Events Leading up to World War II
by Vasile Stoica
1. 1934
1.1. June 30 - The Nazi "Night of the Long Knives."
1.2. July 25 - Nazis murder Austrian Chancellor Dollfuss.
1.3. August 2 - German President Hindenburg dies.
1.4. August 19 - Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany.
2. 1935
2.1. March 16 - Hitler violates the Treaty of Versailles by introducing military conscription.
2.2. September 15 - German Jews stripped of rights by Nuremberg Race Laws.
3. 1936
3.1. February 10 - The German Gestapo is placed above the law.
3.2. March 7 - German troops occupy the Rhineland.
3.3. May 9 - Mussolini's Italian forces take Ethiopia.
3.4. July 18 - Civil war erupts in Spain.
3.5. October 1 - Franco declared head of Spanish State.
4. 1937
4.1. June 11 - Soviet leader Josef Stalin begins a purge of Red Army generals.
4.2. November 5 - Hitler reveals war plans during Hossbach Conference.
5. 1938
5.1. March 12/13 - Germany announces 'Anschluss' (union) with Austria.
5.2. August 12 - German military mobilizes.
5.3. September 30 - British Prime Minister Chamberlain appeases Hitler at Munich.
5.4. October 15 - German troops occupy the Sudetenland; Czech government resigns.
5.5. November 9/10 - Kristallnacht - The Night of Broken Glass.
6. 1918
6.1. November 11 - World War I ends with German defeat.
7. 1919
7.1. April 28 - League of Nations founded.
7.2. June 28 - Signing of the Treaty of Versailles.
8. 1921
8.1. July 29 - Adolf Hitler becomes leader of National Socialist (Nazi) Party.
9. 1923
9.1. November 8/9 - Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch.
10. 1925
10.1. July 18 - Hitler's book "Mein Kampf" published.
11. 1926
11.1. September 8 - Germany admitted to League of Nations.
12. 1930
12.1. September 14 - Germans elect Nazis making them the 2nd largest political party in Germany.
13. 1933
13.1. January 30 - Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany.
13.2. February 27 - The German Reichstag burns.
13.3. March 12 - First concentration camp opened at Oranienburg outside Berlin.
13.4. March 23 - Enabling Act gives Hitler dictatorial power.
13.5. April 1 - Nazi boycott of Jewish owned shops.
13.6. May 10 - Nazis burn books in Germany.
13.7. In June - Nazis open Dachau concentration camp.
13.8. July 14 - Nazi Party declared Germany's only political party.
13.9. October 14 - Germany quits the League of Nations.