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Timeline: the rise and fall of the Third Reich

Timeline: the rise and fall of the Third Reich

Historian Roger Moorhouse charts the rise and fall of Nazi Germany, from the end of the First World War to the Third Reich's collapse in 1945

Adolf Hitler – at the time chancellor of Austria – is saluted by the crowds as he makes his way to the great parade of troops in Vienna, Austria, March 1938. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Roger Moorhouse

Published: January 27, 2025 at 4:45 PM

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1918-1919: The end of the First World War and the birth of the Weimar Republic

9 November 1918: The German monarchy collapses as Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates and a new republic is established under the leadership of Friedrich Ebert, leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).
11 November 1918: Germany signs an armistice, effectively ending World War I.
January 1919: The constitution of the new German republic is drafted, establishing a democratic parliamentary system, under a presidency. However, the new republic faces immediate challenges from extremist movements on both the left and right-wings, and due to unrest in Berlin, the constituent assembly for the new republic was held in the city of Weimar – thereby giving it its name.

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1919-1923: The Weimar Republic and economic instability

January 1919: The German Workers' Party (DAP), is established in Munich by railway worker Anton Drexler. It would be the precursor to the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP), later known as the Nazi Party.
June 1919: The Treaty of Versailles is signed, officially ending the war. It imposes harsh terms on Germany, including reparations, territorial losses and a controversial “war guilt” clause, fostering widespread resentment among the German populace.
September 1919: Adolf Hitler joins the DAP after attending a party meeting.
February 1920: Under Hitler’s growing influence, the NSDAP presents its manifesto – the “25-Point Program” - which includes demands for the abolition of the Treaty of Versailles, the expansion of Germany’s territory, and the establishment of an authoritarian regime.
July 1921: Hitler assumes leadership of the NSDAP, becoming its most prominent figure.
Autumn 1923: Hyperinflation, resulting from the printing of money to finance the war, begins to seriously undermine the German economy, leading to widespread poverty and social unrest. The Weimar Republic struggles to manage these economic challenges, and extremists on both right and left, including the Nazi Party, gain increasing political traction.
8-9 November, 1923: The Beer Hall Putsch, led by Hitler and other Nazi leaders, attempts to overthrow the Weimar government. The coup fails, twenty people are killed, and Hitler is arrested and arraigned for high treason.

1924-1929: The rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party

February/March 1924: Hitler's trial takes place in Munich. He seizes the moment and uses it as an opportunity to spread his message. As a result, he emerges for the first time as a national political figure. He was sentenced to five years imprisonment.
1924: While in prison, in Landsberg, Hitler writes Mein Kampf, in which he outlines his ideological views, including the need for German expansion (Lebensraum) and the superiority of the Aryan race.
December 1924: Thanks to a sympathetic prison administration, Hitler is released from prison after less than 9 months. With that, the Nazi Party begins to rebuild its political influence.
1925: Thanks to economic restructuring and political stabilisation, the Weimar Republic begins to flourish. The extremist parties lose their support.
1927: The ban on Hitler making public speeches, which had been in place in most of the country since 1925, is finally lifted.
May 1928: In Reichstag (German parliament) elections, the Nazi Party gains only 2.6% of the national vote, confirming Hitler’s position of obscurity on the fringes of German political life.
October 1929: The Wall Street Crash triggers the Great Depression, which devastates the global economy, pulling the plug on Germany’s fragile economic recovery. Unemployment rises sharply, leading to widespread discontent with the Weimar Republic and a resurgence of political unrest from both extremes.

1930-1933: The Nazis gain power

1930: The Nazi Party, under Hitler’s leadership, begins to gain significant support, particularly among the working class and rural populations disillusioned with the Weimar Republic’s inability to address the economic crisis.
March/April 1932: Hitler runs for president but loses to Paul von Hindenburg, the incumbent.
July 1932: The Nazis become the largest party in the Reichstag, with more than 37% of the vote, but they fail to win an outright majority.
Autumn 1932: A series of minority governments find themselves unable to govern effectively given the ongoing economic crisis and the political chaos in the Reichstag.
January 30, 1933: Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany by President Hindenburg, after political manoeuvring and backroom deals among conservative elites, who believe they can control him.

