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Czar Nicholas II Became the Leader of Russia
Nicholas II, the last czar, is crowned ruler of Russia in the old Ouspensky Cathedral in Moscow. -
Russo-Japanese War began
The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over Manchuria and Korea. -
Bloody Sunday in Russia
In St Petersburg, Russia, unarmed demonstrators marching to present a petition to Tsar Nicholas II were fired upon by soldiers of the Imperial Guard. -
Sun Yixian Became President of China
First president and founding father of the Republic of China ("Nationalist China"). As the foremost pioneer of Republic of China, Sun is referred to as the "Father of the Nation" in the Republic of China (ROC), and the "forerunner of democratic revolution" in the People's Republic of China. -
Kuomintang was Created
The Kuomintang is a Chinese political party that ruled China and then moved to Taiwan. The name translates as "China's National People's Party" and was historically referred to as the Chinese Nationalists. -
Trans-Siberian Railway Built
During the first two years of the war, when the USSR was a neutral power and Germany's merchant shipping was interdicted by the Western Allies, the railway served as the essential link between Germany and Japan. -
March Revolution in Russia
Two revolutions swept through Russia, ending centuries of imperial rule and setting in motion political and social changes that would lead to the formation of the Soviet Union. -
March Revolution in Russia
In Russia, the March Revolution begins when riots and strikes over the scarcity of food erupt in Petrograd. -
Czar Nicholas II Abdicated
During the February Revolution, Czar Nicholas II, ruler of Russia since 1894, is forced to abdicate the throne by the Petrograd insurgents, and a provincial government is installed in his place. -
The Bolshevik Revolution
The October Revolution or Bolshevik Revolution, was a seizure of state power instrumental in the larger Russian Revolution of 1917. -
Russian Marxists Split into Menskeviks and Bolsheviks
Led by Bolshevik Party leader Vladimir Lenin, leftist revolutionaries launch a nearly bloodless coup d'État against Russia's ineffectual Provisional Government. -
Vladimir Lenin became Leader of Russia
Russia's people torn with the power of his persuasion and charm, Lenin took over Russia after the Russian Revolution. -
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty between the new Bolshevik government of Russia and the Central Powers, which ended Russia's participation in World War I. -
Russian Civil War Began
The Russian Civil War was between several groups in Russia. The main fighting was between two groups: the Red Army and the White Army. The Red Army was an army of communists. The White Army opposed the communists. Finally, the Red Army won this war. After this war, the communists established the Soviet Union. -
Weimar Republic Established in Germany
Federal republic and semipresidential representative democracy established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government. -
May Fourth Movement Began
Anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement growing out of student demonstrations in Beijing, protesting the Chinese government's weak response to the Treaty of Versailles, especially allowing Japan to receive territories in Shandong which had been surrendered by Germany after the Siege of Tsingtao. -
New Economic Policy Enforced in Russia
The New Economic Policy (NEP) was an economic policy of Soviet Russia proposed by Vladimir Lenin, who called it "state capitalism", represented a more capitalism-oriented economic policy, deemed necessary after the Russian Civil War of 1917 to 1922, to foster the economy of the country, which was almost ruined. -
Adolf Hitler Became Leader of the Nazi Party
Hitler was now gaining notoriety outside of the Nazi Party for his rowdy, at times hysterical tirades against the Treaty of Versailles, rival politicians and political groups, especially Marxists, and always the Jews. -
Joseph Stalin became Leader of the USSR
After Lenin's death, Stalin took over Russia, and brought in Communism, making Russia into the USSR. -
Benito Mussolini Became the Leader of Italy
Mad ean alliance with Hitler, recklessly spends all of Italy's money and creates facist dictatorship. -
Russia Becomes the USSR
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, abbreviated to USSR, or the Soviet Union, was a socialist state on the Eurasian continent that was governed as a single-party state by the Communist Party with Moscow as its capital. -
Dawes Plan Sarted
The Dawes Plan, created by Charle G. Dawes, was an attempt following World War I for the Triple Entente to compromise and collect war reparations debt from Germany. -
Jiang Jieshi Became Leader of the Kuomintang
Jiang Jieshi takes over the Kuomintang party after the former leader, Sun Yat-Sen, died on March 12, 1925. -
Adolf Hitler wrote Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf is an autobiographical manifesto by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, in which he outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germany. -
Hirohito Became the Emperor of Japan
Hirohito was the 124th Emperor of Japan according to the traditional order, reigning from December 25, 1926, until his death in 1989. -
Civil War in China Began
The Chinese Civil War was a civil war in China fought between forces loyal to the government of the Republic of China led by the Kuomintang (KMT) and forces of the Communist Party of China (CPC). -
Charles Lindbergh's Solo Flight Across the Atlantic
Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field on his successful attempt in the early morning of Friday, May 20, 1927 before landing at Le Bourget Airport at 10:22 PM (22:22) on Saturday, May 21. -
Five-Year Plan Began
The First Five-Year Plan, or 1st Five-Year Plan, of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was a list of economic goals, created by General Secretary Joseph Stalin. -
Kellogg-Briand Pact Signed
Sponsored by France and the U.S., the Pact renounced the use of war and called for the peaceful settlement of disputes. -
Stock Market Crash in the U.S.
