Welcome to the key events leading to the outbreak of the Second World War.
Scroll through each event to find out more.
Rearmament 1933
Hitler became chancellor of Germany in 1933 and took Germany out of the League of Nations after the failure of the Disarmament Conference. He began breaking the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and rearming in secret.
Remilitarisation of the Rhineland
Whilst Britain and France were occupied with the Abyssinian Crisis and Italy, Germany began to seek to remilitarise the Rhineland, the demilitarised zone that aimed to protect French Alsace-Lorraine. This was in violation of the terms of the Treaty. Versailles, but it remained German land. In March 1936 Hitler ordered German soldiers to enter. They went on bicycles and were greeted with flowers. Nobody stopped them – if they had, the German soldiers had orders to retreat rather than fight. This greatly strengthened Hitler’s position against France. Britain said Germans were only ‘walking in their own back garden’.
Anschluss with Austria
Anschluss (union) with Austria had also been banned at the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler had attempted this first in 1934, but been stopped by Mussolini before they were allies. In 1938, Hitler started stirring up trouble in Austria through loyal local Nazis. These ended up forcing the Chancellor, Schuschnigg, to step down. His replacement was a Nazi and he invited Hitler in to ‘restore order’. Hitler then held a fake plebiscite (a vote) which ‘passed’ by 99.75%. Hitler now controlled Austria.
The Sudeten Crisis
The Sudetenland had never been German, and was part of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was home to three million German speakers. As part of his policy of Volksdeutsche, or uniting German speaking peoples, Hitler claimed it should become German. He bullied Chamberlain the British Prime Minister into convincing Czechoslovakia to agree to a plebiscite, and France into not keeping its alliance with Czechoslovakia.
The Munich Conference (Agreement)
Hitler then decided that he wanted the Sudetenland without a plebiscite, causing a crisis conference to be held in Munich (organised by Mussolini). At this conference Britain (Chamberlain) and France (PM Daladier) agreed to give Hitler the Sudetenland. Czechoslovakia had no choice and Benes, their leader nor the Soviet Union (Stalin) were not invited. Hitler promised not to take any more territory and Chamberlain returned promising 'Peace in our Time', and the avoidance of war.
1939 The Invasion of Czechoslovakia
At the Munich Conference Hitler had promised that Czechoslovakia was his final territorial claim. He even signed the ‘Anglo-German Declaration’ never to go to war with Britain. Chamberlain left Munich feeling like he had secured ‘peace in our time’. Then, in March of 1939, Hitler invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia, after using the same tactics as in Austria (sending Nazis to stir up trouble and riots, so he had to ‘restore order’). This outraged Britain and France, and they started preparing for war.
1939 The Nazi Soviet Pact
This is a painting by William Holman Hunt, a leading British Pre-Raphaelite.
1939 Invasion of Poland
As such, Germany and the USSR both invaded Poland on 1 September 1939. Britain gave Germany two days to withdraw its troops and when it did not Britain and France declared war on 3 September. This started the Second World War.
The Policy of Appeasement
The Second World War began after Britain and France declared war on Germany for invading Poland. Both sides’ allies joined soon after, and the main fighting began in early 1940. Britain had tried to avoid war at all costs - a policy known as appeasement. It was the big idea of Neville Chamberlain, British prime minister from 1937 to 1940. Historians have criticised this policy for emboldening Hitler and encouraging him to make territorial gains, as well as frightening the USSR. However, Chamberlain was keen to avoid the horrors of WW1, as were many at the time and this did give Britain vital time to rearm.
