Cold War Timeline - Tensions

September 1931 - Japanese invasion of Manchuria

January 1933 - Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany and rearms in secret throughout 1933

October 1933 - Germany leaves League of Nations

July 1934 - Attempted coup by Hitler to take over Austria but was prevented by Mussolini

August 1934 - Hitler becomes Dictator of Germany

January 1935 - The Saar is returned to Germany by plebiscite, 90% voted Yes

March 1935 - German rearmament, conscription introduced

June 1935 - Anglo-German Naval Pact allowed Hitler to increase his navy up to 35% of the British navy

October 1935 to May 1936 - Invasion of Abyssinia

March 1936 - Remilitarisation of the Rhineland

July 1936 to April 1st 1939 - Spanish Civil War, Mussolini and Hitler come closer together. Hitler tests the Luftwaffe

November 1936 - Anti-Comintern Pact, Germany and Japan against Communism

November 1937 - Anti-Comintern Pact, AXIS ALLIANCE

March 1938 - Anschluss with Austria (Plebiscite) 99% vote Yes

September 1938 - Hitler invades Sudetenland

September 29th 1938 - The Munich Agreement

March 15th 1939 - The German army invades the rest of Czechoslovakia

March 31st 1939 - Britain promised to defend Poland

May 22nd 1939 - Italy and Germany signed the Pact of Steel to help each other in the event of war

August 23rd 1939 -Germany and Russia sign the Nazi-Soviet Pact (Non-Aggression Pact), promising not to fight each other

September 1st 1939 - German forces invade Poland

September 3rd 1939 - Britain declared war on Germany 

September 17th 1939 - Russia invades Poland from the East

June 22nd 1941 - Germany invades Russia

December 1941 - America Joins the War