-
Mussolini’s March on Rome
March on Rome, the insurrection by which Benito Mussolini came to power in Italy in late October 1922. The March marked the beginning of fascist rule and meant the doom of the preceding parliamentary regimes of socialists and liberals. The outcome of the march was Mussolini formed a new government for Italy with this march. -
Stalin becomes dictator of USSR
Stalin gained power in the USSR by using his position as party general secretary to gain control of the Communist Party and kept it by ousting his opponents, including the original Bolshevik elites that first installed communism in Russia. Stalin assumed leadership over the country following Lenin's death in 1924. Stalin industrialized the USSR and he helped to defeat Germany in 1941–45, and extended Soviet controls to include a belt of eastern European states. -
Hitler writes Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf is a 1925 autobiographical manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. The work describes the process by which Hitler became antisemitic and outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germany. Mein Kampf is a 1925 autobiographical manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. Mein Kampf promoted the key components of Nazism: rabid antisemitism, a racist world view, and an aggressive foreign policy geared to gaining Lebensraum (living space) in eastern Europe -
1st “five year plan” in USSR
In 1924 the first five-year plan of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a list of economic goals, created by Communist Party General Secretary Joseph Stalin, based on his policy of socialism in one country. This was not published until 1928. -
Japan invades Manchuria
Seeking raw materials to fuel its growing industries, Japan invaded the Chinese province of Manchuria in 1931. This battle lasted four months and resulted in a significant defeat for the Japanese. -
Holdomor Begins
The Holodomor, also known as the Terror-Famine or the Great Famine, was a man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians. The Holodomor was part of the wider Soviet famine of 1930–1933 which affected the major grain-producing areas of the Soviet Union. -
Hitler appointed chancellor of Germany
On January 30, 1933, President Paul von Hindenburg names Adolf Hitler, leader or führer of the National Socialist German Workers Party (or Nazi Party), as chancellor of Germany. -
“Night of the Long Knives” in Germany
This event took place on June 30th 1934. It was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from 30 June to 2 July 1934. The Night of the Long Knives represented a triumph for Hitler, and a turning point for the German government. It established Hitler as "the supreme leader of the German people", as he put it in his 13 July speech to the Reichstag. -
Italian invasion of Ethiopia
The Second Italo-Ethiopian War, also referred to as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, was a war of aggression which was fought between Italy and Ethiopia from October 1935 to February 1937. In Ethiopia it is often referred to simply as the Italian Invasion, and in Italy as the Ethiopian War. -
Nuremburg Laws enacted
The Nuremberg Laws were antisemitic and racist laws that were enacted in Nazi Germany on 15 September 1935, at a special meeting of the Reichstag convened during the annual Nuremberg Rally of the Nazi Party. They believed in the false theory that the world is divided into distinct races that are not equally strong and valuable. The Nazis considered Germans to be members of the supposedly superior “Aryan” race. They saw the so-called Aryan German race as the strongest, and most valuable race. -
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War was a civil war in Spain fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republicans and the Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the left-leaning Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic, and consisted of various socialist, communist, separatist, anarchist, and republican parties, some of which had opposed the government in the pre-war period. -
Anti-Comintern Pact
The Anti-Comintern Pact was an agreement between Germany, Italy and Japan, that they would work together to stop the spread of Communism around the globe. This was aimed squarely at the USSR. Germany and Italy had worked well during the Spanish Civil War and had brought about a fascist victory over communism. This was signed on November 25th in 1936. -
The Rape of Nanking
In what became known as the “Rape of Nanking,” the Japanese butchered an estimated 150,000 male “war prisoners,” massacred an additional 50,000 male civilians, and raped at least 20,000 women and girls of all ages, many of whom were mutilated or killed in the process. Japan was also in a war with China called the Sino-Japanese War. The people who were executed were Chineese and China was an Allied Power. -
The Great Purge begins
The Great Purge or the Great Terror also known as the Year of '37 and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Yezhov'),was Soviet General Secretary Joseph Stalin's campaign to solidify his power over the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the state; the purges were also designed to remove the remaining influence of Leon Trotsky as well as other prominent political rivals within the party. It occurred from August 1936 to March 1938. -
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht was also referred to as the Night of Broken Glass. The violence was supposed to look like an unplanned outburst of popular anger against Jews. In reality, Kristallnacht was state-sponsored vandalism and arson. Nazi leaders actively coordinated it with Adolf Hitler's support. On the night of November 9, Nazi leaders ordered members of the Nazi Party’s paramilitaries (the SS, the SA, and the Hitler Youth) to attack Jewish communities.