Pre World War 2 Events

occupation of Ruhr valley

Hitler starts the Hamburg uprising

france withdraws troops from Ruhr valley

italy becomes facist

Stalin assumes power

Japan signs a treaty with the USSR

Emperor Taishō dies, and is succeeded by his son Hirohito as the Emperor of Japan.

Germany joins the League of Nations.

Greece becomes a dictatorship

the Chinese Civil War starts

Herbert Hoover wins the 1928 US president election defeating Al Smith.

Italy and Ethiopia sign the Italo-Ethiopian Treaty, pledging cooperation and friendship.

Foundation of the Chinese Red Army.

The Lateran Treaty is ratified, making the Vatican City a sovereign state.

The Great Depression begins with the Wall Street Crash.

German election results in the Nazis becoming the second-largest party in the Reichstag.

Mukden Incident: the Japanese military stage a false flag bombing against a Japanese-controlled railroad in the Chinese region of Manchuria, blaming Chinese dissidents for the attack.

Using the Mukden Incident as a pretext, the Japanese invade Manchuria

President Hindenburg begins talking to Hitler about forming a new government.

Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats Herbert Hoover in the 1932 presidential election.

Hermann Göring is elected chairman of the German Reichstag.

Chancellor of Germany Heinrich Brüning resigns. President Hindenburg asks Franz von Papen to form a new government.

Paul von Hindenburg is relected President of Germany, defeating Adolf Hitler.

Japan creates the puppet state Manchukuo out of occupied Manchuria.

January 28 incident: using a flare-up of anti-Japanese violence as a pretext, the Japanese attack Shanghai, China. Fighting ends on March 6, and on May 5 a ceasefire agreement is signed wherein Shanghai is made a demilitarized zone.

Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany by President Hindenburg.

Germany's parliament building the Reichstag is set on fire.

Using the Reichstag fire as a pretext, the Reichstag Fire Decree is issued by President Paul von Hindenburg, nullifying many German civil liberties and paving the way for the Nazi seizure of power.

Germany's first concentration camp, Dachau, is completed.

The Reichstag passes the Enabling Act, making Adolf Hitler dictator of Germany.

Germans are told to boycott Jewish shops and businesses.

The Gestapo secret police is established in Germany.

Hitler outlaws trade unions.

Official formation of the Luftwaffe, the German air force built in secret in violation of the Treaty of Versailles.

The Nazi party becomes the official party of Germany.

The United States extends diplomatic recognition to the Soviet Union.

Homeless, alcoholic, and unemployed sent to Nazi concentration camps.

The Abyssinia Crisis begins with the Walwal incident, an armed clash between Italian and Ethiopian troops on the border of Ethiopia.

Beginning of the Long March where the Chinese Red Army retreats to evade the pursuit of Kuomintang forces.

Left-wing parties in the Second Spanish Republic start the Revolution of 1934 against the right-wing government.

Upon the death of President Hindenburg, Hitler makes himself Führer of Germany, becoming Head of State as well as Chancellor.

All German police forces come under the command of Heinrich Himmler.

The Austrian Civil War is fought, ending with Austrofascist victory.

The Reichstag passes the Nuremberg Laws, institutionalizing discrimination against Jews and providing the legal framework for the systematic persecution of Jews in Germany.

Italy invades Ethiopia, beginning the Second Italo–Abyssinian War. The League of Nations denounces Italy and calls for an oil embargo that fails.

Final British General election until 1945. Stanley Baldwin replaces Ramsay MacDonald as Prime Minister.

The Second United Front is formed between the Chinese Communist party and the Kuomintang, temporarily suspending the Chinese Civil War for the sake of fighting the Japanese.

Hitler makes it mandatory for all males between the ages 10-18 to join the Hitler Youth.

Franklin D. Roosevelt wins reelection defeating Alf Landon.

Germany hosts the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.

The Spanish coup of July 1936 by Nationalist forces marks the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. The coup initially begins in Spanish Morocco when a garrison of Spanish Foreign Legion soldiers rebel. This rebellion later spreads across the whole country.

Italian troops march into the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, marking the end of the Second Italo–Abyssinian War.

In violation of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany remilitarizes the Rhineland.
After the Rhineland move Hitler met separately with French journalist Bertrand de Jouvenel and British analyst Arnold J. Toynbee emphasizing his limited expansionist aim of building a greater German nation, and his desire for British understanding and cooperation.

Germany hosts the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria.

George V, King of the United Kingdom dies.The Prince of Wales succeeds him as King Edward VIII.

President Roosevelt begins his second term.

Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

The Marco Polo Bridge Incident occurs, beginning the Second Sino-Japanese War. Some scholars consider this to be the start of World War II.

Japanese forces occupies the city of Beijing.

Second Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Shanghai commences.

Italy joins the Anti-Comintern Pact.

Second Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Shanghai ends in Japanese victory as Chinese forces evacuate the city.

Second Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Nanjing commences as Japanese forces attack the city.

Italy leaves the League of Nations.

Second Sino-Japanese War: start of the Rape of Nanjing following Japanese victory in the Battle of Nanjing.

The Munich Agreement is signed by Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Italy. The agreement allows Germany to annex the Czechoslovak Sudetenland area in exchange for peace in an attempt to appease Hitler.

The Soviet–Japanese border conflicts begin with the Battle of Lake Khasan.

The Anschluss: Germany annexes Austria.

Japanese troops reach the Yellow River in China.

A uranium atom is split for the first time at Columbia University in the United States.

Hitler orders Plan Z, a 5-year naval expansion programme intended to provide for a huge German fleet capable of defeating the British Royal Navy by 1944.

The pro-German Slovak Republic is created.

The United Kingdom and France offer a guarantee of Polish independence.

The Spanish Civil War ends in Nationalist victory. Spain becomes a dictatorship with Francisco Franco as the head of the new government serving until his death in 1975

Hitler orders the German military to start planning for Fall Weiss, the codename for the attack on Poland

The Soviet Union proposes a tripartite alliance with the United Kingdom and France. It is rejected.

Sweden, Norway, and Finland reject Germany's offer of non-aggression pacts.

Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain reaffirms support for Poland and makes it clear that Britain did not view Free City of Danzig as being an internal German-Polish affair and would intervene on behalf of Poland if hostilities broke out between the two countries.

The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact is signed between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, with secret provisions for the division of Eastern Europe – joint occupation of Poland and Soviet occupation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Finland and Bessarabia. This protocol removes the threat of Soviet intervention during the German invasion of Poland.

Germany invades Poland, start of World War II (the Soviet Union invades Poland on September 17