Events leading to WWII

Treaty of Versailles

Jun 28, 1919

The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty that brought World War I to an end. This treaty specifically punished Germany for the reason being that they were believed to be the ones who started the war. It came with a lot of consequences such as not being able to build a military, and having to pay for the damage done during war.

Hitler's Control Over Germany

Jan 30, 1933

Once Hitler took control of Germany in 1933, he started to establish new ideas for Germany, and also went against the Treaty of Versailles. He started to build a military and spread the idea of a new race that was superior to all. The Aryan race. These were people that fit to Hitler's expectations, and anyone who was not Aryan was eliminated. He started programs where boys would be trained for military service while girls were trained to become wives and mothers to future soldiers.

Invasion of the Rhineland

Mar 7, 1936

Germany invaded Rhineland, a German territory that lies along the border of France, in 1936 with over 32,000 German soldiers. France took this invasion as a threat and asked for help from Britain, but Britain let Germany get away with this invasion thinking that confronting Hitler would start another war.

Anschluss

Mar 12, 1938

Hitler added Austria to his German empire because he felt that it was basically a part of his country because the people there spoke German and were culturally similar to Germany. This was called the Anschluss. Britain and France knew about Hitler's actions, but decided to give in to Hitler instead of confronting him from the fear of starting a world war.

Invasion of Czechoslovakia

Sep 1, 1938

Hitler continues to imperialize the nations surrounding him, and the next one is Czechoslovakia. The Czech was ready to fight, but the League of Nations chose negotiation over war, and handed Czech over to Germany.

Munich Pact

Sep 30, 1938

Connecting back to the last event, this is where Britain and France agreed to give Czechoslovakia over to Germany if he stopped invading other European countries. Britain and France hoped this pact would prevent another war from happening, and it was ensured that it would bring "peace in our time".

Nazi-Soviet Pact

Aug 23, 1939

This military pact made by Hitler and Stalin agreed that they would not invade each other's countries. It also discussed the invasion and separation of Poland. This pact came as a surprise to many people because Russia had just proposed an agreement with Britain and France against Germany.

Invasion of Poland/ Start of WWII

Sep 1, 1939

Germany invaded Poland on September 1st,1939, which meant he had officially broken the Munich Pact. Britain and France finally understood that Hitler would not follow the pact anymore, so they declared war on Germany which was also the start of WWII.