World War II Timeline 1933 >>



1918


4 August - Europe: Adolf Hitler is awarded the German Iron Cross, First Class.

13 October - Europe: Hitler is temporarily blinded by a British gas attack.

9 November - Europe: The Weimar Republic is proclaimed in Germany.

10 November - Europe: Hitler is informed of Germany's decision to surrender while recovering in hospital.

11 November - Europe: World War I ends at 5AM with the signing of an armistice. It goes into effect six hours later, at 11AM.

1919


28 June - Europe: The Treaty of Versailles is adopted. Notably, the United States is one of the few nations that choose not to ratify the document.

31 June - Europe: In Germany, the Weimar Constitution is ratified.

11 August - Europe: The Weimar Constitution becomes law.

12 September* - Europe: Gabriel d'Annunzio, an Italian poet, leads a troop of Italian volunteers into the city of Fiume and declares the existence of an independent Republic of Fiume.

1920


10 January - Europe: The Leauge of Nations is formed by 31 nations. The Treay of Versailles goes into effect. The treaty's overly-harsh treatment of Germany will prove to be one of the catalysts for the rise of Nazism.

24 February - Europe: The German Workers' Pary announces a change of name to the National Socialist German Workers' Pary, the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP).

3 December - Fiume: d'Annunzio declares war on Italy, but is soon driven from Fiume when the Italian navy bombards the city.

1921


11 July - Europe: Adolf Hitler threatens to resign from the Nazi Party unless he is made the authoritarian leader of the party.
29 July - Europe: At a Nazi gathering, Hitler is introduced as "der Führer" of the Nazis, the first time that title is used to address him.

5 October - Europe: The Ordnertruppe, the paramilitary wing of the Nazis, is renamed to the Sturmabteilung, or SA (Storm Troopers).

6 October - Fiume: An elected government takes power in the city, ending its flirtation with statehood.

1922


17 August - United States: The United States, Britain, France, Italy, and Japan sign the Washington Naval Treaty, voluntarily limiting the size of their respective naval forces.

1923


11 January - Europe: Germany falls behind on war reparations, prompting France and Belgium to invade the Ruhr valley.

9 November - Europe: Hitler's attempt to overthrow the Bavarian government, the Beer Hall Putsch, fails miserably.

11 November - Europe: Adolf Hitler is arrested on charges of treason.

1924


26 February - Europe: Hitler's trial for treason commences.

1 April - Europe: Hitler is sentenced to serve five years in Landsberg prison. It is during this time that he begins work on Mein Kampf.

20 December - Europe: Hitler is released from prison after having served only nine months.

1925


27 February - Europe: The Nazis hold their first public meeting since the Beer Hall Putsch. For his anti-Semitic remarks, Hitler is banned from public speaking for two years.

18 July - Europe: Mein Kampf is published. Hitler had originally wanted it to be titled "Four and a Half Years of Struggle against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice".

1926


8 September - Europe: The League of Nations admits Germany to membership.

25 December - Japan: Taisho, Emperor of Japan, dies. Hirohito becomes the 124th emperor.

1927


10 March - Europe: The ban on Hitler speaking publicly is revoked.

1928


4 June - China: The Communist governor of Manchuria, General Chang, is assassinated by the Japanese.

10 October - China: Chiang Kai-Shek moves the Chinese capital to Nanking.

10 November - Japan: Hirohito is formally installed as emperor in an elaborate coronation at Kyoto Imperial Palace.

1929


23 October - United States: The New York Stock Exchange begins to crash, marking the beginnings of a worldwide economic depression.

1930


30 June - Europe: The last French troops withdraw from the Ruhr area.

16 July - Europe: Chancellor Brüning invokes Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution, opening the way for Hitler's rise to the chancellory.

14 September - Europe: The Nazis take second place in the German parliamentary elections.

14 November - Japan: Hamaguchi Osachi, Prime Minister of Japan, is wounded in an assassination attempt.

1931


14 April - Japan: Hamaguchi Osachi dies of his wounds. With him goes the last real opposition to Japan's increasing militarism.

