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benito Mussolini
Speaking to a crowd in Milan, Benito Mussolini coins the name "Axis" for Italy and its allies when he states that the "line between Rome and Berlin is not a partition but rather an axis around which all European states...can also collaborate." -
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact, directed against the Soviet Union and the international Communist movement -
munich agrrement
Germany, Italy, Great Britain, and France sign the Munich agreement which forces the Czechoslovak Republic to cede the Sudetenland, including the key Czechoslovak military defense positions, to Nazi Germany. -
Commemorative medal awarded
Commemorative medal awarded to soldiers of the Third Reich who participated in the October 1, 1938, annexation of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia by Germany. -
soviet ubion
Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sign a nonaggression agreement and a secret codicil dividing eastern Europe into spheres of influence. -
the invasion
Germany invades Poland, initiating World War II in Europe. -
poland borders
Honoring their guarantee of Poland’s borders, Great Britain and France declare war on Germany. -
invasion in the East
The Soviet Union invades Poland from the east