At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the year 1918, the fighting in World War I comes to an end.
The Versailles Treaty ends the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers.
Adolph Hitler, an Austrian veteran of the first world war, joins the German Workers' Party--the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or DAP.
After destroying all political opposition through his secret police and outlawing labor strikes, Benito Mussolini and his fascist followers consolidate their power through a series of laws that transform the nation into a one-party dictatorship.
The SS begins as a small contingent of volunteer guards. By the mid-1930s it is one of the largest and most powerful organizations in the Third Reich.
The United States, Germany and France sign the Kellog-Briand Pact, renouncing war and calling for the peaceful settlement of disputes.
Black Tuesday. The stock market plummets, plunging the United States into a decade-long economic depression.
The Kwantung Army of the Empire of Japan invades Manchuria, establishing a puppet state called Manchukuo.
Against the backdrop of the Great Depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt easily defeats incumbent Herbert Hoover to become the nation's 32nd president.
Following a dramatic decade-long rise to power, Adolph Hitler is declared German chancellor.
Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are common names for the German Reich from 1933 to 1945, when it was under control of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.
An arson attack destroys the Reichstag building in Berlin, giving rise to the "Reichstag Fire Decree" and the erosion of civil liberties.
Within months of the Reichstag fire, the Nazis open their first concentration camp in the Bavarian town of Dachau, near Munich.
The Nazi Party launches its first wave of legislation aimed at marginalizing Jews and other "Non-Aryan" members of society.
Nazi official Hermann Göring merges the political and intelligence sections of the German police force to create the Gestapo.
With the death of German President Paul von Hindenburg, Hitler's last impediment to total authority is removed.
The act, the first of several signed during the late 1930s, imposes a general embargo on trading in arms and war materials with all parties in a war.
At the 7th party congress, the Nazis enact antisemitic legislation known as the "Nuremberg Laws."
The surprise invasion ignites the Second Italo-Ethiopian War.
Stalin launches an unprecedented wave of terror that will span the decade and destroy the lives of tens of millions of Soviet citizens.
In direct defiance of the Treaty of Versailles, Adolph Hitler orders German troops to reenter the Rhineland.
Civil war erupts in Spain pitting forces loyal to the country's democratically-elected government against those of fascist dictator Francisco Franco.
Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan conclude an anti-communist agreement directed against the Communist International (Comintern)
The event marks the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War and the onset of World War II in the Pacific.
Japanese forces capture the Chinese capital of Nanking. Over the next six weeks, they commit mass atrocities against the residents of the city.
Emboldened by the League of Nations' failure to respond to Germany's military build-up, Hitler orders the annexation of Austria.
Prime Minister Bishop Miron Cristea revokes the citizenship of 225,000 Jews—more than a third of Romania's Jewish population at the time.
The German government requires all Jews to register assets over 5,000 Reichsmarks, which then become available to Hermann Göring, the "Commissioner for the Four Year Plan," for use "in the interests of the German economy."
German authorities decree that by January 1, 1939, Jewish men and women bearing first names of "non-Jewish" origin must add "Israel" and "Sara," respectively, to their given names.
Great Britain, Italy and France agree to cede control of the northern and western regions of Czechoslovakia to Germany.
On Nov. 9, 1938, the Nazis orchestrated a nationwide wave of attacks on Jewish businesses, homes, and synagogues. Almost 100 Jews were killed, and thousands were arrested and sent to concentration camps. The night became known as Kristallnacht—the night of broken glass.
Top Nazi, Heinrich Himmler issues the Decree for "Combating the Gypsy Plague.
Turning his attention from the decade-long economic problems of the United States, FDR warns that peace is insecure.
In a speech before the German parliament, German leader Adolph Hitler declares that, in the event of a new world war, the result would not be "the Bolshevization of the earth and with that the victory of Jewry, but rather the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe."
In defiance of the Munich Agreement, the German Wehrmacht rolls into Czechoslovakia, easily overwhelming the powerless country.
The political and military alliance gives rise to the Axis Powers, which will eventually come to include Japan.
Also known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the German-Soviet non-aggression treaty unites the once bitter enemies, if only temporarily.
Germany launches a surprise attack on Poland, conquering it so quickly that the term blitzkrieg, or "lightning war," is coined.
It is the longest continuous battle of World War II, pitting German sea and air forces against the Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Navy, and Allied merchant shipping.
Following the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declare war on Germany, initiating World War II.
In keeping with the secret protocol of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, Soviet forces invade Poland from the east.
Following the invasion of Poland, German authorities seek to control the sizable Jewish population by forcing Jews to reside in marked-off sections of towns and cities the Nazis called "ghettos" or "Jewish residential quarters."
The agency will coordinate the annihilation of European Jews
Following the discovery of uranium fission in 1939, renowned physicist Albert Einstein is urged to inform President Roosevelt of atomic energy's wartime implications.
Three months after the outbreak of World War II, Soviet forces invade Finland, initiating the Winter War.
Soviet secret police, the NKVD, secretly execute more than 20,000 Polish prisoners.
The lull in fighting following the conquest of Poland ends. Germany attacks Denmark and Norway.
German forces begin their conquest of Western Europe attacking France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.
In the wake of the failed Norway campaign, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain is subjected to withering criticism.
Near the port city of Dunkirk, the British Expeditionary Force is cut-off from the French Army by the German advance.
We'd love to hear from you. Please send questions or feedback to the below email addresses.
Before contacting us, you may wish to visit our FAQs page which has lots of useful info on Tiki-Toki.
We can be contacted by email at: hello@tiki-toki.com.
You can also follow us on twitter at twitter.com/tiki_toki.
If you are having any problems with Tiki-Toki, please contact us as at: help@tiki-toki.com
Close