The Road to the Second World War

Treaty of Versailles

How Allied victors carved up Germany and sowed the seeds of World War II.

On June 28, 1919, the victors of World War I gathered at the Palace of Versailles in France to sign a peace treaty with Germany. The agreement ended the fighting but imposed severe punishments-massive financial debts, lost territory, military restrictions-that Germany resented for years. This resentment would help fuel the rise of Adolf Hitler and contribute to the outbreak of World War II just two decades later.

Hitler's Rise to Power

When democracy dies with a handshake and an arson fire.

Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party took control of Germany in 1933 through a combination of electoral success, political maneuvering, and the exploitation of economic crisis. President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Chancellor on January 30, 1933, a decision that would lead to the dismantling of democratic institutions and ultimately World War II.

Reichstag Fire

How a fire became the match that lit totalitarianism.

On February 27, 1933, fire destroyed Germany's parliament building in Berlin. The Nazi government blamed communists for the arson and used the crisis to abolish civil liberties and seize total control-a power grab so complete it lasted until 1945.

Spanish Civil War Begins

Spain tore itself apart when military general Francisco Franco launched a coup against the elected government on July 17, 1936. Over three years, roughly half a million people died as Franco's Nationalist forces, supplied by Nazi Germany and Mussolini's Italy, battled the Republican government backed by the Soviet Union. The war became a proxy battleground for European fascism versus leftism, and Franco's victory handed Spain to an authoritarian dictatorship for the next 36 years.

1936 Berlin Olympics

Nazi Germany used the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics as a massive propaganda event to showcase the regime as modern, powerful, and racially superior. But American sprinter Jesse Owens won four gold medals, directly undermining the Nazi ideology the Games were meant to promote. The event also masked the persecution of Jews and other groups the Nazis deemed unfit.

V-E Day (German surrender)

Germany signed away twice. Stalin demanded the encore.

Germany's unconditional surrender on May 7-8, 1945, ended World War II in Europe after nearly six years of conflict. Adolf Hitler had committed suicide days earlier, leaving Karl Dönitz to authorize the final capitulation, which took effect at 11:01 PM on May 8. The war's conclusion came with much of Europe devastated and the full scale of Nazi atrocities still being uncovered.

Atomic bombing of Hiroshima

America's atomic gamble vaporizes a city and kills 140,000.

On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, instantly killing an estimated 70,000 people and destroying much of the city. The attack, authorized by President Harry Truman during the final weeks of World War II, introduced nuclear weapons to warfare and fundamentally changed global politics and military strategy.

Japan Surrenders in World War II

The bomb that ended everything, and the surrender that followed.

Japan formally surrendered on September 2, 1945, ending World War II. After the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in early August and the Soviet Union entered the war against Japan, the Japanese government abandoned resistance and signed surrender documents aboard an American battleship in Tokyo Bay. The moment ended the deadliest conflict in history and ushered in the nuclear age.