This timeline of events preceding World War II covers the events (mostly during the
interwar period [1918–1939] after
World War I) that affected or led to
World War II.
The
German Revolution begins. It is sparked after the Imperial German Navy orders to send the
High Seas Fleet to confront the British navy in a last stand attempt. Despite being planned that the mission would only be revealed when at sea, a rumor spreads that a combat mission is approaching and the sailors end up starting a
mutiny as they feel it is a suicidal move. This mutiny ends up spreading to ports throughout the country.[3]
The
Spartacist uprising takes place and is crushed by the German government.
January 18
Opening of the
Paris Peace Conference to negotiate peace treaties between the belligerents of World War I.
January 31
Battle of George Square takes place in Glasgow, the British Army is called in by the city authorities to quell a riot during a strike for a 40 hour work week.
February
The
Polish–Soviet War begins with border clashes between the two states.
February 13
Japan issues the
Racial Equality Proposal during the Paris Peace Conference. The proposal would abolish racial discrimination but it founders on opposition from the United States, Australia and New Zealand.
March 2
Foundation of the Third International, or
Comintern in Moscow. Comintern's stated aim is to create a global Soviet republic.
A majority of the German fleet is
scuttled at
Scapa Flow in Scotland. The ships had been interned there under the terms of the 1918 Armistice while negotiations were occurring over the ships fate. The Germans feared that either the British would seize the ships or Germany would reject the Versailles Treaty and resume the war effort altogether with the ships likely being used against Germany in this case.
June 28
Germany and the
Allied powers sign the
Treaty of Versailles after six months of negotiations. The German armed forces are limited in size to 100,000 personnel and Germany is ordered to pay
large reparations for war damages. The United States signed the treaty but did not
ratify it, later making a separate peace treaty with Germany.
German-Austria signs the
Treaty of Saint-Germain. The peace treaty with the Allies regulates the borders of Austria, forbids union with Germany, and requires German-Austria to change its name to Austria. The United States did not ratify the treaty and later makes a separate peace treaty with Austria.
Bulgaria signs the
Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine. The peace treaty gives Thrace back to Greece which was gained by them through the
First Balkan War during 1913. While the Bulgarian army is reduced to 20,000 men and Bulgaria is ordered to pay war reparations.[6]
The Paris Peace Conference comes to an end with the inaugural General Assembly of the
League of Nations. Although one of the victors of World War I, the United States never joins the League.
The failed right-wing
Kapp Putsch takes place against the German government. The German military remains passive and the putsch is defeated by a general strike.
The German
Ruhr Uprising, spurred by the general strike against the Kapp Putsch, is crushed by the German military
June 4
Hungary signs the
Treaty of Trianon with the Allied powers. The treaty regulated the status of an independent Hungarian state and defined its borders. The United States did not ratify the treaty and later makes a separate peace treaty with Hungary.
August 10
The Ottoman Empire signs the
Treaty of Sèvres with the Allied powers (except the US, which never declared war on Turkey). The treaty
partitions the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish armed forces are reduced in size. Greece did not accept the borders as drawn up in the treaty and did not sign it. The Treaty of Sèvres was annulled in the course of the Turkish War of Independence and the parties signed and ratified the superseding
Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.
The
Free City of Danzig is established in accordance with the Treaty of Versailles, as a contentious compromise between the generally nationalist German majority in the city, and Poland's right to
free and secure access to the sea.
December 24
Bloody Christmas: Italy occupies Fiume after five days of resistance from Gabriele D'Annunzio's legionnaires.
1921
Spring
Start of the
Russian famine of 1921–1922 due to the combined effects of economic disturbance from the Russian Revolution, the Russian Civil War, and the government policy of
war communism.
March 7–17
Red Army mutineers and Russian civilians seize the strategic city of
Kronstadt in the
Kronstadt Rebellion, demanding expanded civilian rights and an end to the Bolshevik monopoly on Soviet politics. After several days and several thousand casualties, the rebellion is crushed by Bolshevik forces from neighboring
Petrograd.
The
U.S.–German Peace Treaty and the
U.S.–Austrian Peace Treaty are signed, marking the formal end of the state of war between the two states and the United States instead of the Treaty of Versailles and the Treaty of Saint-Germain that were not ratified by the United States.
