In 2009 Fiji was fully suspended from the Commonwealth.
In 1969 Colonel Muammar Gaddafi ‘s ‘Free Unionist Officers’ overthrew King Idris, while the king was receiving medical treatment in Turkey, in a bloodless coup on the 1st of September 1969. Gaddafi became Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces and chairman of the “Free Unionist Council”. Publically he left civilian ministers in charge however these ministers had to consult with Gaddafi’s Free Unionist Council and therefore Gaddafi had ultimate control of the country. A few months later on the 16th of January 1970 Gaddafi ended the charade and took direct control of Libya as “Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council”, “Prime Minister of Libya” and “Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution of Libya”. Gaddafi remained leader of Libya, but changing his title on several occasions, until an uprising of the Libyan people led to his assassination on the 20th of October 2011.
In 1962 the Russian Verena 2MV-1 No.2 (dubbed Sputnik 20 by the US) launched. It failed to break Earth orbit and complete its mission to land on Venus.
In 1939 Germany invaded Poland.
Five German armies totalling 1.5 million troops advance on Poland on several fronts while their planes attack from the air bombing cities including the capital of Warsaw. This undeclared act of war without provocation angered the world while England and France prepared for war with Germany in response.
In February 1938 the Austrian Chancellor Dr. Kurt von Schuschnigg met with German leader, Hitler to re-assert Austria’s sovereignty. In the meeting Hitler bullied the Austrian chancellor into allowing Nazi officers fill high positions in the Austrian government threatening that if he didn’t comply then German forces would march in and take the country by force. Dr Schuschnigg attempted to hold a referendum in the country on the 9th of March, but before the vote could be taken Hitler pressured the chancellor into resigning and on the 12th of March 1938 Hitler rolled into Austria with his troops and officially annexed the country for Nazi Germany.
Hitler had wanted to take Czechoslovakia for a long time but he had been warned by his generals that the natural defences and strong army made it almost unconquerable. The natural defences they referred to was the mountains in the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia which made a virtually impenetrable barrier between Germany and Czechoslovakia. There were even plots in place to assassinate Hitler if he attempted such a foolish act, but the largest powers of Europe would soon make a massive mistake. After Hitler had taken Austria, with no real effort, the powers of Europe were eager to stop Hitler’s advance. In September 1938 British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlin met with Hitler at his Mountain top retreat. Hitler said he would invade and occupy Czechoslovakia unless Britain supported his plans to take the Czech region of Sudetenland (Sudetenland was full of German descendants and German loyalists and Hitler claimed he just wanted to unite the German people). Chamberlin discussed the situation with French leader, Edouard Daladier, and they met with Hitler on the 29th of September 1938 to sign the Munich Agreement. This Agreement said that Britain and France would support Germany’s take over of Sudetenland on the understanding that Germany makes no more attempts of expanding its borders. Predictably once Hitler had Sudetenland he continued the invasion into Czechoslovakia. Hitler also pressured the Czechoslovakia into giving Independence to Slovakia, leaving the rest (now the Czech Republic) even more defenceless. On the 15th of March 1939 Hitler’s forces invaded Czechoslovakia and by the evening Hitler made his ‘Triumphant’ entrance into the capital city of Prague. Chamberlin realised his blunder in trusting diplomacy with a man like Hitler and he now knew there would be little he could do to prevent war with such a man.
On the 31st of March 1939 Britain and France pledged their support for Poland in the event that the country was invaded. The declaration was made to Poland in the event of an invasion by any force but had been drawn up with Hitler specifically in mind. On 26th of August the ‘Polish-British Common Defence Act’ (or the Anglo-English military alliance) was signed which pushed back Hitler’s planned invasion date. But it didn’t deter Hitler entirely and on the 1st of September 1939 he invaded Poland. In response Britain and France declared War on Germany, on the 3rd of September 1939.
