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| 1939, March |
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| The SLOVAK CRISIS and the ANNIHILATION OF THE CZECHOSLOVAK STATE (See 1939, March 10–16). None of the great powers made a move to check the German annexation of the rump Czech state or the Hungarian conquest of Ruthenia (Carpatho-Ukraine). Yet Hitler's action served to disillusion those who held that his aims were restricted to German territories. | 1 |
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| March 21 |
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| German annexation of Memel (See March 21). | 2 |
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| April 7 |
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| Italian invasion and conquest of Albania (See 1939, April 7). | 3 |
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| April 15 |
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| Letter of President Roosevelt to Hitler and Mussolini asking assurances against aggression on 31 named nations and suggesting discussions on reduction of armaments. | 4 |
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| May 12 |
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| Announcement of an Anglo-Turkish mutual assistance pact. | 5 |
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| May 22 |
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| Conclusion of a political and military alliance between Germany and Italy marking the full development of the Rome-Berlin Axis. | 6 |
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| June 17 |
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| Sweden, Norway, and Finland rejected a German offer of a bilateral nonaggression pact, preferring to maintain a rigid neutrality. Denmark, Estonia, and Latvia, however, accepted the German proposal. | 7 |
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| June–Aug |
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| Triangular negotiations among Britain, France, and the Soviet Union for a “peace front” to block further Nazi expansion. The Soviets insisted on a complete alliance and military convention, in addition to clear guarantees for the Baltic states. Negotiations dragged on through the summer and were marked by growing Soviet distrust. Eventually the Soviets insisted on the right to send troops through Poland in the event of German aggression. Since the Poles themselves objected violently to such an arrangement, a deadlock ensued. | 8 |
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| Aug. 20–Sept. 1 |
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| THE DANZIG-POLISH CRISIS. After months of agitation and recrimination, punctuated by incidents on the Danzig-Polish frontier, the long-anticipated crisis broke when Albert Forster, Nazi leader in Danzig, announced publicly that the hour of deliverance was near. At the same time the world was startled by the conclusion of a trade treaty between Germany and Soviet Russia. | 9 |
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| Aug. 21 |
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| The trade treaty was followed by the announcement that Germany and Russia were about to conclude a nonaggression pact. Coming after months of negotiation, this move was regarded in the West as a demonstration of Soviet perfidy. Discussion of Russia's inclusion in a peace front was at once dropped. In Britain and France as well as in Germany military preparations were initiated, the Germans concentrating forces in Slovakia as well as along the Corridor. | 10 |
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| Aug. 22 |
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| The British government reiterated its pledges to Poland, but at the same time appealed to Germany for a truce in Eastern Europe and negotiation of German claims. | 11 |
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| Aug. 23 |
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| The German-Russian pact was signed at Moscow by the German foreign minister, Ribbentrop, artisan of the anti-Comintern pact of 1936. It provided not only for abstention by either party from attack on the other, but for neutrality by either party if the other were attacked by a third power. A secret protocol attached to the pact provided for the partition of Poland, while Finland, Estonia, and Latvia were assigned to the Soviet sphere of influence. | 12 |
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