1
Story
The First World War
Start with the war that shattered empires and left Europe searching for a new order.
History Explorer
Premium60 min6 steps
The Road to World War II
Follow the chain from World War I and Versailles to democratic collapse, dictatorship and the crisis that brought war in 1939.
This curated path is a Premium route.
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Guided Route
Start here
New to the topic? Start with the essentials. Already know the broad story? Follow the route for the turning points, context and consequences that make each step matter.
60 min
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2
Story
The Treaty of Versailles
See how peace became a source of grievance, instability and political weaponry.
3
Story
Weimar Republic
Follow Germany's first democracy through defeat, crisis and fragile legitimacy.
4
Story
The Rise of Adolf Hitler
Understand how extremist politics, economic collapse and elite misjudgement opened the door.
5
Story
Nazi Germany
Examine dictatorship, propaganda, repression and ideology as Germany prepared for expansion.
6
Story
The Causes of the Second World War
Bring the causes together: rearmament, appeasement, fascist expansion and failed collective security.
Featured figures
Start with these figure pages to follow the people, rulers and decision-makers behind the route.
FigureGerman field marshal and Weimar Republic president
Paul von Hindenburg
He became Germany's aged symbol of military honour, helped shield the army from blame for defeat, governed Weimar by emergency decree, and appointed Adolf Hitler chancellor in the fatal belief that conservatives could contain him.
FigureGerman dictator
Adolf Hitler
He transformed a fringe extremist movement into a dictatorship, launched the Second World War in Europe, and drove the Nazi regime's campaign of racial persecution and genocide.
FigureItalian dictator
Benito Mussolini
He turned postwar anger into fascism, dismantled Italy's democracy, built a dictatorship around spectacle and violence, and dragged the country into ruin beside Hitler.
FigureBritish Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain
He tried to spare Britain another world war through negotiation with Adolf Hitler, won cheers after Munich, then saw appeasement collapse when Germany invaded Poland and wartime confidence pass to Winston Churchill.
All figures in this path
A compact index for the wider cast connected to these stories.
20 figures
Paul von Hindenburg
German field marshal and Weimar Republic president
1847–1934
Adolf Hitler
German dictator
1889–1945
Benito Mussolini
Italian dictator
1883–1945
Neville Chamberlain
British Prime Minister
1869–1940
Franz Ferdinand
Heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne
1863–1914
Gavrilo Princip
Bosnian Serb nationalist
1894–1918
Kaiser Wilhelm II
Last German Kaiser
1859–1941
David Lloyd George
Liberal Prime Minister
1863–1945
