Events Leading up to World War II

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.