The Wall Street Crash, also known as Black Tuesday, began in late October 1929 and was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States. -
Great Depression Began
A sudden devestating crash of stock market prices, known as Black Tuesday. -
Japan Invaded Manchuria
The Kwantung Army of the Empire of Japan invaded Manchuria immediately following the Mukden Incident. -
Adolf Hitler Beame the Chancellor of Germany
President Paul von Hindenburg names Adolf Hitler, leader or fÜhrer of the National Socialist German Workers Party (or Nazi Party), as chancellor of Germany. -
The New Deal Started
The New Deal was a series of domestic programs enacted in the United States, they involved laws passed by Congress as well as presidential executive orders during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. -
Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) became President of the U.S.
At the height of the Great Depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt is inaugurated as the 32nd president of the United States. -
The Holocaust Began
The Holocaust, or Shoah, was the mass murder or genocide of approximately six million Jews during World War II led by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, throughout the German Reich and German-occupied territories. -
The League of Nations was created
First international organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. -
The Long March
The Long March came about when the Chinese Communists had to flee a concerted Guomingdang attacked that had been ordered by Chiang Kai-shek. -
Adolf Hitler Defied the Treaty of Versailles
Adolf Hitler announces German rearmament in violation of the Versailles Treaty. -
U.S. Congress Passed the Neutrality Acts
The Neutrality Acts were passed by the United States Congress in the 1930s, in response to the growing turmoil in Europe and Asia that eventually led to World War II. -
Germany Reoccupied the Rhineland
Nazi leader Adolf Hitler violates the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Pact by sending German military forces into the Rhineland, a demilitarized zone along the Rhine River in western Germany. -
Great Purge began
The Great Purge was a campaign of political repression in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1934 to 1939. -
Fransisco Franco Led a Fascist Revolt in Spain
Franco received military support from local fascist groups, and also from Hitler's Nazi Germany and Mussolini's Fascist Italy. Leaving half a million dead, the war was eventually won by Franco in 1939. He established an autocratic dictatorship, Francoist Spain, which he defined as a totalitarian state. -
Italy Invaded Ethiopia
The Second Italo–Ethiopian War, was a colonial war that was fought between the armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy and the armed forces of the Ethiopian Empire, and resulted in the military occupation of Ethiopia. -
Rome-Berlin Axis
Rome-Berlin Axis, Coalition formed in 1936 between Italy and Germany. -
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. -
Anschluss
The occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938. -
Adolf Hitler took the Sudetenland
Nazi Germany, Great Britain, France and Italy signed an agreement that allowed the Nazis to annex the Sudetenland, a region of Czechoslovakia that was home to many ethnic Germans. -
Hitler Hosted Munich Conference
Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, French Premier Edouard Daladier, and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sign the Munich Pact, which seals the fate of Czechoslovakia, virtually handing it over to Germany in the name of peace. -
Kristallnacht began
Referred to as the Night of Broken Glass, a series of coordinated attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria were carried out. -
Albert Einstein Developed the Theory of Relativity
On the eve of World War II, he endorsed a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt alerting him to the potential development of "extremely powerful bombs of a new type" and recommending that the U.S. begin similar research, and led to what would become the Manhattan Project. Einstein supported defending the Allied forces, but largely denounced the idea of using the newly discovered nuclear fission as a weapon. -
Naz-Soviet Pact Signed
Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression pact, given their diametrically opposed ideologies. But the dictators were, despite appearances, both playing to their own political needs. -
Sitzkrieg Began
The Phoney War was a phase early in World War II that was marked by a lack of major military operations by the Western Allies (the United Kingdom and France) against the German Reich. -
Germany Invaded Poland (Blitzkrieg)
1.5 million German troops invade Poland all along its border with German-controlled territory, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler claimed the massive invasion was a defensive action. -
Auschwitz Death Camp Opened
Auschwitz I was first constructed to hold Polish political prisoners, who began to arrive in May 1940. -
Winston Churchill Became the Prime Minister of GB
Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, is called to replace Neville Chamberlain as British prime minister following the latter's resignation after losing a confidence vote in the House of Commons. -
Allies Evacuate Dunkirk
The Dunkirk evacuation was the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, France. The operation became necessary when large numbers of British, French, and Belgian troops were cut off and surrounded by the German army during the Battle of France in World War II. -
Vichy Government Established in France
The Vichy government abolished the french constitution and created a dictatorship similar to Germany's. -
Battle of Britain
In 1940, the Germans begin the first in a long series of bombing raids against Great Britain, as the Battle of Britain, it lasted three and a half months. -
Tripartite Pact Signed
Axis powers are formed as Germany, Italy, and Japan become allies with the signing of the Tripartite Pact in Berlin. The Pact provided for mutual assistance should any of the signatories suffer attack by any nation not already involved in the war. -
Lend-Lease Act
United States supplied Great Britain, the USSR, Republic of China, France, and other Allied nations with material between 1941 and August 1945. -
Operation Barbarossa
The code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II. -
Japan Invaded China
President Franklin Roosevelt seizes all Japanese assets in the United States in retaliation for the Japanese occupation of French Indo-China. -
Atlantic Charter
In the Herbst Theater auditorium in San Francisco, delegates from 50 nations sign the United Nations Charter, establishing the world body as a means of saving "succeeding generations from the scourge of war." -
Japanese Attcked Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and led to the United States' entry into World War II. -
The U.S. Declares War on Japan
On December 8, 1941 the United States Congress declared war upon the Empire of Japan in response to that country's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor the prior day. -
Chelmno Concentration Camp Opened
After the invasion of Poland in 1939 Germany annexed the area as part of the new territory of Reichsgau Wartheland aiming at its complete "Germanization". -
Hitler Enacted the Final Solution
The Final Solution was Nazi Germany's plan during World War II to systematically exterminate the Jewish people in Nazi-occupied Europe. -
Washington Conference
Brought together the top British and American military leaders, Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt, in Washington, December 22, 1941, to January 14, 1942. -
Nisei were Interned in Relocation Centers in the U.S.