August 29
The
U.S.–Hungarian Peace Treaty is signed, marking the formal end of the state of war between the two states instead of the Treaty of Trianon that was not ratified by the United States.
October 5
Foundation of the
Sturmabteilung (SA), the paramilitary wing of the German Nazi Party.
The
Washington Naval Conference ends with the signing of the
Washington Naval Treaty by the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, France, and Italy. The signing parties agree to limit the size of their naval forces.
Germany and the Soviet Union sign the
Treaty of Rapallo, re-establishing diplomatic relations, renouncing financial claims on each other, and pledging future economic cooperation.
The
Treaty of Lausanne, settling the boundaries of modern Turkey, is signed in Switzerland by Turkey and the
Entente powers. It marks the end of the Turkish War of Independence and replaces the earlier Treaty of Sèvres
August 31
The
Corfu incident: Italy bombards and occupies the Greek island of
Corfu seeking to pressure Greece to pay reparations for the murder of an Italian general in Greece.
September 27
The Corfu incident ends; Italian troops withdraw after the
Conference of Ambassadors rules in favor of Italian demands of reparations from Greece.
Turkey officially becomes a Republic following the dissolution of the
Ottoman Empire.
November 8
The
Beer Hall Putsch takes place, in which
Adolf Hitler unsuccessfully leads the Nazis in an attempt to overthrow the German government. It is crushed by police the next day.
1924
January 21
Leader of the Soviet Union
Vladimir Lenin dies, and
Joseph Stalin begins purging rivals to clear the way for his dictatorship.
Foundation of the paramilitary Nazi party organization the
Schutzstaffel (SS). Originally intended as a personal bodyguard unit for party leader Adolf Hitler, the SS would grow in size and importance.
The
Locarno Treaties are signed in London (they are ratified September 14, 1926). The treaties settle the borders of western Europe and normalize relations between Germany and the Allied powers of western Europe.
1926
January 3
Theodoros Pangalos declares himself dictator of Greece. He would be elected president on April 4.
January 31
British and Belgian troops leave
Cologne, Germany.
April 24
The
Treaty of Berlin is signed by Germany and the Soviet Union, which declares neutrality if either country is attacked within the next five years.
The
Shanghai massacre of 5,000[8]-10,000[9] communists, perpetrated by the Kuomintang, marks the end of the
First United Front and the beginning of the
Chinese Civil War, which evolved into a proxy war between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany until 1936.
Litvinov Protocol is signed in Moscow by the Soviet Union, Poland, Estonia, Romania, and Latvia. The Pact outlaws aggressive warfare along the lines of the Kellog-Briand Pact.
February 11
Italy and the
Holy See sign the
Lateran Treaty, normalizing relations between the Vatican and Italy.
March 28
Japan withdraws troops from China, ending the
Jinan incident.
The
Young Plan, which sets the total World War I reparations owed by Germany at US$26,350,000,000 to be paid over a period of 58½ years, is finalized. It replaces the earlier Dawes Plan.
The United Kingdom, United States, France, Italy and Japan sign the
London Naval Treaty regulating submarine warfare and limiting naval shipbuilding.
June 30
France withdraws its remaining troops from the Rhineland ending the occupation of the Rhineland.
September 14
German election results in the Nazis becoming the second-largest party in the
Reichstag.
1931
May 19
Launching of the first
Deutschland-class cruiser, Deutschland. The construction of the ship causes consternation abroad as it was expected that the restriction of 10,000 tons displacement for these ships would limit the
German Navy to coastal defense vessels, not ships capable of warfare on the open sea.
September 18
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, an incident that is considered important in the lead up to World War II.[12][13]
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.
February 27
Fighting between China and Japan in Manchuria ends with Japan in control of Manchuria.
March 1
Japan creates the puppet state
Manchukuo out of occupied Manchuria.
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.[15]
Japan leaves the
League of Nations over the League of Nations'
Lytton Report that found that Manchuria belongs to China and that Manchukuo was not a truly independent state.
President Hindenburg and Chancellor Hitler appear before a crowd of 500,000 in Berlin as
International Workers' Day is declared as "Day of National Labor" by the Nazi regime.[16][17]
May 2
Hitler outlaws trade unions.
May 15
Official formation of the
Luftwaffe, the German air force built in secret in violation of the Treaty of Versailles.
