Appendix 2: Timeline of Nazi Germany

1918

October

Start of the ‘German Revolution’.

9 November

The German Kaiser, William II, abdicates.

9 November

Friedrich Ebert proclaims Germany a republic.

11 November

Germany’s defeat and the end of the First World War.

1919

5 –12 January

Spartacists, German communists, stage an uprising in Berlin.

19 January

First German democratic elections.

11 August

Weimar Republic constitution ratified.

28 June

Treaty of Versailles signed in the Hall of Mirrors.

12 September

Hitler attends a meeting of DAP, the German Workers’ Party.

1920

24 February

DAP becomes the Nationalist Socialist German Workers’ Party, or NSDAP.

13 March

The Kapp Putsch fails in Berlin.

1921

29 July

Hitler becomes leader of NSDAP.

1923

11 January

French and Belgian forces occupy the Ruhr.

8 November

The Munich Putsch, led by Hitler, fails.

1924

1 April

Hitler is sentenced to five years but serves less than nine months.

1925

18 July

First of two volumes of Hitler’s autobiography, Mein Kampf, is published.

July

French and Belgian forces withdraw from the Ruhr.

1926

8 September

Germany joins the League of Nations.

1932

31 July

Reichstag elections – the Nazis poll almost 40 per cent of the vote.

1933

30 January

Hitler appointed chancellor within a coalition government.

27 February

The Reichstag Fire.

20 March

Dachau, the first concentration camp, is opened.

23 March

Passing of the Enabling Act.

26 April

The Gestapo, the Nazi secret police, is formed.

10 May

25,000 ‘un-German’ books burnt across Germany.

14 October

Germany withdraws from the League of Nations.

1934

30 June–1 July

‘Night of the Long Knives’.

2 August

President Hindenburg dies.

1935

13 January

Saar plebiscite – 90.7 per cent vote to rejoin Germany.

15 September

Nuremberg Race Laws come into effect.

1936

7 March

German army enters the Rhineland.

17 July

Start of the Spanish Civil War.

1 August

Start of the Berlin Olympics.

25 October

Signing of the Rome-Berlin Axis.

25 November

Germany and Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact.

1937

26 April

The Luftwaffe bomb the Basque town of Guernica.

6 November

Italy joins Germany and Japan in the Anti-Comintern Pact.

1938

4 February

Hitler appoints himself commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

12 March

German army enters Austria and Anschluss is declared the following day.

29 September

Munich Agreement signed.

1 October

German army occupies the Sudetenland.

9 November

Kristallnacht or the ‘Night of Broken Glass’.

1939

15 March

German invasion of Czechoslovakia.

22 May

Germany and Italy sign the ‘Pact of Steel’.

23 August

Germany and Soviet Union sign the Non-Aggression Pact.

1 September

Germany invades Poland – start of Second World War.

3 September

Britain and France declare war on Germany.

27 September

Surrender of Warsaw.

1940

9 April

Germany invades Denmark and Norway.

10 May

Germany invades Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg.

15 May

Holland surrenders to Germany.

28 May

Belgium surrenders to Germany.

10 June

Capitulation of Norway.

22 June

France signs armistice with Germany.

13 August

Battle of Britain begins.

1941

30 March

German Afrika Korps begin offensive in North Africa.

6 April

Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece.

17 April

Yugoslav army surrenders to Germany.

22 June

Operation Barbarossa – Germany invades Soviet Union

11 December

Germany declare war on US.

1942

23 August

Stalingrad offensive begins.

October 23

Second Battle of El Alamein begins.

1943

2 February

German surrender at Stalingrad.

13 May

Axis forces in North Africa surrender.

13 October

Italy declares war on Germany.

1944

6 June

Operation Overlord – Allied invasion of Normandy.

20 July

Attempted assassination of Hitler.

25 August

Allies liberate Paris.

3 September

Allies liberate Brussels.

23 October

Soviets enter East Prussia.

4 November

Surrender of Axis forces in Greece.

1945

27 January

Soviets liberate Auschwitz.

23 April

Soviets enter Berlin.

30 April

Hitler commits suicide.

7 May

German unconditional surrender to the Allies and Soviet Union.

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