World War II

The Holocaust and the “final solution” were the culmination of nearly a decade of German antisemitic policy. As the fascist Nazi party consolidated its power in Germany, the Jewish people saw their civil liberties restricted by the Nuremberg Laws and faced brutality by Germans during Kristallnacht. Other developments in the interwar years, such as Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement and the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact (also known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact), allowed Hitler to seize territory quickly and without interference. By 1940, the Nazis had conquered France and established the Vichy government. In both of these invasions, Hitler utilized the Blitzkrieg tactic. Other notable developments of the era include decolonization, one of the greatest legacies of World War II.