May 31
The
Tanggu Truce is signed between China and Japan, setting the ceasefire conditions between the two states after the Japanese occupation of Manchuria. China accedes to all Japanese demands, creating a large demilitarized zone inside Chinese territory.
June 21
All non-Nazi parties are banned in Germany.
July 14
The Nazi party becomes the official party of Germany.
August 25
Haavara Agreement: The agreement was designed to help facilitate the emigration of German Jews to
Palestine.
Germany and Poland sign the 10 year
German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact.[19] From the German point of the view, the pact was intended to prevent Poland from intervening in an attempt to prevent the rearmament of Germany.[20]
February 9
Balkan Pact, a military alliance is signed between Greece, Turkey, Romania and Yugoslavia.[21] The intention of signing this treaty was to counteract plans being made by Italy to acquire new territories along with Bulgaria's intention to try and reclaim lost territories.[22]
All German police forces come under the command of
Heinrich Himmler.
May 5
Soviet–Polish Non-Aggression Pact is extented to December 31, 1945.
June 30
Night of the Long Knives in Germany. Potential rivals to Hitler within the Nazi Party, including
SA leader
Ernst Röhm and prominent anti-Nazi conservatives such as, former Chancellor
Kurt von Schleicher, are killed by the
SS and the
Gestapo. Following this event, the SA continues to exist but loses almost all its influence and is effectively superseded by the SS.
July 20
The SS becomes an organization independent of the Nazi Party, reporting directly to
Adolf Hitler.[23]
King
Alexander I of Yugoslavia and French foreign minister
Louis Barthou are assassinated in Marseilles[24] Alexander's political murder further destabilized the Balkans. Barthou and Alexander were working for peace in Europe, particularly between Germany and the USSR, as they prepared both France and Yugoslavia for war.[25] Prince Peter II takes Alexander's place but because he is a minor a regency council would take control.
October 16
Beginning of the
Long March where the Chinese Red Army retreats to evade the pursuit of Kuomintang forces.
December 1
Sergei Kirov, head of the Leningrad Communist Party, is murdered by an unknown assailant, precipitating a wave of repression in the Soviet Union.
December 5
The
Abyssinia Crisis begins with the Walwal incident, an armed clash between Italian and Ethiopian troops on the border of Ethiopia.
The League of Nations approves the results of the
Saar plebiscite, which allows Saar to be incorporated into German borders.[26]
June 18
The
Anglo-German Naval Agreement is signed by Germany and the United Kingdom. The agreement allows Germany to build a fleet that's 35% the tonnage of the British fleet. In this way, the British hope to limit German naval rearmament.
August 31
The
Neutrality Act of 1935 is passed in the United States imposing a general embargo on trading in arms and war materials with all parties in a war and it also declared that American citizens traveling on ships of warring nations traveled at their own risk.
September 15
The Reichstag passes the
Nuremberg Laws, institutionalizing discrimination against Jews and providing the legal framework for the systematic persecution of Jews in Germany.
October 3
Italy invades Ethiopia, beginning the
Second Italo–Abyssinian War. The League of Nations denounces Italy and calls for an oil embargo that fails.[27]
The
February 26 incident occurs in Japan where a group of 1,400 officers and soldiers of the
Imperial Way faction stage a military coup which lasts until February 29 when the government suppresses the rebellion.[29][30]
After the Rhineland move Hitler met separately with French journalist
Bertrand de Jouvenal 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.[31]
King Edward VIII, over the head of
the Baldwin Government, orders the military to stand down in relation to the move.
March 25
The
Second London Naval Treaty is signed by the United Kingdom, United States, and France. Italy and Japan each declined to sign this treaty.
Luftwaffe Chief of Staff General
Walther Wever loses his life in an air crash, ending any hope for the Luftwaffe to ever have a
strategic bombing force similar to the Allies.
July 18
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.[32]
Commencement of the first
Moscow show trials against
Old Bolshevik Party leaders and top officials of the Soviet secret police.
October
The
Great Purge commences in the Soviet Union with widespread repression of suspected opponents of the regime. The purge leads to the imprisonment and death of many military officers, weakening the Soviet Armed Forces ahead of World War II.
October 18
Göring is made head of the German
Four Year Plan, an effort to make Germany self-sufficient through
autarky and increase armaments.
