Timeline by Camden Walker

Hitler Becomes Chancellor of Germany

walkerc8284_2_1 — 2024-04-05 00:24:00 UTC

It took the economic and political instability to worsen, and the support of the conservative elite, to convince Hindenburg to appoint Hitler. Hitler was sworn in as the chancellor of Germany on the 30 January 1933. The Nazis were now in power.

Nuremberg Laws Passed

walkerc8284_2_1 — 2024-04-05 00:29:32 UTC

Two distinct laws passed in Nazi Germany in September 1935, the Reich Citizenship Law and the Law, for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor. These laws embodied many of the racial theories underpinning Nazi ideology.

Anschluss

walkerc8284_2_1 — 2024-04-08 14:03:52 UTC

Hitler crosses the border into Austria in March 1938. Hitler announces the Anschluss on the Heldenplatz, Vienna, 15 March 1938. On the morning of 12 March 1938, the 8th Army of the German Wehrmacht crossed the border into Austria. The troops were greeted by cheering Austrians with Nazi salutes, Nazi flags, and flowers.

Kristallnacht

walkerc8284_2_1 — 2024-04-08 14:06:18 UTC

Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass, was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's Sturmabteilung and Schutzstaffel paramilitary forces along with some participation from the Hitler Youth and German civilians throughout Nazi Germany on 9–10 November 1938.

Molotov-Ribbentrop pact

walkerc8284_2_1 — 2024-04-08 14:10:19 UTC

On August 23, 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union signed what came to be known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact after the Soviet and German foreign ministers, Vyacheslav Molotov and Joachim von Ribbentrop. To the world, it was a nonaggression pact

Invasion of Poland

walkerc8284_2_1 — 2024-04-08 14:12:02 UTC

German troops invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, triggering World War II. In response to German aggression, Great Britain and France declared war on Nazi Germany. Nazi Germany possessed overwhelming military superiority over Poland.

Neutrality Act

walkerc8284_2_1 — 2024-04-08 14:19:59 UTC

Initially, this proposal failed, but after Germany invaded Poland in September, Congress passed the Neutrality Act of 1939 ending the munitions embargo on a "cash and carry" basis. The passage of the 1939 Neutrality Act marked the beginning of a congressional shift away from isolationism.

walkerc8284_2_1 — 2024-04-08 14:24:12 UTC

The Battle of Britain, in July 1940. The Battle of Britain was fought above the skies of Britain, between the RAF and the German Luftwaffe. Had British and Allied aircrew not defeated the Luftwaffe, it is likely that Germany would have invaded Britain.

Battle of Stalingrad

walkerc8284_2_1 — 2024-04-08 14:25:04 UTC

Stalingrad was one of the most decisive battles on the Eastern Front in the Second World War. The Soviet Union inflicted a catastrophic defeat on the German Army in and around this strategically important city on the Volga river, which bore the name of the Soviet dictator, Josef Stalin.

Japan Surrenders

walkerc8284_2_1 — 2024-04-08 14:26:36 UTC

On 6 August 1945, the United States detonated an atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Sixteen hours later, American President Harry S. Truman called again for Japan's surrender, warning them to "expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth."