November 1918World War One Ends – Millions are dead.

January 1919 – Leaders of USA, Britain and France meet at Versailles to decide the fate of Germany.

June 1919 – Germany forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles. They hate the terms and condemn the Treaty as too harsh.

June 1919 – Germany loses territory and the Rhineland is demilitarised.

April 1921 – Germany’s reparations set at 6.6 Billion Pounds

November 1920 – The League of Nations met for the first time –USA, Russia or Germany were not members

August 1924 – The Dawes Plan (The USA lends money to Germany to help ease reparations burden)

August 1928 – Kellogg-Briand Pact (Ten years after the end of WWI 85 nations promise not to wage aggressive wars).

October 1929: Wall Street Crash triggers the worst global economic depression in

history.

1929 ?: The Great Depression – within a few years there were 6 million unemployed

in Germany.

Early 1930s: Dictators in Germany, Japan and Italy plan to solve their economic

problems by invading other territories.

October 1935: Italian dictator Mussolini invades Abyssinia.

October 1935: The League of Nations does not support Abyssinian Emperor Haile

Selassie

March 1936: Hitler ignores the Treaty of Versailles and reoccupies the Rhineland.

No one stops him.

September 1931 – Japanese troop begin their invasion of Manchuria, China. No one

stops them.

Early 1930s – Britain follows an appeasement policy (giving into bullies to

avoid conflict)

July 1936 – German air force practice for war by destroying towns in Spain. No one

stops them.

March 1938 – German troops ignore Treaty of Versailles and invade Austria. No one

stops him.

September 1938 – Hitler signs the Munich Agreement and promises to NOT invade

Czechoslovakia.

March 1939– Germany invades Czechoslovakia.

August 1939 – Nazi Germany and Soviet Union sign non-aggression Pact

September 3, 1939: Germany launches ‘blitzkrieg’ (Lightning War) against Poland.

May to June 1940 – Hitler’s army invades Western Europe, forcing mass evacuation of British soldiers.

May 1940 – Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister of Britain. Vows to stop Hitler.

June 1941 – Hitler launches Operation Barbarossa (a surprise attack on Russia)

December 7 1941– Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour brings the USA into the war