Suiyuan campaign begins as Japanese-backed Mongolian troops attack the Chinese garrison at Hongort.
November 15
The aerial German
Condor Legion goes into action for the first time in the Spanish Civil War in support of the Nationalist side.
November 25
The
Anti-Comintern Pact is signed by Japan and Germany. The signing parties agree to go to war with the Soviet Union if one of the signatories is attacked by the Soviet Union.
December 1
Hitler makes it mandatory for all males between the ages 10-18 to join the
Hitler Youth.
December 12
Kuomintang marshal
Zhang Xueliang kidnaps Chinese leader
Chiang Kai-Shek in order to compel the Kuomintang to make a truce with the Chinese Communist party for the purpose of fighting the invading Japanese.
Edward VIII is forced to abdicate due to his marriage to
Wallis Simpson and is succeeded by Albert, Duke of York, who assumes the name King
George VI
December 23
The first 3,000 men of the Italian expeditionary force (later named
Corpo Truppe Volontarie) lands in Cadiz in support of the Nationalist side in the Spanish Civil War.
December 24
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.
Bombing of Guernica by the German
Condor Legion and the Italian
Aviazione Legionaria at the behest of Franco's Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. The bombing claims many civilian lives and draws widespread condemnation internationally.
May 7
The Condor Legion Fighter Group is deployed in Spain and begins to aid the Falangists.
The
Marco Polo Bridge Incident occurs, beginning the
Second Sino-Japanese War. Some scholars consider this to be the start of
World War II.[34][35] Japanese forces were doing military exercises near the Marco Polo Bridge;[36] which begun on July 6[37] which the Chinese objected to but let occur. The Chinese requested that locals be informed of exercises occurring at night which the Japanese promised but did not end up doing this.[36] During that night Captain Shimizu reported one of his soldiers, Private Shimura as being missing as he was not present during a rollcall but later reappeared 20 minutes later. However Shimizu postponed reporting Shimizu's return by 4 hours for unknown reasons.[38] The Japanese demanded they be granted access to search for the missing soldier in Chinese territory but the Chinese refused this request. Whether it was the Japanese or Chinese forces that fired first is unclear.[39]
The
USS Panay incident occurs, where Japanese aircraft attacked the American gunboat Panay which was carrying American evacuees and escorting four Standard Oil Barges. 3 people end up being killed in the attack while 11 are wounded; which leads to a diplomatic crisis between the US and Japan.[42]
Second Sino-Japanese War:
Battle of Taierzhuang commences. The battle ends with Chinese victory on 7 April after intense house-to-house fighting inside the city of Taierzhuang.
Second Sino-Japanese War:
Battle of Xuzhou begins, and ends in Japanese victory on May 1 as Chinese troops break out from the encircled city.
July 6–16
Évian Conference: The United States and the United Kingdom refuse to accept any more Jewish refugees.
Germany invalidates the passports of all its Jewish citizens who are reissued passports with the letter "J" stamped in red. This change was made after requests by Sweden and Switzerland who wanted a way of easily denying Jews entry into their countries.
[1][2]
vom Rath's death triggers
Kristallnacht.
Pogrom begins in Germany; thousands of Jewish shops and synagogues are smashed, looted, burned, and destroyed throughout the country.[43]
1939
January 25
A
uranium atom is split for the first time at Columbia University in the United States.[48]
January 27
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 Kriegsmarine is given the first priority on the allotment of German economic resources. This is the first and only time the Kriegsmarine is given the first priority in the history of the Third Reich.
Germany
occupies and annexesBohemia and
Moravia-Silesia in violation of the Munich Agreement. The Czechs do not attempt to put up any organized resistance, having lost their main defensive line with the annexation of the Sudetenland.
Germany and Slovakia sign the Schutzzonenvertrag zwischen Deutschland und Slowakei [Treaty on the protective relationship between Germany and the Slovak State], creating the
German Zone of Protection in Slovakia.
King Zog, the leader of Albania refuses Italy's ultimatum demanding the King hand over control of the country.[51]
March 31
The United Kingdom and France offer a guarantee of Polish independence.[52]
The Slovak–Hungarian War ends.
April 1
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.[53]
April 3
Hitler orders the German military to start planning for
Fall Weiss, the codename for the attack on Poland, planned to be launched on August 25, 1939.
