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1918 |
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3 March |
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Germany and Bolshevik Russia |
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11 November |
Armistice on Western Front, Germany and Western Powers |
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1919 |
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18 January |
Paris Peace Conference opens |
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4 March |
Founding of Communist International (Comintern), Moscow |
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28 June |
Versailles Treaty signed |
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12 September |
D'Annunzio seizes control of Fiume |
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1920 |
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19 March |
US Senate rejects Treaty of Versailles |
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14–16 August |
Battle of Warsaw — Poles defeat Bolshevik invasion |
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1921 |
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18 March |
Treaty of Riga, Poland-Russia |
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1922 |
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6 February |
Washington Treaty on naval disarmament |
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16 April |
Treaty of Rapallo, Germany-Russia |
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28 October |
Mussolini becomes Prime Minister of Italy — later Duce and dictator |
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1923 |
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11 January |
French occupation of Ruhr begins |
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31 August |
Italy bombards and occupies Corfu |
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June-November |
German hyper-inflation |
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1924 |
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April |
Dawes Plan on reparations |
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1925 |
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16 October |
Locarno Treaties concluded (signed in London, 1 December) |
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1926 |
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24 April |
Treaty of Berlin, Germany-Soviet Union |
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10 September |
Germany enters League of Nations |
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1928 |
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27 August |
Kellogg-Briand Pact to outlaw war |
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1929 |
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11 February |
Lateran Treaty, Italy — The Vatican |
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August |
Young Plan on reparations |
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29 October |
‘Black Tuesday’ — collapse on New York Stock Exchange |
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1930 |
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14 September |
Reichstag elections in Germany — 107 Nazis elected |
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1931 |
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11 May |
Failure of Credit-Anstalt Bank, Austria |
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18 September |
Mukden Incident, Manchuria — beginning of Japanese occupation |
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21 September |
Britain leaves gold standard |
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1932 |
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2 February |
Disarmament Conference opens at Geneva |
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21 July–20 August |
Ottawa Conference on Imperial Preference |
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1933 |
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30 January |
Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany |
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12 June–27 July |
World Economic Conference in London |
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14 October |
Germany leaves League of Nations and Disarmament Conference |
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1934 |
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26 January |
German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact |
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29 May |
Disarmament Conference ends |
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30 June |
Night of the Long Knives, Germany |
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25 July |
Nazi putsch in Austria fails; murder of Dollfuss |
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2 August |
Death of Hindenburg; Hitler later becomes Fuehrer as well as Chancellor |
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18 September |
Soviet Union enters League of Nations |
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9 October |
Assassination of King Alexander of Yugoslavia and Louis Barthou in Marseilles |
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5–6 December |
Wal Wal incident, Ethiopia |
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1935 |
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7 January |
Mussolini-Laval talks in Rome |
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13 January |
Plebiscite in the Saar — vote for reunion with Germany |
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16 March |
Germany introduces conscription |
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11–14 April |
Stresa Conference — Italy, Britain and France |
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2 May |
Franco-Soviet Mutual Assistance Treaty (ratified, February 1936) |
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16 May |
Czechoslovakian-Soviet Mutual Assistance Treaty |
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18 June |
Anglo-German Naval Agreement |
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3 October |
Italian invasion of Ethiopia begins |
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8 December |
Hoare-Laval agreement on Ethiopia; at once leaked to the press |
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1936 |
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7 March |
German troops enter Rhineland demilitarised zone |
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May |
End of war in Ethiopia |
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17–18 July |
Spanish Civil War begins |
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9 September |
First meeting of Non-Intervention Committee on Spanish War |
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1 November |
Rome-Berlin Axis proclaimed |
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1937 |
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7 July |
War breaks out between Japan and China |
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5 November |
Hossbach Conference — Hitler and service chiefs |
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19 November |
Halifax visits Hitler at Berchtesgaden |
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1938 |
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11–13 March |
Anschluss — Germany annexes Austria |
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24 April |
Henlein's Karlsbad demands on Czechoslovakian government |
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19–22 May |
‘May Crisis’ over Germany and Czechoslovakia |
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3 August |
Runciman mission to Czechoslovakia begins |
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5 September |
Beneš announces ‘Fourth Plan’, meeting most of Karlsbad demands |
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12 September |
Hitler's speech at Nuremberg Rally |
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15 September |
First Hitler-Chamberlain meeting, at Berchtesgaden |
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22–23 September |
Second Hitler-Chamberlain meeting, at Godesberg |
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29–30 September |
Munich Conference — Germany, Italy, Britain and France |
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9–10 November |
Kristallnacht in Germany — attacks on Jews and Jewish property |
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1939 |
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15 March |
Prague coup — Germany occupies Bohemia and Moravia; Hungary occupies Ruthenia |
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23 March |
Germany occupies Memel |
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28 March |
End of Spanish Civil War |
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31 March |
British and French guarantees to Poland |
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7 April |
Italy annexes Albania |
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13 April |
British and French guarantees to Greece and Rumania |
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22 May |
Pact of Steel — alliance between Germany and Italy |
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May-September |
Battle of Khalkin-Gol, Japan-Soviet Union (Manchurian border) |
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23 August |
German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact |
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1 September |
Germany invades Poland |
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3 September |
Britain and France declare war on Germany |
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17 September |
Soviet Union invades Poland |
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30 November |
Soviet attack on Finland — start of Soviet-Finnish War (Winter War) |
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1940 |
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12 March |
End of Soviet-Finnish War |
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9 April |
German attacks on Denmark and Norway |
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10 May |
German offensive in the West |
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10 June |
Italy declares war on France and Britain |
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22–24 June |
French armistices with Germany and Italy |
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27 September |
Tripartite Pact — Germany, Italy, Japan |
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23 October |
Hitler meets Franco at Hendaye |
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24 October |
Hitler meets Pétain at Montoire — agreement on ‘collaboration’ |
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28 October |
Italy attacks Greece |
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12–13 November |
Molotov's visit to Berlin — meetings with Hitler and Ribbentrop |
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1941 |
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6 April |
German attacks on Yugoslavia and Greece |
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22 June |
Operation Barbarossa — German invasion of Soviet Union |