-
Many small kingdoms, republics, and city-states united to form one nation-state. They had all shared a language and a culture for many centuries, but until this date, did not have governmental or political unity.
-
After Austria and Serbia formally began war in July 1914, Germany, Belgium, France, and Russia entered the war on August 3, and several other nations soon thereafter.
-
Kaiser means "emperor" — his abdication ended the German Empire and began the German Republic.
-
World War I ended, throwing Germany into political chaos and extreme poverty.
-
Signed on 28 June, this treaty was punitive toward both Austria and Germany, but harsher on Germany. The treaty impoverished and humiliated Germany. Some of Germany's territory was given to other countries.
-
The German Republic established itself as a parliamentary republic with proportional representation, a freely elected legislature, and universal suffrage.
-
Normally chancellors are elected by the Reichstag, but in this case, there was a deadlock, so President Hindenburg appointed Hitler.
-
A fire destroyed the parliament building, almost certainly an act of deliberate arson. Exactly who set the fire remains debated.
-
President Hindenburg signed this document which suspended rights which were otherwise guaranteed by the Weimar Constitution; Article 48 of this constitution allowed for such actions in emergency situations.
-
The Reichstag was the German Parliament. It voted to approve this act, giving the chancellor and his cabinet the power to make and enforce laws without consulting the Reichstag or the president. This was done because of a perceived emergency and eliminated the checks and balances of the constitutional system; such emergency powers had been written into article 48 of the Weimar Constitution. Hitler become effectively the dictator.
-
Adolf Hitler appointed himself president, meaning that from this point onward, he was both president and chancellor. No procedural possibility to oppose Hitler remained after this.
-
These laws placed Jews into a situation of legal and economic disadvantage.
-
Hitler's Nazi government seizes Austria.
-
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain agrees to allow Hitler to seize regions of Czechoslovakia which bordered Germany.
-
Mass violence against Jews, including the destruction of stores, shops, home, and 267 synagogues; other buildings belonging to Jews were damaged and vandalized. Individual Jews were attacked, beaten, and murdered. Jewish men were arrested and sent to forced labor camps.