what nation did hitler lead?
Germany
entailment
 Hitler sent air and armoured units to assist General Francisco Franco and his Nationalist forces in the Spanish Civil War , which broke out in July 1936 . The Soviet Union sent a smaller force to assist the Republican government . Franco 's Nationalists were victorious in 1939 and became an informal ally of Nazi Germany . 

entailment
 Hitler defied the Versailles and Locarno treaties by remilitarising the Rhineland in March 1936 . He encountered little opposition from other European powers . In October 1936 , Germany and Italy formed the Rome – Berlin Axis . A month later , Germany and Japan signed the Anti @-@ Comintern Pact , which Italy would join in the following year . 

entailment
 The Nazi Party won the special federal election of 1932 . After a series of unsuccessful cabinets , Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany in 1933 . After the Reichstag fire , a decree abrogated basic civil rights and within weeks the first Nazi concentration camp at Dachau opened . The Enabling Act of 1933 gave Hitler unrestricted legislative power ; subsequently , his government established a centralised totalitarian state , withdrew from the League of Nations following a national referendum , and began military rearmament . 

neutral
 German Supreme commander : Adolf Hitler 

entailment
 Hitler began a military build @-@ up on Germany 's western border , and in April 1940 , German forces invaded Denmark and Norway . On 9 April , Hitler proclaimed the birth of the Greater Germanic Reich , his vision of a united empire of the Germanic nations of Europe , where the Dutch , Flemish , and Scandinavians were joined into a " racially pure " polity under German leadership . In May 1940 , Germany attacked France , and conquered Luxembourg , the Netherlands , and Belgium . These victories prompted Mussolini to have Italy join forces with Hitler on 10 June . France and Germany signed an armistice on 22 June . Kershaw notes that Hitler 's popularity within Germany – and German support for the war – reached its peak when he returned to Berlin on 6 July from his tour of Paris . Following the unexpected swift victory , Hitler promoted twelve generals to the rank of field marshal during the 1940 Field Marshal Ceremony . 
