General Timeline I (Hitler's Anxiety)

Road to World War II
The world was on its way to a massive war that many felt could not be avoided as the second half of 1939 began. With no viable enemies willing to check German Chancellor Adolf Hitler's Reich, the future looked bleak for those in direct danger from Hitler's maniacal terror. This all changed in late August when Hitler suffered an anxiety attack and was persuaded to seek help ans postpone his invasion of Poland. After receiving treatment for his anxiety issues, Hitler was able to think much more rationally and logically, making him seem like less of a threat. While his treatment did make him substantially less hateful, in reality, Hitler had just realized that to achieve his goals, he must restrain himself until he was fully prepared and equipped to reach them.

Russia Acts Alone
In late 1939, as Europe was gearing up for the inevitable war with Nazi Germany, Hitler shocked his Russian ally by not invading Poland on the pre-chosen date of September 1. Stalin found Hitler's silence a bit strange, but nevertheless, decided to go through with his plans to invade Poland on September 17. The Red Army entered Poland with nearly 400,000 men; Poland never stood a chance. Stalin was shocked when Hitler announced the permanent postponement of his invasion of Poland, but decided it was too late for him to stop his invasion now, even if it potentially meant war with Britain and France. By October 8 Stalin's forces had seized Warsaw, the capital of Poland. Stalin requested to speak to Adolf Hitler on this date to see if he still wanted to divide Poland, but received no response, and annexed Poland in its entirety on November 5.

Stalin realized that the Soviet Union was, in its current state, not quite prepared for war with France or Britain, so he sought to eliminate all possible enemies directly to the east of Russia, specifically, Finland and the Baltics. In order to achieve this "barrier" around the Soviet Union, he signed the Treaty of Helsinki with Aimo Cajander of Finland by tricking him into thinking that Britain was a threat to Finnish security due to its imperial desires. Secondly, at 3:40 AM on the first day of 1940, Stalin staged an attack on Russian soldiers by Estonian soldiers in order to justify an invasion. Within a few days, Estonia had a pro-Russian communist government and the other Baltic States of Latvia and Lithuania were scared enough to sign the Baltic Alliance Pact with Russia and Finland, establishing pro-Soviet communist governments in these nations and giving Stalin total control of the Baltic Sea.

Hitler the Observer
After beginning his medicationn, Hitler's thirst for war had died down considerably. He was now more interested in preparation to begin his war and securing sound alliances and gaining trust and support from his fellow Germans. Firstly, he began watching how Western Europe responded to Russian invasions and how much it would take before they actually made any moves. Secondly, in early November 1939, he secured an alliance with Francisco Franco of Spain by warning him of a nonexistent plot to overthrow fascism in Spain and agreeing to ensure that he stays in power in exchange for an alliance in the event of a war with France and Britain. Hitler began tightening is grip on public opinion by publishing his second book, Mein Traum, or My Dream, in which he detailed his goals fpr the German people and the German Reich, and stated that he wished to "free Germany from the stinging humiliations placed on her" by the Treaty of Versailles.

When the western half of Czechoslovakia elected to become part of Germany, many world leaders thought that Hitler unfairly rigged the vote, but nothing of the sort was ever proven. Either way, this provided Hitler the opportunity to rally support once again. He declared the date January 15 to be a national holiday called Tag der Einheit, or Unity Day, and in celebration of this, announced that some of the art he had been working on would be showcased at a museum in Berlin. Over a million people came to see Hitler's art, and his popularity increased to over 50% for the first time.