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1939 in Germany

  • Pact of SteelBenito Mussolini secured his position as Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Italy in 1922. His first actions included massive programs of public works that…
  • Operation HimmlerHeinrich Himmler conceived a strategy to manufacture evidence of Polish aggression before the German invasion. Reinhard Heydrich supervised the project while…
  • Gleiwitz incidentOn the night of the 31st of August 1939, a small group of German operatives dressed in Polish uniforms seized the radio station Sender Gleiwitz.
  • Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–1945)Germany's economy faced a severe crisis in 1937 as the Four-Year Plan strained foreign exchange reserves. The German government needed to import raw…
  • Saar OffensiveFrance and Poland signed a defensive alliance in 1921 through a military convention. This agreement set the stage for future cooperation against Germany.
  • Plan ZThe Treaty of Versailles ended World War I with a stranglehold on German naval power. Article 191 explicitly prohibited Germany from possessing or building…
  • 1939 German ultimatum to LithuaniaOn the 20th of March 1939, Nazi Germany's foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop presented an oral ultimatum to Juozas Urbšys, the foreign minister of…