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The Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was a peace agreement that ended World War I, but ended up punishing Germany the most. This treaty forbade Germany from having a military and forced them to pay for thousands of casualties. This was difficult for Germany to do because their economy was already in horrible condition, but even so, they had to pay for many of the war's casualties. -
Hitler Takes Control of Germany
When Hitler was able to take control of Germany, one of the first things he did was start to rebuild the military. He did not care if the Treaty of Versailles forbid Germany from having a navy, that didn't stop him. This caused the League of Nations to worry about what Hitler was up to, but they hoped that this wouldn't cause another war. -
Invasion of the Rhineland
The Rhineland is a part of German territory and right on the boarders of France. This is where Hitler sent the Nazi troops to settle down next to. This action that Hitler has taken began to make the French very uneasy because they saw this as a threat. When France asked Britain for help, they decided to appease Hitler and give him the Rhineland in hopes this would make him happy and potentially not cause a war to break out. -
Anschluss
This was when Hitler decided to take over Austria, which was his native country, and claimed that Austria should belong to Germany because they were very similar to each other. He sent the Nazi army to invade Austria and forced their government to surrender. This was another action that concerned the League of Nations, but they still chose to appease him. -
Invasion of Czechoslovakia
The Nazi army quickly moved towards Czechoslovakia and invaded their lands. Even though the Czech government was afraid of what was in store for their nation, the League of Nations was still extremely determined to keep the peace. They ended up choosing to negotiate with Hitler. -
The Munich Pact
The leaders of France and Britain decided to meet with Hitler to negotiate a deal with him, so they can keep him happy and prevent war at the same time. They met with him in a city in Germany called Munich. The agreement they made was called the Munich Pact. Britain and France agreed to sacrifice Czechoslovakia in exchange for Hitler's promise to stop other European countries. The League of Nations believed that `this would ensure peace. -
The Nazi-Soviet Pact
Hitler was frightened of the Soviet Union during this time in history since their enormous communist society could create an immense army that would have been significantly larger then the Nazi army. Because of this, Hitler and Stalin signed a military alliance to agree on not invading each other's country. Also, they agreed to privately invade and divide Poland up since it was placed right between both nations. -
The Invasion of Poland/Start of WWII
After Hitler invaded Poland, the League of Nations had to finally accept that negotiation could no longer work. This event showed that Hitler hadn't kept his promise and broke the Munich Pact. Finally, the League of Nations had given up, and Britain and France had declare war on Germany. This was the spark that started World War II.
