Japanese troops entering tsitsihar

Aggression in Europe and Asia, 1930-1939

  • Japan Invades Manchuria

    Japan Invades Manchuria

    The Kwantung Army of the Empire of Japan invaded Manchuria immediately following the Mukden Incident.
  • Italy attacks Ethiopia

    Italy attacks Ethiopia

    Mussolini followed Hitler's plans or policy of expanding Germany when he invaded Abyssinia, which is now Ethiopia.
  • Germany occupies Rhineland

    Germany occupies Rhineland

    Although this disobeyed the treaty of versailles, Hitler sent in troops to occupy Rhineland. Rhineland was a demilitarized zone west from Germany.
  • Japan invades China

    Japan invades China

    This was immediately following the Mukden Incident. The Japanese established a puppet state called Manchukuo, and their occupation lasted until the end of World War II.
  • Germany annexes Austria

    Germany annexes Austria

    Adolf Hitler announced an joing together between Germany and Austria, in fact annexing the smaller nation into a greater Germany. Union with Germany had been a dream of Austrian Social Democrats since 1919.
  • Germany takes Sudetenland

    Germany takes Sudetenland

    As a result of the Munich Agreement, German troops complete their occupation of the Sudetenland. Having successfully claimed Austria in early 1938, Adolf Hitler turned to obtaining the ethnically German Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia.
  • Germany seizes Czechoslovakia

    Germany seizes Czechoslovakia

    It first began with Germany taking Sudetenland. Hitler’s forces invade and occupy Czechoslovakia–a nation sacrificed on the altar of the Munich Pact, which was a vain attempt to prevent Germany’s imperial aims.
  • Italy conquers Albania

    Italy conquers Albania

    In an effort to mimic Hitler’s conquest, Benito Mussolini’s troops, though badly organized, invade and occupy Albania. Although the invasion of Albania was intended as but a prelude to greater conquests in the Balkans, it proved a costly enterprise for Il Duce.