Chronology of Canadian Military History Canadian Military History, Colonial Period, New France, First Peoples, Seven Years War, French Indian War Canadian Military History, British North America, American Invasion, War of 1812, Dominion of Canada, Riel Rebellion, South African War Canadian Military History, World War 1 History, 1914-1918, Canadian Armed Forces, conscription Canadian Military History, World War 2, 1939-1945, Battle of the Atlantic, conscription, invasion, Dday, Normandy, Germany, axis, allies, Hong Kong, Dieppe 1946-today
Canada and the 
Second World War
The World Crisis
Canada goes to War
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The Battle of the Atlantic
Canada's War at sea
The War comes to Canada
The Battle for Hong Kong
Disaster at Dieppe
The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan
Bomber Command
The Royal Canadian Air Force
The Home Front
Conscription
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Canada at D-Day
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Liberating Northwest Europe
Victory
The War against Japan
Forced Relocation: the Japanese-Canadian Story
Going Home
Counting the Cost
A Nation Transformed

THE WORLD CRISIS

1931-1939

In the 1930s, several international crises led to world war.

Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power in Germany in 1933 and quickly established a ruthless dictatorship. Germany seized Austria in 1938, and occupied Czechoslovakia in 1938-39. Italy, another dictatorship, attacked Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1935 and occupied Albania in 1939. After invading Manchuria in 1931, Japan attacked China in 1937. Britain and France appeased these brutal regimes in an effort to avoid another world war – a policy supported by most Canadians.

The Nazis’ military aggression led directly to the Second World War. In August 1939, Germany insisted on territorial concessions from Poland. Finally abandoning ‘appeasement’, Britain and France pledged to assist the Poles and stop Hitler. On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland and, two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany. The Second World War had begun.

Second World War


THE WORLD CRISIS, 1931, 1939, Hitler, Nazi, World War 2
NAC-c- 16812


Canadian War Museum
1 Vimy Place
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0M8
1-800-555-5621