Events
March 13, 1938 - Germany annexes Austria
October 7–10 - Germany takes
Czech region of Sudetenland
August 23, 1939 - German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact
September 1 - Germany invades Poland
September 3 - Britain and France declare war on Germany
September 17 - USSR invades Poland from the east
September 19 - German and Soviet forces meet in central Poland
September 28 - Warsaw falls to Germany
November 30 - Soviet forces invade Finland
Key People
Adolf Hitler - Chancellor of Germany; pursued aggressive
territorial expansion in the late 1930s
Neville Chamberlain - British prime
minister; adhered to policy of appeasement that allowed German territorial annexations in 1938
Joachim von Ribbentrop - German foreign minister; signed German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact
Vyacheslav Molotov - Soviet foreign minister; signed German-Soviet