony there in the late 1800s had ended in a crushing military defeat at the hands of the Ethiopians. -
The Spanish Civil War
Spain in the mid 1930s was troubled by fierce political conflict on the left were communists on the right were fascists and Nationalists. Most Spaniards held political views somewhere in between these extremes. In 1936 this conflict led to civil war. -
Militarizing the Rhineland
Under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was required to keep its troops out of an area in the Rhine River valley along the French border. This was meant to protect France against possible German aggression. In 1936, however Hitler violated the treaty by sending German troops into the Rhineland. As an excuse, Hitler claimed that a recent French military agreement with the Soviet Union threatened Germany.
