1. Aggressive Steps Towards World War II
A Timeline

2. 1931 Japan invades Manchuria – “Manchurian Incident”
League of Nations protest

3. 1935 Italy invades Ethiopia
League of Nations failure to stop Japan encourages Mussolini
He wanted to avenge 1890 defeat

4. 1935
The Saar was returned to Germany after its people voted 90% for unifying

5. 1935 Hitler begins to rearm Germany
Violation of the Treaty of Versailles, but League of Nations fails to stop it

6. 1936 In March, Germany sends troops into the Rhineland
French unwilling to risk war
British encourage appeasement

7. 1936
In October, Axis powers form – Japan, Italy, and Germany

8. 1937
In July, Japan takes over much of Eastern China

9. 1938
In March, Germany occupies Austria, completing the ANSCHLUSS (union) with the Germans there
French and British do nothing

10. 1938
In September at the Munich Conference – Chamberlain believed he could preserve peace by giving into Hitler’s demands (policy of appeasement)
Hitler is given the Sudetenland
Hitler pledged to respect Czechoslovakian borders

11. 1939
In March, Hitler takes all of Czechoslovakia

12. 1939
Italy takes over Albania

13. 1939 In August, Nazi-Soviet Pact (Non-aggression pact) is signed
Secretly agreed to divide Poland

14. 1939
September 1 – Hitler invades Poland

15. 1939
September 3 – France and Great Britain declare war on Germany

16. 1940 In August, Hitler began an air war against Britain
German planes concentrated on bombing cities during the Battle of Britain
The few thousand pilots of the Royal Air Force bravely defended England
Prime Minister Winston Churchill said “never… was so much owed by so many to so few”

17. 1941 Japan bombs Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7
Brings the United States into the war