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Benito Mussolini comes to Power
On December 24th of 1925, Benito Mussolini finally became the chancellor of Italy and fascism in Italy had officially begun. -
U.S. Stock Market Crashes
On October 24, 1929, the price of shares in the United States stock market fell dramatically, which began the rapid decline of the U.S. economy leading into the 1930's, which caused the Great Depression. -
Japan Seizes Manchuria
On September 19, 1931, the Japanese forces invaded the Chinese area of Manchuria, a part of China's empire that was known for it's abundance of natural resources. Japan then established Manchuria as a puppet state, That would last until the end of World War II. -
FDR is Elected President
In November of 1932, the american people elected Franklin Delenor Roosevelt as the 32nd president of the United States of America. He beat out Herbert Hoover in this election by a long shot -
Hitler is named Chancellor Of Germany
In January of 1933, the Nazi Political Party had become the most powerful political party in Germany and their leader, Adolf Hitler, became the chancellor of Germany. -
Hitler Defies the Treaty of Versailles
In March of 1933, Hitler defied the Treaty of Locarno by sending troops to occupy the demilitarized Rhineland. -
U.S. Neutrality Act
The 1935 act, signed on August 31, 1935, imposed a general embargo on trading in arms and war materials with all parties in a war. -
Italy invades Ethiopia
Italy Invaded Ethiopia in October of 1935, and this conflict resulted in the military occupation of Ethiopia and its annexation into the newly created colony of Italian East Africa. -
Germany Militarized the Rhineland
In March of 1936, Hitler began to disobey yet another part of the Treaty of Versailles, he began to move his military back into the Rhineland. -
Spanish Civil War
On July 17th of 1936, Spain broke out in a Civil War between the supporters of the current Spanish govenment and followers of Fransisco Franco. -
Japan Invades China
On July 7, 1937, Japan invaded America's ally, China, causing great tension between the United States and Japan. -
Anschluss
On March 12th of 1938, the Hitler lead Germany annexed Austria, which is also known as Anschluss. -
Munich Conference
The Munich Conference was a meeting between the allied powers that resulted in the appeasement of Hitler once again and allowing him to take over the Sudetenland. -
Kristallnacht
Also known as the Night of Broken Glass, Kristallnacht was a series of un-coordinated attacks on Jews living in Nazi Germany and Austria. -
Nazi-Soviet Pact
In the 1930s Joseph Stalin became increasingly concerned that the Soviet Union would be invaded by Germany. Stalin believed the best way to of dealing with Germany was to form an anti-fascist alliance with countries in the west. Stalin argued that even Adolf Hitler would not start a war against a united Europe. -
Germany Invades Poland
In September of 1939, Germany finally invaded the neutral country of Poland, which is the main spark that caused the alied powers to declare war. -
Phoney War
The Phoney War was a phase early in World War II—in the months following Britain and France's declaration of war on Germany in September 1939 that was marked by a lack of major military operations by the Western Allies against the German Reich. -
Churchill is Elected Prime Minister of England
On May 10th of 1940, Winston Churchill was elected Prime Minister of the government of England. Churchill would become a very important ally with the United States throughout the war. -
Miracle at Dunkirk
The evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, France, between 26 May and the early hours of 3 June 1940, because the British, French and Belgian troops were cut off by the German army during the Battle of Dunkirk -
France Surrenders
On June 17 the French government calls on the Germans for an armistice that will end the fighting. -
Battle Of Britain
The Royal Air Force of the British defeated the German Luftwaffe in this battle near London. -
Lend-Lease Act
The Lend-Lease Act created a program under which the United States of America supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, Free France, and other Allied nations with materiel between 1941 and 1945. -
Atlantic Charter
The Charter stated the ideal goals of the war: no territorial aggrandizement; no territorial changes made against the wishes of the people; restoration of self-government to those deprived of it; free access to raw materials; reduction of trade restrictions; global cooperation to secure better economic and social conditions for all; freedom from fear and want; freedom of the seas; and abandonment of the use of force, as well as disarmament of aggressor nations. -
Pearl Harbor
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese launched a surprise attack on the Hawaiian naval port of Pearl Harbor, which crippled the U.S. Pacific Naval Fleet.
