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The Signing of the Treaty of Vesailles
The Treaty of Versailles was a Treaty that was signed by Germany and the Allied nations to end World War I. This treaty put Germany to blame and made them pay for all of the damages that the war caused to Europe. This led to Germany dealing with crippling debt which destroyed their economy. This helped cause World War II because Hitler and most Germans wanted retribution for what the Allies did to Germany. -
The Great Depression
When Wall Street Crashed in 1929, the repercussions were felt around the world, especially in Germany. This was because US investments kept Germany's decaying economy afloat. When US investors backed out, Germany went back into economic disarray. This opened the door for extremist leaders and ideas to rise up. Hitler used this time to gain support and gain control of Germany as Chancellor of Germany to execute his extremist plan to seek retribution against the Allied Powers. -
Hitler Appointed Chancellor of Germany
After being injured in World War I, Adolf Hitler started the Nazi Party to seek retribution against the unfair Treaty of Versailles. He then began spreading fear of communism and using fascism as a way to combat it. He started the Reichstag fire to spread the fear of communism by blaming the communists for it. He soon manipulated the German government and had himself appointed Chancellor of Germany. -
The Remilitarisation of the Rhineland
After Germany fell behind in reparation payments, France took the Rhineland as collateral and used it to defend themselves and Belgium against a possible German invasion. Hitler broke the agreement in 1936 and remilitarized the Rhineland. The Allies did nothing to combat this and this led to Hitler realizing that he could keep taking land without the Allies pushing back. This led to World War II because the Invasion of Poland was a direct consequence of the Allies not stopping Hitler's conquest. -
The Munich Pact
To avoid another war, Britain, France, and Italy gave Germany the Sudeten region, which was the border region of Czechoslovakia. This was supposed to keep Germany at bay, but it led to Hitler having confidence that he could take more land in Europe. This led to World War II because it gave Hitler the confidence to take Poland with the Soviet Union. -
The Invasion of Poland
After Hitler was able to take much of the land that Germany lost because of the Treaty of Versailles and the Sudeten land, he had confidence that he could take Poland as well. Hitler and Stalin agreed to help each other take over Poland. Once they started their invasion, Britain and France declared war on Germany. This started World War II. -
Fall of Paris
Because France had weak leadership, a lack of strategy, failed to work with their allies, and had a poor supply chain, the Germans were able to take Paris with relative ease. The French didn't fight back because they believed that sacrificing Paris wasn't worth any valuable strategic result. This led to much fighting for the Allies to gain back control of France. D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge were caused by the fall of Paris. -
Battle of Britain
After France fell and the evacuation of the British troops from the Battle of Dunkirk, Germany prepared to send their air force to bomb Britain. Britain prepared for the bombing by sending the British children to the countryside and preparing the Royal Air Force. Britain's Royal Air Force retaliated and won the Battle of Britain, which blocked Germany's chances of invading Britain and put them on a downward spiral which probably contributed to their defeat in World War II. -
Battle of Stalingrad
After Hitler invaded the USSR, Hitler targeted Stalingrad because his ego couldn't handle the town named after his enemy still standing. The Soviets won and stopped the further invasion of the USSR by the Nazis because of the freezing cold weather and the inadequate preparations of the Nazi soldiers. -
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
In 1944, the Polish Home Army started a movement to liberate Poland from German control. Many in the Warsaw Ghetto joined the fight because their living conditions were extremely abysmal and they were being treated like trash. It ended up being a failure and thousands were killed or sent to concentration camps. -
Allied Invasion of Italy
The Allies realized to take down Nazi Germany, they needed to take out Italy so they started an invasion on French Northern Africa that was taken by the Italians. They then started making their was for an attack on Sicily and then the rest of Italy. The Italian government surrendered on September 3 of 1943. This led to Germany being basically being without any Allies which made it easier for the Allies to push the Germans back and into a state where they needed to surrender. -
D-Day
On the sixth of June in 1944, nearly 160,000 Allied soldiers started their invasion of Normandy. The objective for D-Day was to capture the city of Caen to establish a strong foothold on the shore of France. This led to Germany being pushed back to Germant and eventually led to their surrender. It was the beginning of the liberation of Europe from the terror of the Nazi Germans. -
Battle of the Bulge
As the Allies were trying to gain back France after D-day, the Germans were trying to push back. They decided to divert all of their forces to create a sort of bulge. This was a mistake however because the Allies could simply surround the Germans after they created the bulge and defeated them with relative ease. This led to the Germans being pushed more out of France and on the path to defeat in the war. -
Germany Surrenders
Adolf Hitler realized that Germany was going to lose the war so he decided to commit suicide and ordered many of his top officials and his recent bride to commit suicide. With the death of Hitler, Germany surrendered which allowed for the liberation of the concentration camps. After the surrender of Germany, the Allies had to figure out how to split up Germany between each other. This led to the Potsdam Conference. -
The Potsdam Conference
After Germany surrendered, the Allies met up in Potsdam to discuss the fate of Germany. The US, Britain, and France didn't want to punish Germany for the war because of what happened after the Treaty of Versailles, however, the USSR wanted to inflict pain upon Germany. It was decided at the Conference that Germany and Berlin would be split up four ways among the Allies. The USSR made their zone of Germany communist, while the rest of the nations made their zones democratic and capitalist.