The Road to War, 1931–1941
Road to WW2 timeline and maps
The Road to War, 1931–1941 told in 12 chapters on an interactive situation map, with 18 dated maps and 42 battles, turning points and sites of memory, each drawn where it happened. This page is the index: every chapter, map and place as its own page.
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The chapters
Great Depression and causes of WW2
CHAPTER 1 · 1931
Japanese invasion of Manchuria
CHAPTER 2 · 1933
Hitler’s rise and German rearmament
CHAPTER 3 · 1935
Italian invasion of Abyssinia
CHAPTER 4 · 1935
Rhineland and the Spanish Civil War
CHAPTER 5 · 1937
Second Sino-Japanese War
CHAPTER 6 · 1938
Anschluss and the Munich Agreement
CHAPTER 7 · 1938
Outbreak of WW2 in Europe
CHAPTER 8 · 1939
Phoney War and the fall of France
CHAPTER 9 · 1940
Japan’s road to Pearl Harbor
CHAPTER 10 · 1940
Road to Operation Barbarossa
CHAPTER 11 · 1941
Pearl Harbor and US entry into WW2
CHAPTER 12 · 1941
Road to WW2 maps by year
1931SEP 1931MAR 1933JUL 1937OCT 19381939SEP 1940DEC 1941JAN 1933OCT 1935MAR 1936JUL 1936MAR 1938OCT 1938MAR–APR 1939SEP 1939JUN 1940JUN–DEC 1941
Battles, events and sites of memory
● Anschluss● Armistice at Compiègne✕ Attack on Clark Field● Attack on Mers-el-Kébir✕ Attack on Pearl Harbor✕ Battle of Britain✕ Battle of Khalkhin Gol✕ Battle of Maychew✕ Battle of Shanghai✕ Battle of Taranto✕ Battle of Westerplatte◆ Bombing of Chongqing◆ Bombing of Guernica● Bombing of Rotterdam✕ Dunkirk evacuation● Fall of Addis Ababa● German occupation of Prague● Hoare–Laval Pact● Hossbach Memorandum● Italian invasion of Albania● Japanese fleet sails from Hitokappu Bay✕ Japanese invasion of Malaya◆ Katyn massacre● League sanctions on Italy● Lytton Report● Marco Polo Bridge Incident● Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact● Mukden Incident● Munich Agreement◆ Nanjing Massacre● Nuremberg rallies● Pact of Steel● Remilitarization of the Rhineland● Saar plebiscite✕ Siege of Warsaw● Stresa Front● Tripartite Pact● US oil embargo on Japan● USS Panay incident● Wal Wal incident✕ Winter War● Xi’an Incident
The places, chapter by chapter →
Study and test
Road to WW2 questions and answers
Road to WW2 quiz
The printable study guide
IB History notes: The Road to War
THE FREE PRINTABLE STUDY GUIDE
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