Japanese American internment was the World War II internment in "War Relocation Camps" of over 110,000 people of Japanese heritage who lived on the Pacific coast of the United States. The U.S. government ordered the internment in 1942, shortly after Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. -
Bataan Death March
The Japanese were unprepared for the number of prisoners that they were responsible for, and there was no organized plan for how to handle them. Prisoners were stripped of their weapons and valuables, and told to march to Balanga, the capital of Bataan. -
Doolittle Raids Over Japan
16 American B-25 bombers, launched from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet 650 miles east of Japan and commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle, attack the Japanese mainland. -
Island Hopping Campaign
During World War 2, the island hopping strategy was used by the United States to expedite the war in the Pacific Ocean. -
Battle of the Coral Sea
The Battle of the Coral Sea was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II between the Imperial Japanese Navy and naval and air forces from the United States and Australia. -
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway in the Pacific Theater of Operations was one of the most important naval battles of World War II. -
Battle of El Alamein
The Battles occurred in North Africa in Egypt in and around an area named after a railway stop called El Alamein. -
Battle of Guadalcanal
First major offensive by Allied forces against the Empire of Japan. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad. -
Operation Torch
Operation Torch (initially called Operation Gymnast) was the British-American invasion of French North Africa during the North African Campaign of the Second World War. -
Casablanca Conference
The Allied European strategized for the next phase of World War II. In attendance were United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and representing the Free French forces, Generals Charles de Gaulle, and Henri Giraud. -
Manhattan Project Began
The Manhattan Project was a research and development project that produced the first atomic bombs during World War II. -
Allies Landed in Sicily
The Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky, was a major World War II campaign, in which the Allies took Sicily from the Axis Powers. -
Tehran Conference
The Tehran Conference (codenamed Eureka[1]) was a strategy meeting held between Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill. -
Operation Overlord (D-Day)
Operation Overlord[7] was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the operation that launched the invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II by Allied forces. -
Gen. Macarthur Reutrned to the Philippines (Leyte Gulf)
After advancing island by island across the Pacific Ocean, U.S. General Douglas MacArthur wades ashore onto the Philippine island of Leyte, fulfilling his promise to return to the area he was forced to flee in 1942. -
Kamikaze Pilots Appear in the Pacific
During the Battle of the Leyte Gulf, the Japanese deploy kamikaze ("divine wind") suicide bombers against American warships for the first time. It will prove costly--to both sides. -
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive campaign launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium, France and Luxembourg on the Western Front toward the end of World War II in Europe. The surprise attack caught the Allied forces completely off guard and became the costliest battle in terms of casualties for the United States, whose forces bore the brunt of the attack. -
Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference was the World War II meeting of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Premier Joseph Stalin, respectively, for the purpose of discussing Europe's post-war reorganization. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima was a major battle in which the United States Armed Forces fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Empire. -
Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. -
Mussolini was executed
Benito Mussolini and his mistress were shot and killed along with other Italian dignitaries. -
Hitler Committed Suicide
Adolf Hitler committed suicide by gunshot and his wife, Eva, committed suicide with him by ingesting cyanide. -
Germany Surrendered
Germany has signed an unconditional surrender bringing to an end six years of war in Europe. -
V-E Day
Both Great Britain and the United States celebrate Victory in Europe Day. Cities in both nations, as well as formerly occupied cities in Western Europe, put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of the Nazi war machine. -
Potsdam Conference
The Potsdam Conference was held at Cecilienhof. Participants were the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States, and the three powers were represented by Communist Party General Secretary Joseph Stalin, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and President Harry Truman. -
Atomic Bomb Dropped on Hiroshima
The United States becomes the first and only nation to use atomic weaponry during wartime when it drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. -
Atomic Bomb Dropped on Nagasaki
A second atom bomb is dropped on Japan by the United States, at Nagasaki, resulting finally in Japan's unconditional surrender. -
V-J Day
Victory over Japan Day is a name chosen for the day on which Japan surrendered, in effect ending World War II. -
Japan Surrendered
Aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Japan formally surrenders to the Allies, bringing an end to World War II. -
Nuremburg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the Allied forces after World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of Nazi Germany.
