Weimar Republic, Nazi Dictatorship and Second World War (1919 - 1945)

Dates

1919
Movement for an autonomous Rhineland under the leadership of Konrad Adenauer (from 1st Feb.)

Weimar constitution comes into force (from 14th Aug.)

1920
Treaty of Versailles: cession of Eupen, Malmedy and Moresnet to Belgium (10th Jan.)

Foundation of the "Rhenish People's Union" in Koblenz (22nd Jan.)

Kapp-Putsch: radical right-wing revolt against Reich government in Berlin (13th -17th  Mar.)

Call for a general strike followed by left-wing parties and trades unions (from 13th Mar.)

Ruhr uprising: radical left-wing workers' groups fight against the Reich government (14th  Mar.-6th Apr.)

1923
Occupation of the Ruhr region by French and Belgian soldiers (11th Jan.)

"Passive resistance" supported by all parties against occupying forces (13th Jan.-26th Sep.)

Withdrawal of American troops from the Rhineland in protest against the actions of  France and Belgium (18th Feb.)

Escalation of separatism: fighting for Rhenish independence (Sept.-Nov.)

Hyperinflation ends with currency reform: 1 rentenmark = 1 billion goldmarks (15th Nov.)

1933
Adolf Hitler appointed as Reich Chancellor: beginning of the National Socialist tyranny by  "legal" means (30th Jan.)

Construction of the first concentration camp in the Rhineland (from July)

1934
Theological declaration of the Protestant "Confessional Church" in Barmen (29th -31st May)

1936
Remilitarisation of the Rhineland by Germany, breaking the Treaty of Versailles (1919) and the Treaty of Locarno (1925) (7th Mar.)

1938
Corporate reception by the Rhenish administrative districts: Hitler's appearance with Rhenish NSDAP celebrities in Gürzenich, Cologne (28th Mar.)

"Reich Crystal Night": state-directed outbreaks of violence against Jews (9th -10th Nov.)

1939
Beginning of the Second World War with the German attack on Poland (1st Sep.)

1940
Mönchengladbach is the first German town on which an Allied air-raid is carried out (11th -12th May)

1944
Aachen is the first German city to be occupied by the Allies (21st Oct.)

1945
Capitulation by the German armed forces (Wehrmacht) in Berlin-Karlshorst; armistice (8th -9th May)

Arrest of Karl Dönitz and the "government" near Flensburg; end of the Nazi régime (23rd May)