Events leading up to WW2

Germany incorporates Austria into the Anschluss

Mar 20, 1919

Union with Germany had been a dream of Austrian Social Democrats since 1919.

Treaty of Versailles

Jun 28, 1919

Brought WW1 to an end and the Treaty ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers.

Hitler becomes leader of Nazi Party

Mar 20, 1921

Hitler joined the party when it was founded and became its leader in 1921.

Joseph Stalin becomes leader in Russia

Mar 20, 1922

Joseph Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist from 1922 until his death in 1953

Japan invades Manchuria

Mar 20, 1931

September 18 1931 when the Kwantung Army of the Empire of Japan invaded Manchuria immediately following the Mukden Incident

Nazis begin roundup of Jews

Jan 30, 1933

January 30, 1933: President Hindenburg appoints Adolf Hitler Chancellor of Germany. SS opens the Dachau concentration camp outside of Munich

Hitler is named Chancellor of Germany

Mar 20, 1933

In 1933 he became the chancellor of Germany

Munich Pact signed

Mar 20, 1933

The agreement averted the outbreak of war but gave Czechoslovakia away to German conquest.

Italian Army invades Ethiopia

Mar 20, 1935

Italy invades Ethiopia in 1935 the League of Nations was faced with another crucial test.

Neutrality Act passed by U.S.

Aug 31, 1935

On August 31 1935 Congress passed the first Neutrality Act prohibiting the export of arms, ammunition, and implements of war

Hitler sends troops into Rhineland

Mar 20, 1936

Nazi leader Adolf Hitler violates the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Pact by sending German military forces into the Rhineland

Japan attacks Nanjing, China

Mar 20, 1937

In 1937 Imperial Japanese Army forces brutally murdered 100,000 of people in the Chinese city of Nanjing.

Hitler invades Poland

Mar 20, 1939

This move was not popular with many Germans who supported Hitler but resented the fact that Poland had received the former German provinces West Prussia, Poznan, and Upper Silesia under the Treaty of Versailles after World War I

Nazi-Soviet Pact signed

Mar 20, 1939

Germany and the Soviet Union surprised the world by signing the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact which the two countries agreed not to fight for the next 10 years.

Great Britain and France declare war on Germany

Mar 20, 1939

1939 Britain and France declared war on Germany, Britain and France are at war with Germany following the invasion of Poland

Germany and Italy sign a treaty of cooperation and Axis born

Sep 27, 1940

was an agreement between Germany, Japan and Italy signed in Berlin on 27 September 1940