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WWI Ends
The end of WWI was due to the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in Paris and Germany’s official relentment. This date marked the beginning of the post-war international Great Depression that would later intice the world’s second war. -
Treaty of Versailles
Signed in June of 1919, this treaty sought to end conflict worldwide and ratify peace in addition to punish Germany and force them to pay reparations. Negotiating this treaty took six months and is often thought to cause WW2 because of its harsh punishments towards the Central powers. -
League of Nations Founded
Following WWI and within the Treaty of Versailles, the League of Nations was established in which nations could dispute about international affairs. This was the first international organization that failed due to the inability of the organization to maintain structure. -
US Stock Market Crash
Currently known as Black Tuesday, the most devastating crash of the stock market occured in October of 1929 in which 16 million shares were traded. This event wiped out thousands of investors and triggered the Great Depression, putting most if not all nations into troublesome economic situations. -
Japan Invades Manchuria
The attack of Chinese Manchuria was the Japanese attempt to seize control of the entire province with the mindset of futuristically gaining control of East Asia. The Japanese did not want to blatantly attack China, as this would cause pessimistic opinions to rise about the Japanese, so they bombed a few bridges in Manchuria and made it seem like it was an incident that did not involve the Japanese. -
Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany
In March of 1936, German troops went against the Treaty of Versailles when they marched into the Rhineland and occupied it. This led to further confusion, and further ratifications of other treaties as well as putting Germany in a vantage point to the extent that they were easily able to occupy nations and areas of land such as Austria, the Sudetenland, and Czechoslovakia. -
German Occupation of the Rhineland
In March of 1936, German troops went against the Treaty of Versailles when they marched into the Rhineland and occupied it. This led to further confusion, and further ratifications of other treaties as well as it putting Germany in a vantage point to the extent that they were easily able to occupy nations and areas of land such as Austria, the Sudetenland, and Czechoslovakia. -
Rome-Berlin Axis
This coalition formed in October of 1936 informally linked the German and Italian governments and created an alliance between the two fascist states. This coalition became official in the Pact of Steel in 1939. -
Rape of Nanking
In December of 1937, the Japanese army invaded Nanking, China and raped and murdered 300,000 civilians, 50% of the population, for six weeks. This event was was one of the worst atrocities in that occured in WWII before, during, and after. -
Munich Conference
In September of 1938, Germany was permitted by Neville Chamberlain, Édouard Daladier, Benito Mussolini, and Galeazzo Ciano to invade the Sudetenland due to the Munich Conference. This event eventually led to Germany’s Invasion of Poland. -
Nazi-Soviet Pact
In April 1939, Russia and Germany made an agreement to not go to war with each other and to split Poland evenly between the two. What was surprising about this event was that Russia broke from the pact it made with Britain and France in April in order to side with Germany. -
German Invasion of Poland
In September of 1939, Hitler breaks the Non Aggression Pact signed in 1934 and invades Poland in conjunction of the familiar policy at the time of appeasement. It was the first military engagement of WWII and by taking over Poland, Hitler gained valuable land. -
Great Britain and France Declare War
Because of German disapproval to withdraw troops from Poland, both Britain and France declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939. This officially begins the war, as there are two opposing sides. -
Winter War
Because Joseph Stalin wanted to spread his power throughout Eastern Europe, he issued a large number of ultimatums with Finland that failed, leading to a 3 month-long war ending in a undeserved Russian victory. This event was important because it gave Hitler the wrong impression about Russia thinking that Germany was capable of invading it. -
Atlantic Charter
The United States and Great Britain in August of 1941 created a declaration that made new visions for the post-war that 26 different allies approved of. The declaration of the Atlantic Charter was important because it marked the beginning of the formation of the United Nations. -
Pearl Harbor Attack
The Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 resulted in 2,403 deaths and the end of the U.S.’s neutrality act. Because of the attack, the U.S. had no other choice but to join WWII by declaring war on Japan. -
Battle of the Midway
In June 1942, the turning point in the Pacific War occured, in which US Admirals attacked and defeated the Japanese fleet near the Midway Islands. American cryptographers were able to determine the location and time of this attack, thus putting the Japanese at a disadvantage and allowing the Americans to dominate. After this point, the Japanese were weak in men and material. -
Battle of Stalingrad
With the title of the Bloodiest Battle in History, the Battle of Stalingrad was the USSR’s successful defense of its territory from Germany and Hitler’s desire to control the oil fields. This battle is significant because it gave Stalin confidence and ridiculed Hitler into not trusting his generals. -
Invasion of Sicily
Also known as the Operation Husky, this month long invasion of Sicily involved the Allies taking the island of Sicily from the Axis powers. This invasion opened the way for the Allied invasion of Italy. -
Tehran Conference
This meeting included the U.S.’s Franklin Roosevelt, Britain’s Winston Churchill, and Soviet Joseph Stalin to discuss opening a second front in western Europe and invade German-occupied France. This meeting was the first time the “Big Three” met to discuss specifics during WWII. -
Normandy Invasion
The Normandy Invasion, also known as Operation Overlord, was an Allied invasion of western Europe that began on June 6, 1944 and ended in July of 1944, and is often considered a major turning point in the war. In this invasion, U.S., British, and Canadian forces on five separate beachheads in Normandy, France, and were successfully able to infiltrate German occupied France. -
Battle of the Bulge
In December of 1944, Hitler's army tried to split the Allied armies in northwest Europe, which would be done using their infamous blitzkrieg method to pass from Ardennes to Antwerp. Even though the Allied forces were caught extremely off guard, this was incredibly weak, in the end, the Germans did not succeed in pushing back the Allied forces, resulting in an Allied victory. -
Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference was a second wartime meeting of Churchill, Stalin, and FDR, in February of 1945. They decided to demand Germany surrender and began plans for after the war. -
Germany Surrenders (WWII)
The end to European conflict in World War II was instigated on May 7, 1945 when the Germans surrendered. The next day was known as VE Day or Victory in Europe Day as Nazism no longer existed on a large scale worldwide. -
Nuclear Bomb dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki
Germany had already surrendered, but Japan had not, so the US dropped two nuclear bombs in Hiroshima, on August 6, 1945, and Nagasaki, on August 9, 1945. After the dropping of the bombs, Hirohito, the Japanese Emperor, surrendered. -
Japanese Surrender
The Japanese Surrender, which occurred on September 8, 1945, brought all the hostilities of the second war to an end. This allowed for the peace talks to occur, which determined that the Japanese would have to take blame for war atrocities they committed.
