January: Adolf Hitler comes to power in Germany

February: Germany and Poland sign a Non-Aggression Treaty

May: France and the Soviet Union sign a Treaty of Mutual Assistance; the Soviet Union signs a similar treaty with Czechoslovakia (which has had such a treaty with France since 1924).

March: Germany occupies Austria (the "Anschluss")

September: Munich Agreement between Germany, France, Great Britain, and Italy. Germany occupies the "Sudetenland." Poland occupies the Teschen region.

November: First Vienna Award. Hungary occupies southern Slovakia.

March: Germany occupies the remainder of the Czech territories (Bohemia and Moravia). Slovakia declared an independent German "protectorate." Hungary occupies Ruthenia.

Britain issues a guarantee to Poland. In April, similar guarantees issued to Romania and Greece.

April: Italy invades Albania

August 25: Germany and the Soviet Union sign the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, agreeing to carve up Poland and delineate spheres of influence in Eastern Europe.

September 1: Germany invades Poland. France and Britain declare war on Germany. The USSR occupies Eastern Poland two weeks later.

May-June: Germany swiftly conquers France, Holland, and Belgium.

August: Second Vienna Award. Northern Transylvania occupied by Hungary.

March: Pro-Allied military coup in Yugoslavia, denouncing the country’s adherence to a German-led alliance signed that month.

April: Germany invades Yugoslavia. Croatia declared an independent state. The remainder of the country is divided between Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, and Hungary.

June: Germany invades the Soviet Union.