25 July - China: The perpetrators of the Manchurian Incident receive two heavy howitzer cannons, which they will use to destroy the local Chinese airfield.

18 September - China: Japanese soldiers destroy a portion of the Southern Manchurian Railway near Liutiaohu.

19 September - China: The Japanese Kwantung Army captures the Chinese military barracks in Mukden (now Shenyang) under the ruse of self-protection.

21 September - China: The Kwantung forces invade all of Kirin province.

22 September - China: The League of Nations passes a resolution urging China and Japan to withdraw their troops.

28 September - China: Thousands demonstrate in Nanking, China, demanding that war be declared on Japan.

9 October - China: The Japanese government responds to the League of Nations with an absolute refusal to withdraw from Manchuria.

24 October - China: The League of Nations moves, in a 13 to 1 vote, to require that Japan abandon her aggression in China.

13 December - Japan: A new, more militant, Japanese cabinet is installed. It immediately approves additional funding for the war effort in China.

1932


9 January - Japan: Korean nationalists attempt, unsuccessfully, to assassinate Emperor Hirohito.

18 January - China: Two Japanese monks are assaulted in the streets of Shanghai.

20 January - Shanghai: The Japanese consul demands that the mayor apologize for the assault on the two monks, as well as take steps to curb anti-Japanese sentiments in the city.

21 January - Shanghai: Japan's military commander in the city threatens action if the consul's demands are not met.

28 January - Shanghai: The government of Shanghai accedes to the Japanese demands.

29 January - Shanghai: In spite of Shanghai's agreement to their demands, the Japanese military shells the Chinese section of the city into dust.

1 February - China: A Japanese warship attacks Nanking, China.

5 February - China: Japanese forces capture Harbin, Manchuria.

18 February - China: Manchuria is renamed Manchukuo, and is declared to be an independent state.

29 February - China: Henry Pu Yi, the last emperor of China, is named President of Manchukuo.

3 March - Shanghai: After capturing key portions of the city, the Japanese agree to a ceasefire.

5 May - China: China and Japan sign an armistice.

15 May - Japan: Inukai Tsuyohi, Prime Minster of Japan, is assassinated in an attempted coup by the navy.

29 May - Europe: The Nazis take control of the Prussian legislature after winning general elections there.

31 May - Shanghai: Japan withdraws its troops.

10 April - Europe: Paul von Hindenburg is reelected to the German Presidency.

16 June - Europe: Von Hindenburg revokes the ban on the two paramilitary groups of the Nazi Party, the SS and the SA.

20 July - Europe: Martial law is declared in Berlin in reaction to the political violence of the SA.

13 August - Europe: The Nazis demand that Hitler be appointed chacellor, or else they will not enter into the government.

30 August - Europe: Hermann Goring is elected to the presidency of the Reichstag, the German parliament.

19 October - Europe: Britain decides to allow its trade agreement with the Soviet Union to lapse.

8 November - United States: Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected to his first of four terms as the President of the United States.

17 November - Europe: Franz von Papen resigns from the German chancellorship.

7 December - China: The League of Nation censures Japan for its military action on the Chinese mainland.

12 December - China: China reestablishes diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.

* - Thanks to CatherineB for her contributions concerning Spanish history.
  • http://www.euronet.nl/users/wilfried/ww2/tot-1939.htm
  • http://www.humanitas-international.org/showcase/chronography/timebase/1932tbse.htm
  • http://www.humanitas-international.org/showcase/chronography/timebase/1931tbse.htm
  • http://www.humanitas-international.org/showcase/chronography/timebase/1923tbse.htm
  • http://www.teachers.nl/_download/ eng_TIMELINES%20anne&.doc
  • http://www.blountweb.com/blountcountymilitary/wars/ww2/timelines/up_to_1941.htm
  • http://www.usd230.k12.ks.us/PICTT/timelines/prewar.html
  • http://www.ucc.uconn.edu/~ww2oh/Timeline.htm

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