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Czar Nicholas II Became Leader of Russia
Nicholas II ruled from 1 November 1894 until his forced abdication on 2 March 1917. -
Russian Marxists Split
The Bolshevik-Menshevik Split. History Today. The fifty-seven delegates to the Second Congress of the minuscule, quarrelsome and apparently ineffectual Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party assembled in a flea-ridden flour warehouse in Brussels on July 30th, 1903. -
Russo-Japanese War Begins
Japanese Navy attacked the Russian eastern fleet at Port Arthur -
Bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday was the name that came to be given to the events in St Petersburg, Russia, where unarmed demonstrators marching to present a petition to Tsar Nicholas II were fired upon -
Einstein Develops Theory of Relativity
Then Albert Einstein shook the foundations of physics with the introduction of his Special Theory of Relativity in 1905, and his General Theory of Relativity in 1915 (Here is an example of a thought experiment in special relativity). -
Sun Yixian Becomes President of China
He was appointed to serve as Provisional President of the Republic of China, when it was founded in 1912. -
Kuomintang was Created
Kuomintang. the dominant political party of China from 1928 to 1949, founded chiefly by Sun Yat-sen in 1912 and led from 1925 to 1975 by Chiang Kai-shek; the dominant party of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since 1949. -
Trans-Siberian Railway
Connected Moscow and Vladivostock. -
March Revolution in Russia
Emperor was forced to abdicate and the old regime was replaced by a provisional government during the first revolution -
Czar Nicholas II Abdicated
Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicated the throne, thus ending the Romanov dynasty. The Tsar's regime had been undermined by Russia's poor performance in the First World War and the negative impact on the Russian people. -
Bolshevik Revolution
Then, on November 6 and 7, 1917 (or October 24 and 25 on the Julian calendar, which is why this event is also referred to as the October Revolution), leftist revolutionaries led by Bolshevik Party leader Vladimir Lenin launched a nearly bloodless coup d'état against the provisional government. -
Russian Civil War Begins
The first reason was that the Bolsheviks had many enemies: the Social Revolutionaries (angry because Lenin had closed the Assembly); supporters of the Provisional Government. -
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty signed on March 3, 1918, between Russia and the Central Powers. -
Weimar Republic is Established
The Weimar Republic was first proclaimed on November 9,1918, by the Social Democratic leadership. The city of Weimar, a traditional center of German... In June of 1919, the German government leaders reluctantly signed the Treaty of Versailles. -
May Fourth Movement Begins
Anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement growing out of student demonstrations in Beijing. -
League of Nations Created
League of Nations was created, -
New Econ Policy in Russia
In 1917 Lenin proposed the new economic policy ("state-capitalism") -
Washington Conference
Meeting between representatives of 9 nations with interests in the Pacific -
Mussolini Becomes Leader of Italy
Benito Mussolini becomes leader of Italy. -
Vladimir Lenin Becomes Leader of Russia
Lenin was the leader of the radical socialist Bolshevik Party (later renamed the Communist Party), which seized power in the October phase of the Russian Revolution of 1917. After the revolution, Lenin headed the new Soviet government that formed in Russia. He became the leader of the USSR upon its founding in 1922. -
Russia Becomes USSR
On 28 December 1922, a conference of plenipotentiary delegations from the Russian SFSR, the Transcaucasian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR approved the Treaty of Creation of the USSR and the Declaration of the Creation of the USSR, forming the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. -
Joseph Stalin becomes leader of the USSR
After Lenin died in 1924, Stalin eventually won the power struggle for control of the Communist Party -
Dawes Plan
Attempt following World War I for the Triple Entente to compromise and collect war reparations from Germany. -
Adolf Hitler Writes Mein Kampf
Volume 1 was published. -
Hitler Becomes Leader of Nazi Party
Hitler declares the reformulation of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) with himself as leader (Führer). -
Jiang Jieshi Becomes Leader of KMT
After Sun Yat Sen's death, Jiang Jieshi took control of the KMT. -
Hirohito Became Emperor of Japan
Hirohito became emperor of Japan on December 25, 1926, following the death of his father. His reign was designated Shōwa (“Bright Peace,” or “Enlightened Harmony”). -
Civil War in China Begins
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. -
Charles Lindbergh's Solo Flight Across the Atlantic
Charles Lindbergh landed near Paris, completing the first solo airplane flight across the Atlantic Ocean. -
5 Year Plan Begins
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 and based off his policy of Socialism in One Country. It was implemented between 1928 and 1932. -
FDR Becomes President
In 1928 Smith became the Democratic candidate for president and arranged for Roosevelt's nomination to succeed him as governor of New York. Smith lost the election to Herbert Hoover; but Roosevelt was elected governor. -
Kellogg-Briand Pact
International agreement in which signatory states promised not to use war to resolve disputes or conflicts. -
US Stock Market Crashed
The most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States. -
Great Depression Begins
The Stock Market crashed on Wall Steet. -
US Congress Passed the Neutrality Acts
Neutrality Acts of 1930s. 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. -
Japan Invades Manchuria
In the 1930s, the Japanese controlled the Manchurian railway. In September 1931, they claimed that Chinese soldiers had sabotaged the railway, and attacked the Chinese army. -
Japan Invades China
Japanese invasion of Manchuria. The Japanese invasion of Manchuria began on September 19, 1931, when the Kwantung Army of the Empire of Japan invaded Manchuria immediately following the Mukden Incident. -
Holocaust Begins
The Holocaust (also called Ha-Shoah in Hebrew) refers to the period from January 30, 1933 - when Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany - to May 8, 1945, when the war in Europe officially ended. -
