11 November 1918
The Armistice ends the
fighting in the Great War. |
28 June 1919
The Treaty of Versailles ends
the Great War. Germany was forced to accept responsibility
for the war, and causing all the loss and damage. Germany
was to disarm and pay reparations at a total cost of £6.6
billion, or approximately £284 billion in 2020 money. |
30 January 1933
Nazi leader Adolf Hitler
is appointed Chancellor of Germany |
3 February 1933
Adolf Hitler gives a
secret speech to his military leaders outlining his plans to
rearm Germany, in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles, and to
adopt a a policy of living space in Eastern Europe. |
23 March 1933
The Reichstag passed the
Enabling Act making Adolf Hitler dictator of Germany. |
2 August 1934
Adolf Hitler becomes Fuhrer
of Germany, or head of stated combined with that of Chancellor,
following the death of President Paul von Hindenburg. |
26 February 1935
Adolf Hitler orders the
reinstatement of the air force, the Luftwaffe, in violation of
the Treaty of Versailles. |
16 March 1935
Adolf Hitler announces
Germany re-armament in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. |
21 May 1935
Adolf Hitler announces the
reintroduction of conscription to the German Army in violation
of the Treaty of Versailles. |
7 March 1936
Nazi Germany re-occupied the
Rhineland in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. |
5 November 1936
Adolf Hitler holds a
secret meeting and states his plans for acquiring 'living space'
for the German people. |
14 February 1938
Britain formally
dedicated the Singapore Naval Base, the largest of its kind in
the world. This was key for British policy in the Far
East. It had the largest dry dock in the world at the time
and enough fuel tanks to support the entire Royal Navy for six
months. |
20 February 1938
Germany's leader, Adolf
Hitler, gave a speech vowing to protect German minorities
outside of the Reich and reiterating demands for the restoration
of former German Colonies. |
10 March 1938
Adolf Hitler ordered his
generals to prepare for the invasion of Austria. No plans
were available, so they had to produce something very quickly. |
12 March 1938
The German Army crossed the
Austrian Border, Hitler arrived in Austria and thousands of
potential opponents of the Nazis were arrested. |
14 March 1938
Adolf Hitler made a
triumphant procession through Vienna.
British Prime Minister,
Neville Chamberlain, said the that British government
disapproved of Germany's invasion of Austria, but that "nothing
could have prevented this action by Germany, unless we and
others with us had been prepared to use force to prevent it." |
23 March 1938
Neville Chamberlain called
upon the Trades Union Congress and asked for their help in
speeding up Britain's war production, plans included day and
night shifts in the munitions factories. |
28 March 1938
A flood of Austrian refugees
in Switzerland was slowed by the Austrian passport holders were
required to have visas. |
10 April 1938
A referendum on the
unification of Austria and Germany was held, 99.7% were in
favour.
Parliamentary elections in Germany gave the Nazi
Party 99% of the vote. |
20 May 1938
'May Crisis' saw the
Czechoslovak government order a partial mobilisation in reaction
to reports of suspicious German troop movements. |
22 May 1938
British Foreign Secretary,
Lord Halifax, told the French ambassador not to count on British
support in the event of a war over Czechoslovakia. The
Poles also said they would not move if France moved against
Germany to defeat Czechoslovakia. |
23 May 1938
The May Crisis passed when
Germany denied any planned aggression against Czechoslovakia. |
24 June 1938
The Royal Air Force launched
a new recruitment campaign. |
15 July 1938
The Evian Les Baines Refugee
Conference resulted in only one country, the Dominican Republic,
willing to accept any Jews from Germany and Austria. |
16 July 1938
Japan said it would forfeit
the 1940 Summer Olympics, since it could not prepare for them
whilst at war with China. The games were then awarded to
Helsinki, Finland. |
12 August 1938
Adolf Hitler called up 750
000 German troops for a series of military exercises |
16 August 1938
In Britain, the Secretary
of State for War put 13 generals on the retired list to inject
younger blood into the Army High Command |
18 August 1938
Switzerland refused entry
to all refugees without a visa. |
12 September 1938
Adolf Hitler made a
speech declaring the oppression of Sudeten Germans in
Czechoslovakia must end. The British Cabinet met almost as
soon as Hitler stopped speaking, relieved that Hitler had only
demanded justice for Sudeten Germans and had not committed
himself to war. |
13 September 1938
Sudeten Germans began to
attack police stations and other symbols of Czechoslovak
authority.
