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1918

November

11
- Key eventThe Armistice of 11 November 1918Early on 11 November 1918, in Foch’s carriage in the Forest of Compiègne, Germany signed an armistice with the Entente. At 11 a.m. the guns fell silent.

1919

January

18
- The Paris Peace Conference opensOn 18 January 1919, at the French Foreign Ministry on the Quai d'Orsay, President Poincaré opened the peace conference. The defeated and Russia were absent.

1923

January

11
- The occupation of the RuhrOn 11 January 1923 French and Belgian troops marched into the Ruhr to force Germany to pay reparations. Berlin responded with passive resistance.

1924

August

1925

December

01
- Key eventThe Locarno TreatiesOn 1 December 1925 the Locarno agreements were signed in London. Germany recognised its borders with France and Belgium, but not with Poland or Czechoslovakia.

1926

September

08
- Germany joins the League of NationsOn 8 September 1926 the League of Nations Assembly admitted Germany with a permanent seat on the Council – the crowning of Stresemann’s Locarno policy.

1928

August

27
- The Kellogg–Briand PactOn 27 August 1928 fifteen states signed a treaty in Paris renouncing war as an instrument of national policy. It provided for no sanctions of any kind.

1930

June

30
- The end of the occupation of the RhinelandOn 30 June 1930 the last French troops left the Mainz zone. The occupation of the Rhineland ended five years before the date set at Versailles.

1931

May

19
- The launch of the DeutschlandOn 19 May 1931 the Deutschland, Germany's first large warship since Versailles, was launched at Kiel – 10,000 tons on paper, with unexpectedly heavy guns.

1934

September

18
- The USSR joins the League of NationsOn 18 September 1934 the League Assembly admitted the USSR and gave it a permanent Council seat. Moscow was betting on collective security against Hitler.

October

09
- The Marseille assassinationOn 9 October 1934 in Marseille a Macedonian gunman working with the Ustaše shot King Alexander I of Yugoslavia. Foreign Minister Louis Barthou also died.

1935

January

13
- The Saar plebisciteOn 13 January 1935 over 90 per cent of Saar voters chose a return to Germany. On 1 March the territory rejoined the Reich as Hitler's first acquisition.

1936

March

07
- Key eventThe remilitarisation of the RhinelandOn 7 March 1936 the Wehrmacht entered the demilitarised Rhineland, breaking the Versailles and Locarno treaties. France and Britain did not respond with force.

1937

June

21
- The fall of Léon Blum's governmentOn 21 June 1937 Léon Blum resigned when the Senate refused him emergency financial powers. A year of Popular Front government in France was over.

October

13
- The German guarantee for BelgiumOn 13 October 1937 the Reich assured Belgium it would not violate its territory unless Belgium took up arms against Germany. In May 1940 it broke its word.

1938

November

07
- Grynszpan's attackOn 7 November 1938, at the German embassy in Paris, 17-year-old Herschel Grynszpan shot the diplomat Ernst vom Rath to avenge his family’s expulsion to Zbąszyń.

1939

April

17
- The Soviet proposal of an alliance with Britain and FranceOn 17 April 1939 Litvinov proposed to London and Paris a tripartite alliance against aggression. The talks dragged on until August and ended in failure.

August

25
- Key eventThe Anglo-Polish allianceOn 25 August 1939 Raczyński and Halifax signed a mutual assistance agreement in London. A secret protocol stated that the “European Power” meant Germany.

September

October

November

1940

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

November

12
- The Free French take GabonThe surrender of Port-Gentil on 12 November 1940 ended the Gabon campaign. The Free French had taken Vichy's last colony in French Equatorial Africa.

1941

May

27
- The miners’ strike in Nord-Pas-de-CalaisOn 27 May 1941 a strike began at the Dourges mine that spread to over 100,000 miners in northern France. The Germans replied with arrests and deportations.

October

20
- The assassination of Karl HotzOn 20 October 1941 communists shot Lieutenant Colonel Karl Hotz in Nantes. Two days later the Germans executed 48 hostages, 27 of them at Châteaubriant.

1942

March

May

27
- The Star of David in Belgium and FranceOn 27 May 1942 the German military administration in Belgium, and on 29 May in occupied France, ordered Jews aged six and over to wear a yellow Star of David.

June

10
- The defence of Bir HakeimOn the night of 10–11 June 1942, after two weeks defending Bir Hakeim, General Koenig's 1st Free French Brigade broke out of encirclement to the British lines.

July

16
- Key eventThe Vel d'Hiv round-upOn 16–17 July 1942 French police arrested 13,152 Jews in Paris, over 4,000 of them children. Families were held for five days at the Vel d'Hiv velodrome.

August

November

30
- The Free French on RéunionOn 28 November 1942 the destroyer Léopard landed Free French at Saint-Denis. On 30 November the Vichy governor surrendered Réunion without further fighting.

December

07
- Operation FranktonOn 7 December 1942 HMS Tuna launched five Royal Marines canoes off the Gironde. On the night of 11–12 December two crews mined ships in Bordeaux.

1943

May

15
- The founding of the National Council of the ResistanceOn 15 May 1943 London announced the National Council of the Resistance, in which Jean Moulin united underground movements, unions and parties under de Gaulle.

June

04
- The French Committee of National LiberationOn 3 June 1943 de Gaulle and Giraud set up the French Committee of National Liberation in Algiers – a joint authority for fighting France with two chairmen.

September

19
- The Germans leave Sardinia and CorsicaBy 19 September 1943 the Germans had withdrawn from Sardinia to Corsica, where Italians, partisans and Giraud's troops attacked them. They left on 4 October.

October

04
- The liberation of CorsicaOn 4 October 1943 French goumiers entered Bastia, abandoned by the Germans. Corsica became the first liberated département of France.

November

09
- De Gaulle becomes sole President of the CFLNOn 9 November 1943 de Gaulle reshaped the Committee of National Liberation. Giraud left it, remaining only Commander-in-Chief of the French army.

December

12
- Rommel and the Atlantic WallIn mid-December 1943 Rommel, appointed by Hitler to inspect the coastal defences, finished touring Denmark and began inspecting the Atlantic Wall in France.

1944

January

30
- The Brazzaville ConferenceOn 30 January 1944 de Gaulle opened a conference on the future of French Africa at Brazzaville. It promised reform but rejected even distant self-government.

February

14
- SHAEF and the Overlord planOn 12 February 1944 the Allied chiefs of staff gave Eisenhower his directive for invading Europe; on 13–14 February his headquarters, SHAEF, was set up.

March

15
- The programme of the National Council of the ResistanceOn 15 March 1944 the National Council of the Resistance adopted a programme of struggle and reform – a purge, nationalisation and universal social security.

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

23
- The recognition of de Gaulle's governmentOn 23 October 1944 the USA, Britain, the USSR and Canada formally recognised de Gaulle's administration as the Provisional Government of the French Republic.

November

1945

January

February

March

09
- The Japanese coup in IndochinaOn 9 March 1945 the Japanese overthrew the French administration of Indochina and disarmed its army. On 11 March Emperor Bảo Đại proclaimed Vietnam independent.

May

August

19
- The August Revolution in HanoiOn 19 August 1945, after a mass rally in Hanoi, the Việt Minh took the city without a fight. The Japanese stood aside as Bảo Đại’s government collapsed.

September

02
- The Vietnamese Declaration of IndependenceOn 2 September 1945, in Ba Đình Square in Hanoi, Hồ Chí Minh proclaimed the independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, quoting the US Declaration.