Major events of world war II

1. 1921

1.1. Adolf Hitler becomes leader of National Socialist (Nazi) Party.

2. 1930

2.1. Germans elect Nazis making them the 2nd largest political party in Germany.

3. 1933

3.1. Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany.

3.2. The German Reichstag burns.

3.3. First concentration camp opened at Oranienburg outside Berlin.

3.4. Enabling Act gives Hitler dictatorial power.

3.5. Nazi boycott of Jewish owned shops.

3.6. Nazis burn books in Germany.

3.7. Nazis open Dachau concentration camp.

3.8. Nazi Party declared Germany's only political party.

3.9. Germany quits the League of Nations.

4. 1934

4.1. The Nazi "Night of the Long Knives."

4.2. Nazis murder Austrian Chancellor Dollfuss.

4.3. German President Hindenburg dies.

4.4. Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany.

5. 1935

5.1. Hitler violates the Treaty of Versailles by introducing military conscription.

5.2. German Jews stripped of rights by Nuremberg Race Laws.

6. 1937

6.1. Soviet leader Josef Stalin begins a purge of Red Army generals.

6.2. Hitler reveals war plans during Hossbach Conference.

7. 1938

7.1. Germany announces 'Anschluss' (union) with Austria.

7.2. German military mobilizes.

7.3. British Prime Minister Chamberlain appeases Hitler at Munich.

7.4. German troops occupy the Sudetenland; Czech government resigns.

7.5. Kristallnacht - The Night of Broken Glass.

8. 1940

8.1. Rationing begins in Britain.

8.2. Finland signs a peace treaty with Soviets.

8.3. Germans bomb Scapa Flow naval base near Scotland.

8.4. Nazis invade Denmark and Norway.

8.5. Nazis invade France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; Winston Churchill becomes British Prime Minister.

8.6. Holland surrenders to the Nazis.

8.7. Evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk begins.

8.8. Belgium surrenders to the Nazis.

8.9. Hitler tours Paris.

9. 1918

9.1. World War I ends with German defeat.

10. 1919

10.1. League of Nations founded.

10.2. Signing of the Treaty of Versailles.

11. 1936

11.1. The German Gestapo is placed above the law.

11.2. German troops occupy the Rhineland.

11.3. Mussolini's Italian forces take Ethiopia.

11.4. Civil war erupts in Spain.

11.5. Olympic games begin in Berlin.

11.6. Franco declared head of Spanish State.

12. 1939

12.1. January 30, 1939 - Hitler threatens Jews during Reichstag speech.

12.2. Nazis take Czechoslovakia.

12.3. Spanish Civil war ends.

12.4. Nazis sign 'Pact of Steel' with Italy.

12.5. Nazis and Soviets sign Pact.

12.6. Britain and Poland sign a Mutual Assistance Treaty.

12.7. British fleet mobilizes; Civilian evacuations begin from London.

12.8. Nazis invade Poland.