The French Prime Minister asked Neville
Chamberlain to make the best deal he could with Adolf Hitler. |
15 September 1938
British Prime Minister,
Neville Chamberlain, bordered an aeroplane for the first time
and flew to meet Adolf Hitler. Chamberlain had already
decided not to go to war over Czechoslovakia, so all he was
going to be able to do was to agree to Hitler's terms. |
18 September 1938
An Anglo-French
Conference in London agreed upon the German annexation of the
Sudetenland. |
20 September 1938
The Czechoslovakian
Government rejected the outcome of the Anglo-French Conference. |
22 September 1938
The Czechoslovakian
Government resigned.
Neville Chamberlain returned to
Germany, and met Adolf Hitler again, who demanded he would
occupy the Sudetenland by 1 October. |
23 September 1938
The new Czechoslovakian
Government ordered full mobilisation of its military. |
24 September 1938
France ordered partial
mobilisation of its military
In Lancaster, trench digging
took place at Bowerham Barracks, gas-proofing took place of keep
parts of Bowerham Barracks, as troops were warned to prepare for
air attacks. |
25 September 1938
The Czechoslovaks
rejected Adolf Hitler's demands. |
26 September 1938
Adolf Hitler threatened
Czechoslovakia with war. |
27 September 1938
The French government
announced that they would not go to war purely over
Czechoslovakia. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
gave a radio address and said that the whole Empire would not be
taken to war over the issue between Czechoslovakia and Germany. |
28 September 1938
Adolf Hitler agreed to
hold a four party conference in Munich, between Germany, Great
Britain, France and Italy. |
29 September 1938
The Munich Conference
took place to settle the Sudetenland Crisis.
Czechoslovakia was not invited, nor was the Soviet Union. |
30 September 1938
Prime Minister Neville
Chamberlain flew back to Britain and declared 'peace for our
time'. |
1 October 1938
German troops occupied the
Sudetenland. |
5 October 1938
Winston Churchill MP made a
speech in the House of Commons calling the Munich Agreement 'a
total and unmitigated defeat'. |
7 November 1938
In Paris the German
diplomat Ernst von Rath was shot at the German Embassy by a Jew
whose parents had just been deported from Germany to Poland. |
9 November 1938
'Crystal Night' was a wave
of violence targeting Jews throughout Germany and Austria in
response to the assassination of von Rath. The vast
amounts of broken glass littering the streets outside Jewish
shops gave the night its name 'Kristallnacht'. |
12 November 1938
All of Germany's Jews
were ordered to pay a collective fine of 1 billion Reichsmarks
for the assassination of Ernst von Rath. |
1 December 1938
Britain introduced a
'national register' for war service. |
2 December 1938
The first 200 Jewish
children arrive in England as part of the 'Kindertransport'
programme. |
15 December 1938
Senior Nazi Joseph
Goebbels told the German people that the territories occupied by
the Reich were 'still too small to meet our vital needs'. |
11 January 1939
Prime Minister Neville
Chamberlain visited Italy and had meetings with the Italian
leader Mussolini hoping he would advise Hitler not to make any
war like moves. Chamberlain was heartened by the loud
cheers he received from Italians during the visit. |
23 January 1939
Neville Chamberlain
launched a recruitment drive with the goal of mobilising 30
million Britons for the voluntary civil defence organisations. |
9 February 1939
The Home Office announced
plans to provide air raid shelters for homes in areas most
likely to be bombed. |
21 February 1939
Nazi Germany decreed that
all Jews were to turn in their gold, silver and other valuables
to the state without compensation. |
22 February 1939
The British cabinet
authorised the production of military aircraft to maximum levels
without regard to cost. |
27 February 1939
Britain and France
formally recognised Francoist Spain. |
16 March 1939
German troops marched into
Czechoslovakia and Germany annexed the Protectorate of Bohemia
and Moravia. |
17 March 1939
Prime Minister Neville
