The Road to WW II:
1936-1941
A TIMELINE OF EVENTS
FROM 1936-1941
1936
 February: ratification of Franco-Soviet Pact
 March: Hitler remilitarizes Rhineland
 March: Italy wins last battle in war w/Ethiopia
 May: Italy annexes Ethiopia & merges it w/Eritrea
and Somaliland to form Italian East Africa
 July: Spanish Civil War begins—Hitler & Mussolini
send troops & aircraft to assistance Generalissimo
Francisco Franco and his Nationalists
 October: Rome-Berlin Axis
 Anti-Comintern Pact: Germany & Japan pledge to
fight international communism
1937
 January: Japan withdraws from Washington
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Conference (which limited size of the navy)
June: Stalin begins purge of Red Army
July: Marco Polo Bridge Incident begins second
Sino-Japanese War
November: Hossbach Memorandum—foreign policy
goal to be Lebensraum & the need to seize Austria &
Czechoslovakia to military & foreign policy leaders
November: Italy joins Anti-Comintern Pact
November: Rape of Nanking
1938
 March: Anschluss w/Austria—Gau Ostmark (Greater
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Germany)
March: Hitler begins advocating equality for
Germans in Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland
May: May Crisis leads to Cz, Br, Fr & USSR promise
to resist a German attack on Czechoslovakia
May: Hitler issues Case Green a directive to occupy
Czechslovakia
September: Munich Agreement & annexation of
Sudetenland into Germany
1939
 January: Neville Chamberlain recognizes Franco
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govt. in Spain (largely criticized)
January: Hitler Speech–declares if Jews want war
they will get it & be annihilated
March: Czech president accepts making a region a
protectorate of Germany; Slovakia & Ruthenia
declares independence of Czechoslovaki (Rump
State)
March: Germany occupies Czechoslovakia
March: France declares intent to increase defense
spending
1939
 March: Soviets suggests collective action by USSR,
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Br, Fr, Poland & Romania aimed at Germany
March: Britain gives minimal interest to Soviet
suggestion
March: Hitler reiterates return of Danzig & Polisg
Corridor to Germany
March: Memel returned to & occupied by Germany
(Lithuania); Poland cautions Germany on similar
action w/Danzig
March: British decide to side work w/Poland instead
of multinational approach
1939
 March: Britain & France declare intention to support
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by Poland
April: Franco wins Spanish Civil War
April: Hitler issues Case White—planned invasion of
Poland
April: USSR proposes 10 year alliance w/Br & Fr
April: Hitler denounces the non-aggression pact
w/Poland (1934) & Anglo-German Naval Agreement,
demands return of Danzig, and declares AngloPolish Pact directed at Germany
1939
 May: Germany offers Scandinavian countries non
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aggression pacts, only Denmark accepts
May-Sept: Japan & Soviet border clashes go poorly
for Japan, looks south & east—USA
May: Pact of Steel between Italy & Germany support
in event of war
July: USA withdraws from a commercial treaty
w/Japan
August: Poland rejects Soviet request to send troops
into Poland
1939
 August: Germany & USSR sign trade agreement
 23 August: Nazi-Soviet non-Aggression Pact
 25 August: British-Polish common defense pact
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signed; Mussolini informs Hitler that Italy not ready
for war yet
26 August: Hitler postpones invasion of Poland until
1 September
27 August: Br & Fr try to persuade Poland to
negotiate w/Germany—refuse
1 September: Germany invades Poland
3 September: Br & Fr declare war on Germany
1939-1940
 October 1939: Poland surrenders
 October 1929: USSR invades Estonia
 November 1939-March 1940: Winter War—USSR v.
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Finland
November 1939: US Neutrality Acts—Br & Fr may
buy arms but only cash basis
October 1939-April1940: Sitzkrieg or Phony War
April : Germany attacks Denmark & Norway
May: Germany attacks Low Countries & France
May: Winston Churchill becomes PM of Great
Britain
1940
 June: Italy declares war on Br & Fr
 June: France falls
 June: Soviet led coups in Baltic States
 July: Vichy Government established in France
 July: US begins earliest stage of planning for
mobilization
 July: Battle of Britain begins
 September: USA begins 1st peacetime conscription in
its history
 September: Japan occupies Indochina
1940
 September: Tripartite Pact—Germany, Italy & Japan
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pledge mutual assistance; Axis emerges as term
(Hungary, Romania, Slovak Republic will later join)
October: Germany postpones any invasion of Britain
(Operation Sealion)
October: Italy invades Greece
November: Franklin D. Roosevelt wins
unprecedented 3rd term as US President
December: Italy request German military assistance
vs. Greece
1941
 February: German forces arrive in North Africa to
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aid Italy (June 1940)
March: US begins Lend-Lease (begins US supply of
material to Br, Fr, China, & USSR; ends pretext of
US neutrality)
April: German begins invasion of Greece &
Yugoslavia
April: US volunteer pilots arrive in China to fight
Japanese (Flying Tigers)
April: US begins sea patrols in Atlantic
1941
 22 June 1941: Operation Barbarossa—German
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invasion of USSR
June: US freezes all German & Italian assets
July: USSR begins scorched earth policy
July: Yugoslavia dissolved into component parts by
Axis invaders
July: US seizes all Japanese assets in US (response to
Indochina)
July: Japan occupies rest of Indochina
August: US announces oil embargo of Japan (US
Supplied more than 80% of Japan’s oil)
1941
 August: Atlantic Charter signed by Churchill &
Roosevelt (vision of post-war world)
 September: US Navy authorized to shoot on sight if
convoy or ship threatened by U-Boats & raiders
 October: Lend-Lease extended to USSR (where
Leningrad & Moscow under siege)
 26 November: Hull Note demands Japanese troops
withdraw from Indochina (Cordell Hull, US Sec of
State)
1941
 August: Atlantic Charter signed by Churchill &
Roosevelt (vision of post-war world)
 September: US Navy authorized to shoot on sight if
convoy or ship threatened by U-Boats & raiders
 October: Lend-Lease extended to USSR (where
Leningrad & Moscow under siege)
 26 November: Hull Note demands Japanese troops
withdraw from Indochina (Cordell Hull, US Sec of
State)
1941
 26 November: Japanese fleet heads for Hawaii
 2 December: Tojo (military PM of Japan) reject US
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peace feelers
5 December: Germans ends attack on Moscow
7 December: Japan attacks Pearl Harbor
7 December: Japan attacks US in Guam & Wake
Island
7 December: Japan invades Thailand & British
Malaya
1941
 8 December: US declares war on Japan (Br, NZ &
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Netherlands also declare war on Japan)
9 December: China & Australia declare war on Japan
11 December: Germany & Italy declare war on USA
11 December: US reciprocates & declares war on
Germany & Italy
World War II not fully engaged