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The Treaty of Versailles is signed
The end the First World War, the treaty is signed to punish Germany. -
Establishment of the League of Nations
The League of Nations was dedicated to keeping the peace between nations, although it failed because Germany was not allowed to join and they had no standing army to enforce peace. -
The Beer Hall Putsch
An attempt of a coup, led by Adolf Hitler and made up of the budding Nazi Germany political party. This was a failed takeover of the government of Bavaria. -
The Dawes Plan
A plan made by Great Britain and the US to figure out Germany's war reparations from WWI. -
The Locarno Pact
Agreements between Germany, Italy, Great Britain, France and Belgium to converse peace in Europe. -
Benito Mussolini becomes Italy's Dictator
Mussolini was a dictator who turned Italy into a fascist country. He began his dictatorship by confronting Italy's economic and political crisis. -
The Kellogg-Briand Pact
This was an agreement to eliminate war, and to tie in the US to defend against another German uprising. Nearly all nations of the world later signed. -
The Stock Market Crash
Stock prices plummeted in September. On Black Tuesday, on October 29th, 1929, nearly 16,500,000 stocks were sold. Billions of dollars were lost, wiped out thousands of investor. -
Japan Invades Manchuria
Japan invested into Manchuria and kept an army within their borders to protect their assets. Later, as a solution for their overpopulation issues, Japan invaded Manchuria for their land and resources. -
Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany
Adolf Hitler, in place of General Kurt von Schleicher. -
Italy Invades Ethiopia
Italy, in an effort to create more jobs and gain more minerals during the Great Depression. Mussolini also saw it as a chance to raise Italy's prestige -
Germany Occupies the Rhineland
To make a point about the unfairness of the Treaty of Versailles, Hitler occupies the Rhineland. This move violated the Treaty, the Locarno Pact. -
Rome-Berlin Axis
This was a coalition linking the two fascist countries, Germany and Italy. The term Axis powers later came to include Japan as well. -
Anti-Comintern Pact
This was a pact between Germany and Japan, and later included Italy. While it seemed like it was an attempt to combat the Comintern (Communist International), it was really to make a military alliance for the Soviet Union. It did not actually help any relations between German and the Japanese, as no military coordination happened. It instead became the foundation for even more distrust to grow between Germany and Japan. -
Germany's Anschluss with Austria
This was a union between Germany and Austria, but was in fact an annexation of Austria into Greater Germany. It allowed Germany to have German troops in Austria and let Germany have pull in Austria’s internal affairs. -
Munich Agreement
This was an agreement between Great Britain, France and Germany to avert the possibility of war, but sacrificed Czechoslovakia to the hands of the Germans. Hitler asked for the cession of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakian territory and the evacuation of the Czechoslovakian people. After a brief struggle between nations, Czechoslovakia obeyed, and Germany annexed it and Czechoslovakia ceased to exist. -
Germany Occupies Czechoslovakia
Since Germany had control of only Sudetenland within Czechoslovakia, Hitler threatened to bomb Prague if the rest of the Czechoslovakia didn't get absorbed into Germany. On March 15th, 1939 -
Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
Also called the Ribbentrop-Molotov Nonaggression Pact. This was an agreement between Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany, promising no military action against one another for the next 10 years. Joseph Stalin wanted this to ensure peace while he built his army. Adolf Hitler wanted it to ensure an easy, unopposed invasion of Poland. It also contained plans of how they would divide up Eastern Europe later. It fell apart when Nazi Germany invaded Soviet Russia in 1941. -
Germany Invades Poland
Germany invades Poland and effectively starts World War II. When he invaded Poland, he first bombed the area from the war, and then overwhelmed the broken land with his infantry. This was his strategy: blitzkrieg. Air-dropped bombs take out the enemy’s air capacity, railroads, communication lines, munition dumps. This is followed by a land invasion of tanks, soldiers and artillery. Once they were done, the infantry moved in to take out anything remaining.
