Events Leading Up To WWII

Treaty of Versailles

Mar 17, 1919

This treaty ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied powers.

Hitler becomes leader of Nazi Party

Mar 17, 1921

Joseph Stalin becomes leader in Russia

Mar 17, 1922

Japan invades Manchuria

Mar 17, 1931

Hitler is named Chancellor of Germany

Mar 17, 1933

Nazis begin roundup of Jews

Mar 17, 1933

Neutrality Act passed by U.S.

Mar 17, 1935

The Neutrality Acts were laws passed in 1935, 1936, 1937, and 1939 to limit U.S. involvement in any future wars. They were based on the issues with World War I in the early 1930s and the belief that the U.S. had been drawn into the war through loans and trade with the Allies.

Italian Army invades Ethiopia

Mar 17, 1935

Hitler sends troops into Rhineland

Mar 17, 1936

Japan attacks Nanjing, China

Mar 17, 1937

1937-1945

Munich Pact signed

Mar 17, 1938

The Munich Agreement was an between France, Italy, Nazi Germany and Britain. After Germany invaded the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia, the British and French prime ministers tried to get Hitler to agree not to use his military in the future in return for the land he had taken. Hitler agreed.

Germany incorporates Austria into the Anschluss

Mar 17, 1938

Anschluss is the term used to describe the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany.

Hitler invades Poland

Mar 17, 1939

Germany and Italy sign a treaty of cooperation and Axis born

Mar 17, 1939

Pact of Steel - said they would aid each other; Axis alliance of Germany, Italy, and Japan

Great Britain and France declare war on Germany

Mar 17, 1939

Nazi-Soviet Pact signed

Mar 17, 2017

Shortly after WWII broke out enemies Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union surprised the world when they signed the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact. This stated that the countries agreed to take no military action against each other for the next 10 years.