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The Treaty of Versailles
On 28 June 1919, Germany reluctantly signed the Treaty of Versailles as part of the Paris Peace Conference in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles – exactly five years on from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, this was a tiny spark that had ignited a massive First World War. Germany was given three weeks to comply. The German government complained that having not been consulted, but the German government was too weak, both politically and militarily, so they caved. -
Joseph Stalin's 5 Year Plan
The Five Year Plans, were a series of nationalized plans for the economic development of the Soviet Union. One of Stalin’s main goals was to increase the output of industrial goods, and he placed emphasis on electrical power, capital goods, and agriculture. It was an agricultural and economic policy that caused the death of millions of Soviet workers. This plan is part of the totalitarian government, which included the Communist Party to control every aspect of Soviet people's lives. -
The Great Depression
The Great Depression was the deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in the history of the Western industrialized world. In the United States, the Great Depression began soon after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors. Though the relief projects by President Roosevelt the worst effects lessened. The economy would not fully turn around until after 1939, when World War II kicked American industry into high gear -
Japans Invasion on Manuchuria
Japan invaded the Chinese industrial province of Manchuria. The Chinese government appealed to the League of Nations to take punitive action against Japan. The League was supposed to maintain world peace, but it proved to be ineffective. When it condemned Japan's action and Japan's responded by withdrawing its membership from the League. -
The Rise of Nazism in Germany
The rise of Nazi Germany was the capstone of the inter-war period, and led to the outbreak of World War II, shattering the peace. Hitler joined the German army, and earned the iron cross for bravery as a message-carrier. He was immensely disturbed by the German defeat in World War I, so In 1920, Hitler seized control in the German Workers Party (Nazi party for short). The German government wasn't stable and seeking a solution to this instability, appointed Hitler chancellor on January 30, 1933. -
The Munich Conference
The agreement permitting Germany's annexation of the Sudetenland, Hitler gained what he wanted, the domination of Central Europe, and German troops marched into the Sudetenland on October 1st. The day before, the Czech government had accepted the Munich pact. As part of the Munich agreement all predominantly German territory in Czechoslovakia was to be handed over by October 10th. After a few months Czechoslovakia ceased to exist and what was left of Slovakia became a German puppet state. -
Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
On August 23, 1939–shortly before World War II (1939-45) broke out in Europe–enemies Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, in which the two countries agreed to take no military action against each other for 10 years. This Pact enabled Germany to attack Poland, and not fear Soviet intervention., Britain and France, having guaranteed to protect Poland's borders five months earlier, declared war on Germany. These events marked the beginning of World War II -
The Invasion of Poland
One of Adolf Hitler's first major foreign policy initiatives after coming to power was to sign a nonaggression pact with Poland in January 1934. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. The Polish army was defeated within weeks of the invasion. From East Prussia and Germany in the north and Silesia and Slovakia in the south, German units, with more than 2,000 tanks and over 1,000 planes, Nazi Germany occupied the remainder of Poland when it invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. -
The Battle of Britain
In 1940, German and British air forces clashed in the skies over the United Kingdom, locked in the largest sustained bombing campaign to that date. A significant turning point of World War II, the Battle of Britain ended when Germany’s Luftwaffe failed to get superiority over the Royal Air Force despite months of targeting Britain’s air bases, and much more. Britain’s decisive victory saved the country from a ground invasion and possible occupation by German forces. -
The Attack on Pearl Harbor
President Franklin Roosevelt called December 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy." On that day, Japanese planes attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory. The bombing killed more than 2,300 Americans. The U.S. was already close to joining the war, but in an attempt to preserve its stance of isolation and neutrality, it had only committed to sending war supplies on loan to the Allied forces, but they still had to attack Japan as they showed surprise dominance.