1933-1938: Establishing the totalitarian state

27 February 1933: The Reichstag Fire occurs, and the Nazis use it as a pretext to pass the Reichstag Fire Decree, which suspends civil liberties and allows for the arrest of political opponents.
March 23, 1933: The Enabling Act is passed, granting Hitler dictatorial powers. The act allows Hitler to legislate without the Reichstag’s approval, effectively ending democracy in Germany and establishing a one-party state.
March 1933: Nazi Germany’s first concentration camp for political opponents is opened, at Dachau, near Munich. The camp, alongside others, is used by the Nazis to consolidate their power by eliminating political rivals, including Communists and Socialists.
June 30, 1934: The Night of the Long Knives – a violent purge of the Nazi SA (Sturmabteilung) at the hands of the SS (Schutzstaffel) – further consolidates Hitler’s power and allows him to eliminate all those he considered oppositional. The death toll is estimated at around 150.
January 13, 1935: A referendum on the status of the Saarland returns a vote of more than 90% for the province returning to German rule, after 15 years of League of Nations administration. It is another proof of Hitler’s growing popularity.
September 15, 1935: The Nuremberg Laws are enacted, stripping Jews of their German citizenship and forbidding mixed marriages. Racial discrimination is enshrined in German law.
7 March 1936: Hitler remilitarizes the Rhineland, violating the Treaty of Versailles, but faces no military response from France or Britain. This bold move boosts his popularity and strengthens his hold on power.
August 1936: The Olympic Games are held in Berlin further cementing Hitler’s domestic popularity and enhancing his international prestige.
12 March 1938: The Anschluss, or annexation of Austria, occurs after German forces march, unopposed, into the country. The annexation is confirmed the following month, in a spurious referendum.
30 September 1938: Hitler’s sabre-rattling forces the Munich Agreement, which forces Czechoslovakia to cede the Sudetenland region to Nazi Germany, under the guise of protecting ethnic Germans from persecution.
9-10 November 1938: Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass) occurs, in which Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues across Germany are violently attacked. Thousands of Jews are arrested, beaten and consigned to the concentration camps, marking a significant escalation of anti-Semitic persecution.

1939: The outbreak of the Second World War

23 August 1939: The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact is signed between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, effectively dividing eastern Europe between the two and ensuring that Germany will not face a two-front war when it invades Poland.
1 September 1939: Germany invades Poland.
3 September 1939: After their ultimatums demanding that Germany halt its invasion of Poland go unanswered, Britain and France declare war on Germany.

1940-1941: The expansion of Nazi Germany

April-June 1940: Nazi Germany swiftly conquers Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. The Blitzkrieg tactics—fast-moving mechanized warfare—prove highly effective.
22 June 1941: Operation Barbarossa begins, when Germany invades the Soviet Union. Initially hugely successful, the invasion stalls as the harsh winter sets in and Soviet resistance grows.
Autumn 1941: The Einsatzgruppen, mobile killing squads, begin mass executions of Jews and other “undesirable” elements across occupied Eastern Europe. As many as 1.5 million Jews would be killed in this way.

1942-1944: The turning of the tide

October-November 1942: The Battle of El Alamein halts the German advance in the Western Desert.
8 November 1942: In Operation Torch, British and American forces land in Algeria and Morocco, marking the beginning of the end of the German campaign in North Africa.
February 1943: The Battle of Stalingrad ends, as the German Sixth Army is surrounded and forced to surrender to the Soviets, marking a major turning point in the war in favour of the Allies.
May 1943: After mounting losses in the fighting the convoys in the Atlantic, Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, commander of Germany’s U-boat fleet, withdraws his wolfpacks from the theatre, pending technological updates and reinforcements. He privately confesses that he has lost the Battle of the Atlantic.
9 July 1943: In Operation Husky, the Allies launch a successful invasion of Sicily, further weakening Germany’s military position and leading, later than month, to the fall of Hitler’s ally, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.
24 July 1943: The Allied bombing of Hamburg – Operation Gomorrah – begins. The heaviest aerial assault of the war to date, it will culminate in some 37,000 dead and a profound blow to German domestic morale.
July-August 1943: The Battle of Kursk deals a crushing blow to German ambition on the Eastern Front. German land forces would never regain the initiative.
6 June 1944: D-Day sees Allied forces land in Normandy, which will begin the liberation of France and Western Europe.
20 July 1944: Operation Valkyrie, an assassination attempt on Hitler, is carried out by German officers, led by Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg. The plot’s failure leads to a harsh internal crackdown on suspected conspirators.
25 August 1944: Allied forces liberate Paris

1945: The fall of the Third Reich

January 1945: The failure of the German Ardennes Offensive – the “Battle of the Bulge” – exhausts what remains of German reserves.
13-15 February 1945: The bombing of Dresden results in around 25,000 dead.
19 April 1945: Soviet victory in the Battle of the Seelow Heights, east of Berlin, opens the way to the German capital.
24 April 1945: Soviet forces complete the encirclement of Berlin.
25 April 1945: Advancing American and Soviet forces meet at Torgau on the Elbe, effectively cutting what remained of Hitler’s Germany in half.
30 April 1945: Hitler commits suicide in his bunker in Berlin as Soviet forces close in on the centre of the city.
2 May 1945: Berlin surrenders to the Soviets.
7-8 May 1945: Germany officially surrenders to the Allies – at Reims, on 7 May, and at Karlshorst, Berlin, the following day – thus marking the end of the war in Europe.

1945-1946: The Nuremberg Trials

20 November 1945: The Nuremberg Trials open, to prosecute key Nazi leaders for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against peace.
16 October 1946: Ten of the twelve high-ranking Nazis that were sentenced to death at Nuremberg are executed.. The two exceptions are Martin Bormann – who was sentenced in absentia (and was already dead) – and Hermann Göring, who committed suicide in his cell the night before.

Authors

Roger MoorhouseHistorian and author

Roger Moorhouse is a historian specialising in modern German and Central European history, especially Nazi Germany and Poland during WW2.