1. A timeline of events From 1936-1941
The Road to WW II:
A timeline of events
From

2. 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

3. 1937
January: Japan withdraws from Washington 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

4. 1938 March: Anschluss w/Austria—Gau Ostmark (Greater 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

5. 1939
January: Neville Chamberlain recognizes Franco 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

6. 1939
March: Soviets suggests collective action by USSR, 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

7. 1939 March: Britain & France declare intention to support 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 Anglo-Polish Pact directed at Germany

8. 1939
May: Germany offers Scandinavian countries non-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

9. 1939 August: Germany & USSR sign trade agreement
23 August: Nazi-Soviet non-Aggression Pact
25 August: British-Polish common defense pact 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

10. 1939-1940 October 1939: Poland surrenders
October 1929: USSR invades Estonia
November 1939-March 1940: Winter War—USSR v. 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

11. 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

12. 1940
September: Tripartite Pact—Germany, Italy & Japan 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

13. 1941
February: German forces arrive in North Africa to 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

14. 1941 22 June 1941: Operation Barbarossa—German 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)

15. 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)

16. 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)

17. 1941 26 November: Japanese fleet heads for Hawaii
2 December: Tojo (military PM of Japan) reject US 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

18. 1941
8 December: US declares war on Japan (Br, NZ & 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