April 4
Hungary and Slovakia sign the Budapest Treaty, handing over a strip of eastern Slovak territory to Hungary.
April 7–12
Italy invades Albania with little in the way of military resistance in response to refusing the Italian ultimatum. Albania is later made part of Italy through a personal union of the Italian and Albanian crown.[51]
April 14
U.S. President Roosevelt sends letter to German Chancellor
Hitler and Italian Prime Minister
Mussolini seeking peace.[54]
April 18
The Soviet Union proposes a tripartite alliance with the United Kingdom and France. It is rejected.[55]
Soviet–Japanese border conflicts: The
Battle of Khalkhin Gol begins with Japan and
Manchukuo against the Soviet Union and Mongolia. The battle ends in Soviet victory on September 16, influencing the Japanese not to seek further conflict with the Soviets, but to turn towards the Pacific holdings of the Euro-American powers instead.
May 17
Sweden, Norway, and Finland reject Germany's offer of non-aggression pacts.
May 22
The
Pact of Steel, known formally as the "Pact of Friendship and Alliance between Germany and Italy", is signed by
Fascist Italy and
Nazi Germany. The Pact declares further cooperation between the two powers, but in a secret supplement the Pact is detailed as a military alliance.
The
German–Estonian and the
German–Latvian non-aggression pacts are concluded. They will remain in force for ten years.
June 14
The
Tientsin incident occurs, in which the Japanese blockade the British concession in the North China Treaty Port of Tientsin, now called
Tianjin.[59]
July 10
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.
In response to a message from Mussolini that Italy will not honor the Pact of Steel if Germany attacks Poland, Hitler delays the launch of the invasion by five days to provide more time to secure British and French neutrality.[60]
August 28
Tarnów train station bombing: A German agent named Antoni Guzy leaves a bomb inside two suitcases at the Tarnów train station in Poland that later explodes killing 24 people. It was one of several incidents done by Germany in Poland during the summer of 1939 to justify invading Poland.[61]
^
abSeagrave, Sterling (February 5, 2007).
"post Feb 5 2007, 03:15 PM". The Education Forum. Archived from
the original on June 13, 2008. Retrieved June 13, 2008. Americans think of WW2 in Asia as having begun with Pearl Harbor, the British with the fall of Singapore, and so forth. The Chinese would correct this by identifying the Marco Polo Bridge incident as the start, or the Japanese seizure of Manchuria earlier. It really began in 1895 with Japan's assassination of Korea's Queen Min, and invasion of Korea, resulting in its absorption into Japan, followed quickly by Japan's seizure of southern Manchuria, etc. - establishing that Japan was at war from 1895-1945. Prior to 1895, Japan had only briefly invaded Korea during the Shogunate, long before the Meiji Restoration, and the invasion failed.
^Young, Louise (1999). Japan's total empire: Manchuria and the culture of wartime imperialism. Twentieth century Japan (1. paperback print ed.). Berkeley, Calif.: Univ. of Calif. Press.
ISBN978-0-520-21934-2.
^Tomasevich, Jozo; Auty, Phyllis; Zaninovich, M. George; McClellan, Woodford; Macesich, George; Halpern, Joel M. (1969).
Contemporary Yugoslavia: Twenty Years of Socialist Experiment (Republished 2023 ed.). Berkley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press. p. 46.
ISBN9780520331112 – via Google Books.
^Alexander, Martin S. (2015), Mawdsley, Evan; Ferris, John (eds.),
"French grand strategy and defence preparations", The Cambridge History of the Second World War: Volume 1: Fighting the War, The Cambridge History of the Second World War, vol. 1, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 78–106,
ISBN978-1-139-85596-9, retrieved 2021-06-15
^Higgins, David R. (2020).
German Soldier Vs Polish Soldier: Poland 1939. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 6.
ISBN9781472841728 – via Google Books. British and French efforts to avoid another European war quickly disintegrated, and on 31 March Poland secured agreements with both countries for their military intervention should Germany invade.
^Carley, Michael Jabara (1993). "End of the 'Low, Dishonest Decade': Failure of the Anglo–Franco–Soviet Alliance in 1939". Europe-Asia Studies. 45 (2): 303–341.
doi:
10.1080/09668139308412091.