In the early part of the 20th century, Great Britain had an empire of countries throughout the world which it had colonised.  These included parts of South Africa, India, Australia and many smaller countries and islands all around the globe.

British soldiers were sent to these countries to keep order.  People from Britain often went to live there to help rule these countries in the name of our Queen Victoria.  After the Queen died in 1901, it was her son - King Edward VII (the Seventh) who ruled them until he also died in 1910.  After 1910, Edward's son, King George V (the Fifth) came to the throne.

Other countries in Europe were jealous of the power which Britain had, and wished to be as successful at expanding their own empires to make themselves larger.  Germany was one such country.

In 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the ruler of Austria, was murdered when he was visiting part of the Austrian Empire known as Bosnia. 

Europe quickly became a very disorganised and unfriendly place as many countries blamed each other for the arguments which broke out between neighbours.

Germany was the first country to make a move, and it quickly started sending its soldiers to invade neighbouring countries around it in order to create a larger German empire. 

This was the start of World War One, and it lasted for four years until 1918 when Britain and her Allies fought the Germans back through France and defeated them.  Many millions of people died on both sides. 

After World War One had finished, some parts of what had been Germany were given to countries such as Poland and Czechoslovakia as punishment to the Germans.  Meanwhile, Germany was forced to pay for all the damage which it had caused to European cities, towns and villages in the war, many of which had been smashed to rubble in all the fighting. 

The Germans were very angry that they should be punished in such a way, as it meant their country and its people would remain poor for many years to come. 

Germany was also forced to sign the "Treaty of Versailles".  This was a document, signed in the French palace called Versailles, where they promised they would not rebuild their army, airforce or navy or develop new weapons.  This was to prevent them from ever waging war on their neighbours again.

Through the 1920s and 1930s, resentment slowly grew until the people of Germany found a new political leader who thought that Germany had the right to be as mighty and as powerful as it wanted, and that nobody should tell them what they could or could not do.