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World War II comes to Europe
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Japan attacks Manchuria
the Chinese army did not fight back because it knew that the Japanese were just wanting an excuse to invade Manchuria. -
Germany and Japan leave League of Nations
On October 14, 1933, Germany renounced its role in the Conference for the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments, setting the stage for its complete withdrawal from the League of Nations a week later. -
US Neutrality Acts
n the 1930s, the United States Government enacted a series of laws designed to prevent the United States from being embroiled in a foreign war by clearly stating the terms of U.S. neutrality. Although many Americans had rallied to join President Woodrow -
Japan attacks China
The Japanese invaded China proper, launching the Second Sino-Japanese War. (July 1937). The Japanese Kwantung Army turned a small incident into a full-scale war. Chinese forces were unable to effectively resist the Japanese. -
Germany takes Austria
On March 12, 1938, German troops march into Austria to annex the German-speaking nation for the Third Reich. -
Germany takes Czechoslovakia
on March 14, 1939, with the threat of invasion squelching all debate within the Czech province. -
Non-Aggression Pact
A treaty made by Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939 that opened the way for both nations to invade Poland. (See invasion of Poland.) -
Germany Invades Poland
On this day in 1939, German forces bombard Poland on land and from the air, as Adolf Hitler seeks to regain lost territory and ultimately rule Poland. World War II had begun. -
Munich Peace Conference
Hitler had previously started rearming Germany in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles, reoccupied the Rhineland in 1936 and annexed Austria in 1938 -
France Falls to the Germans
By May 1940, Europe had been at war for nine months. Yet Britain and France, despite having declared war on Germany in September 1939 following Hitler’s attack on Poland, had seen little real fighting. This tense period of anticipation – which came to be known as the ‘Phoney War’ – met an abrupt end on 10 May 1940, -
battle of britain
he Second World War defence of the United Kingdom by the Royal Air Force (RAF) against an onslaught by the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) which began at the end of June 1940.
