Weimar World

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1920

• 8 March: South Schleswig votes to rejoin Germany by 90%.
• 14 March: Central Schleswig votes for reunification with Germany.
• 20 March: North Schleswig votes for reunion with Germany by 90%.
• 31 March: Adolf Hitler is deported back to Austria for being a political spy in the Wehrmacht.
• 20 June: Stresemann becomes Foreign Minister of Germany.

1921

• 16 January: Aristide Briand becomes Prime Minister of France.
• 21 March: Upper Silesia votes to rejoin Germany.
• 24 March: Polish forces invade Upper Silesia.
• 25 March: Stresemann persuades Briand to force the Poles to leave.

1922

• 15 January: Stresemann secures loans to Germany, fixing the Reichsmark to a gold standard.
• 16 April: The Treaty of Rapallo is signed between Germany and Soviet Russia. Both countries renounce territorial and financial claims against the other.
• 27 October: Mussolini establishes his Fascist dictatorship in Italy.

1923

• 11 January: Following a late reparations payment, Stresemann persuade France to not invade the Ruhr.
• 3 June: Stresemann becomes Chancellor of Germany.
• 18 September: Germany presses for a plebiscite to be held in Eupen-Malmedy, who vote to rejoin Germany.
• 22 November: After German requests for a plebiscite to be held in Alsace-Lorraine, a referendum is held in the region.
• 23 November: When it becomes known that the result is a stalemate, France threatens to invade unless Germany backs down.
• 24 November: Britain proposes a division of the region into Alsace (ceded to Germany) and Lorraine (ceded to France). Although Germany quickly accepts, France grumbles and complains before accepting the proposal.

1924

• 28 February: The German President makes a state visit to Britain. This marks an era of reconciliation between the two nations.
• 1 December: The Treaty of Locarno is signed between Germany and the western countries. Germany accepts her western borders.

1925

• 14 January: Germany joins the League of Nations and becomes the fifth permanant Council member.
• 10 September: After German lobbying for a referendum in the Memel territory, the region votes in favour of reunification.
• 3 October: The Nobel Committee announces that the Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded to Austen Chaimberland, Aristide Briand and Gustav Stresemann for the Locarno Treaty.

1926

• 24 April: The Treaty of Berlin is signed between Germany and the Soviet Union. Both countries pledge neutrality in the event of a attack by another country.

1927

• 9 November: The Treaty of Munich is signed by Germany and Czechoslovakia formally recognizing the border between Germany and Czechoslovakia in return for concessions to the German minority in the Sudetenland, including recognition of German as an official language of Czechoslovakia and a minimum number of spots in the Czech cabinet for ethnic Germans.

1928

• 24 October: Chancellor Stresemann dies of a heart attack. A day of national mourning is decreed.

1929

• 10 December: The Wall Street stock market collapses and starts the Great Depression.

1930

• 30 June: Germany, France and Britain agree to a moratorium on reparations.

1931

• 11 August: The Austrian Creditanstalt collapses.
• 13 September: The German bank crisis occurs.

1932

• 20 April: Germany presses for a plebiscite in Posen. Britain ignores Polish protests and accepts.
• 24 April: Posen votes to rejoin Germany.

1933

• 7 August: Carl Goerdeler becomes Chancellor of Germany.

1934

• 21 March: Hitler instigates the Austrian Civil War. Hitler's faction attacks Dolfuss' faction. Socialist take Vienna. Albert Einstein leaves Austria for Germany.
• 5 May: The League of Nations declares an arms embargo on both sides of the Austrian Civil War. Italy and the Soviet Union promptly break the embargo.

1935

• 13 January: The Saar region votes to rejoin Germany.
• 20 May: Under pressure from Great Britain and with worsening economic problems, France acquiesces to "limited" German rearmament.
• 30 August: A token military force enters the Rhineland. The French government proclaims this as a great diplomatic victory, as the German force is not even strong enough to defend the Rhineland, posting no threat to France. The German government points to this as the full restoration of German sovereignty and the return of Germany as a full member of the international family of nations.
• 3 October: Italian troops invade Abyssinia.

