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Treaty of Versailles is signed
On June 28, 1919, Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles, officially ending its involvement in World War I. The treaty subjected Germany to a number of harsh penalties and restrictions that many historians believe contributed to the rise of Adolf Hitler. -
The Weimar Republic is established in Germany
On August 11, 1919, Friedrich Ebert, a member of the Social Democratic Party and the provisional president of the German government,signs a new constitution, known as the Weimar Constitution, into law, officially creating the first parliamentary democracy in Germany. -
The League of Nation is created
On January 10, 1920, the League of Nations formally comes into being when the Covenant of the League of Nations, ratified by 42 nations in 1919, takes effect. After the first world war they decided to make this so they can negotiate problems and work things out before things escalate -
French occupation of the Ruhr
The Occupation of the Ruhr was a period of military occupation of the Ruhr region of Germany by France and Belgium between 11 January 1923 and 25 August 1925.
France and Belgium occupied the heavily industrialized Ruhr Valley in response to Germany defaulting on reparation payments dictated by the victorious powers after World War I in the Treaty of Versailles. -
Beer Hall Putsch
From November 8 to November 9, 1923, Adolf Hitler and his followers staged the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich, a failed takeover of the government in Bavaria, a state in southern Germany. Since 1921, Hitler had led the Nazi Party, a fledgling political group that promoted German pride. -
The Dawes Plan is created
Dawes Plan, arrangement for Germany’s payment of reparations after World War I. On the initiative of the British and U.S. governments, a committee of experts (with two members each from France, Belgium, Italy, Britain, and the United States), presided over by an American financier, Charles G. Dawes, produced a report on the question of German reparations for presumed liability for World War I. -
Benito Mussolini becomes dictator of Italy
Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini, For several years, he and his allies worked more or less within the confines of the Italian constitution to accrue power, eroding democratic institutions until the moment came for them to be done away with entirely. It is generally agreed that that moment came in speech Mussolini gave to the Italian parliament on January 3, 1925, in which he asserted his right to supreme power and effectively became the dictator of Italy. -
The Locarno Treaties are signed
Pact of Locarno, Dec. 1, 1925 series of agreements whereby Germany, France, Belgium, Great Britain, and Italy mutually guaranteed peace in western Europe. The treaties were first brought up at Locarno,Switzerland on October 16 and signed in London on December 1st -
The Kellogg-Briand Pact is signed
The Kellogg-Briand Pact was a multilateral agreement signed in August 1928. It was signed by the leaders or delegates of 15 nations, including Weimar foreign minister Gustav Stresemann. The Kellogg-Briand agreement sought to preclude the possibility of future war -
Beginning of the Great Depression
The stock market crash of October 1929 marked the beginning of the worst depression in American history, from which the country did not really begin to rebound until the start of World War II. The human toll of the economic collapse is difficult to calculate. -
Japan invaded Manchuria
The Japanese invasion of Manchuria began on 18 September 1931, when the Kwantung Army of the Empire of Japan invaded Manchuria immediately following the Mukden Incident. After the war, the Japanese established the puppet state of Manchukuo. -
Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany
On January 30, 1933, President Paul von Hindenburg names Adolf Hitler, leader or führer of the National Socialist German Workers Party, as chancellor of Germany. -
Italy invaded Ethiopia
Italy invaded Ethiopia for land power and to expand the axis powers to northern Africa. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was trying to boost Italy's national prestige -
Germany reoccupied the Rhineland
Nazi leader Adolf Hitler violates the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Pact by sending German military forces into the Rhineland, a demilitarized zone along the Rhine River in western Germany. -
Creation of the Rome-Berlin Axis
Rome-Berlin Axis, Coalition formed in 1936 between Italy and Germany. An agreement formulated by Italy’s foreign minister Galeazzo Ciano informally linking the two fascist countries was reached on October 25, 1936. It was formalized by the Pact of Steel in 1939. The term Axis Powers came to include Japan as well. -
Creation of the Anti-Comintern Pact
Anti-Comintern Pact, agreement concluded first between Germany and Japan (Nov. 25, 1936) and then between Italy, Germany, and Japan (Nov. 6, 1937), ostensibly directed against the Communist International (Comintern) but, by implication, specifically against the Soviet Union. -
Germany’s anschluss with Austria
On March 12, 1938, German troops march into Austria to annex the German-speaking nation for the Third Reich.
In early 1938, Austrian Nazis conspired for the second time in four years to seize the Austrian government by force and unite their nation with Nazi Germany. -
Signing of the Munich Agreement
Munich Agreement, settlement reached by Germany, Great Britain, France, and Italy that permitted German annexation of the Sudetenland, in western Czechoslovakia. Hitler saw many people from there with German descent This pretty much means Italy Great Britain and France gave up Czechoslovakia to Germany -
Germany occupied Czechoslovakia
Hitler’s army invade and occupy Czechoslovakia a nation sacrificed on the altar of the Munich Pact, which was a vain attempt to prevent Germany’s imperial aims
On September 30, 1938, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, French Premier Edouard Daladier, and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signed the Munich Pact, which sealed the fate of Czechoslovakia -
Creation of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
On August 23, 1939, representatives from Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union met and signed the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact a mutual promise made by the two leaders guaranteeing that neither would attack the other. -
Germany invaded Poland
Germany invaded Poland to regain lost territory and ultimately rule their neighbor to the east. The German invasion of Poland was a primer on how Hitler intended to wage war what would become the “blitzkrieg” strategy. -
Britain declared war on Germany
in response to Hitler’s invasion of Poland, Britain and France, both allies of the overrun nation declare war on Germany.
The first casualty of that declaration was not German—but the British ocean liner Athenia, which was sunk by a German U-30 submarine that had assumed the liner was armed and belligerent. There were more than 1,100 passengers on board, 112 of whom lost their lives.