Chamberlain condemned Adolf Hitler for breaking the word he had
given at the Munich Conference and warned that Britain would
resist any further territorial expansion by Germany. |
23 March 1939
German troops occupied Memel
in Lithuania, and the territory was formerly signed over to
Germany. |
27 March 1939
Germany started an
anti-Polish propaganda campaign. |
29 March 1939
The British government
unveiled plans to double the size of the Territorial Army. |
31 March 1939
Neville Chamberlain pledged
Anglo-French support if Polish independence was threatened by
Germany. |
3 April 1939
Germany's leader, Adolf
Hitler, gave a top secret directive to prepare for military
operations against Poland for anytime from 1 September 1939 |
6 April 1939
Britain and France agreed on
a mutual assistance pact with Poland, pledging to come to
Poland's aid in the event of a German attack. |
7 April 1939
The Italian invasion of
Albania began, with little resistance. |
10 April 1939
The Italian occupation of
Albania was completed. |
18 April 1939
British Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain vowed to go to the aid of the Netherlands,
Denmark and Switzerland if they were attacked. |
26 April 1939
In Parliament a Bill would
be introduced for military conscription of all males aged 20-21
years old. |
27 April 1939
The plans for the
introduction of conscription were approved in the House of
Commons. |
14 May 1939
Adolf Hitler arrived in Aachen
to conduct an inspection of the Siegfried Line, the German
defensive line opposite the French Maginot Line. |
21 May 1939
On a visit to Canada King
George VI dedicated Canada's National War Memorial honour those
Canadians who died in the 1914-1918 war. |
26 May 1939
The Military Training Act
received Royal Assent, introducing conscription in Britain for
the first time in peace time. |
3 June 1939
Britain's first conscripts
under the Military Training Act were enrolled. |
8 July 1939
The southern third of England,
less London, was darkened for an air raid test. |
19 July 1939
A group of Royal Air Force
bombers flew from London to Marseilles in France, and back as a
demonstration of British air power. The distance between
London and Marseilles was the same as London to Berlin. |
31 July1939
Britain and France announced
that military talks would start in Moscow to negotiate a pact
with the Soviet Union. |
8 August 1939
1 300 War planes filled the
skies over Britain on the first of several days of air defence
tests. |
11 August 1939
Half of England went dark
for four hours to determine the effectiveness of the black out. |
23 August 1939
The Soviet and German
foreign ministers signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Both
the Soviet Union and Germany would not attack each other and
remain neutral if attacked by a third power and a secret part of
the agreement agreed upon the portioning of Poland. |
25 August 1939
Adolf Hitler met with Sir
Neville Henderson, the British Ambassador, and offered Britain a
deal guaranteeing the Empire in order to solve the Polish
question once and for all. |
26 August 1939
Sir Neville Henderson flew
to London with the German offer. |
28 August 1939
Sir Neville Henderson flew
back to Berlin and stated that there should be discussions
between Germany and Poland and that His Majesty's Government had
made obligations to Poland. |
29 August 1939
Adolf Hitler demanded the
return of the free city of Danzig and the Polish Corridor, and
stated he was still prepared to have discussions with the
British government. |
30 August 1939
The Polish government
ordered partial mobilisation of its military.
Sir Neville
Henderson met German foreign minister Ribbentropp, noting the
desire for improved relations and German interests but also the
interests of the Polish Government. |
31 August 1939
In Britain the Royal Navy
was mobilised.
Army and Royal Air Force reserves were called
up.
The official order was given to evacuate civilians from
cities and town which were likely targets for enemy action.
Adolf Hitler issued Directive Number 1 - ordering an attack on
Poland on 1st September. |