1936

• 30 May: Italy annexes Abyssinia after over a year of fighting.
• 29 June: After the League's condemnation of the invasion, Italy leaves the League of Nations.
• 10 July: The Spanish Civil War begins.
• 1 September: Dolfuss' faction defeats the Socialists in Vienna but are promptly attacked by Hitler's faction.
• 20 September: Fed up with the chaos in Austria and now civil war in Spain, Britain and France agree to allow Germany to intervene in Austria. German troops stream over the border and are regarded as saviours by the war-weary Austrians. To further reassure Britain and France as well as to cement growing relations, Germany and Czechoslovakia sign a treaty of mutual defence.
• 21 October: Hitler commits suicide in his mountain retreat, rather than surrender. Both Dolfuss' and Hitler's factions have surrender. Dolfuss retires from politics.
• 9 December: Italy acquiesces to a German occupation of Austria and a vote on an Anschluss between the two countries.

1937

• 14 February: The Austrians ovewhelmingly vote in favour of unification with Germany. Although the Treaty of St Germaine forbade a union with Germany, the Reich points out that they were not party to that agreement and the Austrian government had ceased to exist. World sentiment favours the unification.
• 15 March: Concerned at the close ties that have developed between Soviet military officers and the Germans during the years of co-operation of the 1920s, Stalin launches a purge of the Red Army that cripples the army for the next few years.
• 12 April: Italy and Hungary form a mutual defence pact, called the Rome-Budapest Axis by Mussolini.
• 24 July: Germany proposes a referendum in the Polish Corridor and Danzig. Poland opposes the idea.
• 20 August: Thinking that Poland could win the referendums and noting that a significant portion of the Wehrmacht will still be in Austria, the Polish President demands that the referendums must be held before mid-September: Germany accepts this demand.
• 15 September: The Polish Corridor plebiscite is held and favours reunification with Germany.
• 16 September: When the results of the referendum become known, Poland insists that the Germans rigged it and begin moving troops into the Corridor as a "stablising measure." Hours later, heavy German troop movement is reported all along the Polish border. Even the Czechs appear to be mobilising.
• 17 September: The Germans launch an aerial invasion of the Polish Corridor. Paratroops land throughout the Corridor within the lines of the Polish forces. The Polish troops flee in confusion. Troops moving in from Germany take advantage of the confusion and punch through to East Prussia.
• 25 September: The British and French Prime Minsters meet with the German leaders to discuss the Polish Crisis. The German Chancellor promises the British and the French that they have no more land claims on Poland. In return, Britain and France agree to support the German annexation.

1938

• 15 January: Poland formally joins the Axis.
• 1 May: Germany, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Czechoslovakia announce a European Alliance to defend against Communism and fascism. Britain quietly gives assurances of support for the group as well.

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1939

• 9 February: Bulgaria joins the Axis.
• 17 April: Italy invades Albania.
• 23 June: The Spanish Civil war ends, Franco's forces have defeated the Republican government and taken Madrid.
• 1 October: Italy, Hungary and Bulgaria launch a surprise invasion of Yugoslavia. German forces in former Austria begin mobilizing. Britain and France demand that the Axis' meet for mediation.
• 4 November: The Trieste Conference results in Italy, Bulgaria and Hungary receiving some token concessions.
• 9 December: Yugoslavia joins the European Alliance.

1940

• 1 September: Romanian negotiations to join the Axis break down over demands of land concessions to Hungary and Bulgaria. Fearing that the Romanians may instead join the European Alliance, Hungary and Bulgaria launch an invasion of Romania.
• 25 December: Bulgarian and Hungarian forces withdraw from Romania.

1941

• 20 January: Romania joins the European Alliance.
• 9 August: The Second Russo-Japanese War starts.
• 12 August: The Japanese Navy pound the Russian Fleet into oblivion and proceed to shell the port and naval base to pieces.
• 18 August: The Japanese capture Sakhalin Island.