Hitler Becomes Chancellor of Germany
Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany. -
New Deal Begins
The New Deal was a series of domestic programs enacted in the United States between 1933 and 1938. "Relief, Recovery, and Reform." During the first term of FDR. -
The Long March
Military retreat by the Red Army to evade the pursuit of the Kuomintang. -
Hitler Defies Treaty of Versailles
He destroyed the League of Nations Disarmament Conference by demanding equality of arms with France and Britain. -
Italy Invades Ethiopia
A border incident between Ethiopia and Italian Somaliland that December gave Benito Mussolini an excuse to intervene. Rejecting all arbitration offers, the Italians invaded Ethiopia on October 3, 1935. -
Great Purge Began
Great Purge was a campaign of political repression in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1934 to 1939. -
Germany Reoccupied Rhineland
In 1936 Hitler boldly marched 22,000 German troops into the Rhineland, in a direct contravention of the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler offered France and Britain a 25 year non-aggression pact and claimed 'Germany had no territorial demands to make in Europe'. -
Franco Leads Facist Revolt in Spain
The general and dictator Francisco Franco (1892-1975) ruled over Spain from 1939 until his death. He rose to power during the bloody Spanish Civil War when, with the help of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, his Nationalist forces overthrew the democratically elected Second Republic. -
Rome-Berlin Axis
Coalition formed in 1936 between Italy and Germany. -
Rape of Nanking
Mass murder and mass rape committed by Japanese troops against Nanking during the Second Sino-Japanese War. -
Anchluss
Political union of Austria with Germany, achieved through annexation by Adolf Hitler in 1938. -
Hitler Enacts the Final Solution
Plan to annihilate the Jewish people. From 1938 until June 1941, the Nazis set out to get rid of the Jews in Germany and its occupied territories. -
Hitler Hosts Munich Conference
Conference held in Munich on September 28--29, 1938, during which the leaders of Great Britain, France, and Italy agreed to allow Germany to annex certain areas of Czechoslovakia. -
Hitler Takes the Sudetenland
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Kristallnacht Begins
Wave of violent anti-Jewish pogroms which took place on November 9 and 10, 1938, throughout Germany -
Nazi Soviet Pact Signed
Representatives from Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union met and signed the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact -
Stitzkrieg Begins
The period from Sept. 1, 1939 (Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland) to May 1940 (Start of the Battle of Britain and the overrunning of the Low Countries and France) was called the Sitzkrieg -
German Invasion of Poland
German forces bombard Poland on land and from the air. -
Auschwitz Opened
The SS authorities established three main camps near the Polish city of Oswiecim: Auschwitz I in May 1940; Auschwitz II (also called Auschwitz-Birkenau) in early 1942; and Auschwitz III (also called Auschwitz-Monowitz) in October 1942. -
Churchill Becomes Prime Minister of GB
On the outbreak of the Second World War, he was again appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. Following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain on 10 May 1940, Churchill became Prime Minister. -
Allies Evactuate Dunkirk
The Dunkirk evacuation, code-named Operation Dynamo, also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, was the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, France, between 27 May and 4 June 1940. -
Battle of Britain
Germans begin the first in a long series of bombing raids against Great Britain, as the Battle of Britain, which will last three and a half months, begins. -
Vichy Government Established in France
Vichy France, officially the French State, was France during the regime of Marshal Philippe Pétain, during World War II, from the German victory in the Battle of France to the Allied liberation in August 1944. -
Tripartite Pact Signed
The Tripartite Pact, also the Three-Power Pact, Axis Pact, Three-way Pact or Tripartite Treaty was a pact signed in Berlin, Germany on September 27, 1940, which established the Axis Powers of World War II. -
Lend-Lease Act
A program under which the United States supplied Great Britain, the USSR, Republic of China, France, and other Allied nations with materiel. -
Operation Barbossa
Invasion of the Soviet Union, June 1941. German infantry during the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. View Historical Film Footage. Under the codename Operation "Barbarossa," Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, in the largest German military operation of World War II. -
Atlantic Charter
The Atlantic Charter was drafted at the Atlantic Conference (codenamed Riviera) by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was issued as a joint declaration on 14 August 1941. -
Japanese Attack Pearl Harbor
On December 7, 1941, Japan launches a surprise attack on American soil at Pearl Harbor. Just before 8 a.m. on December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. -
The US Declares War on Japan
Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, US declares war. -
Chelmno /concentration Camp Opened
Built to exterminate Jews of the Łódź Ghetto and the local Polish inhabitants of Reichsgau Wartheland. -
Nisel Were Interned in Relocation Centers in the US
President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the internment with Executive Order 9066, issued February 19, 1942, which allowed local military commanders to designate "military areas" as "exclusion zones," from which "any or all persons may be excluded." -
Bataan Death March
The surrendered Filipinos and Americans soon were rounded up by the Japanese and forced to march 65 miles from Mariveles to San Fernando. -
Battle of El Alamein
The tide turned in the Allies' favour at the Second Battle of El Alamein in 1942. British General Montgomery spent months building up an overwhelming advantage in men and armour, before launching his attacks ab gainst Field Marshal Rommel's German and Italian troops. -
Battle of the Coral Sea
A major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of WWII between the Imperial Japanese Navy and naval and air forces from the United States and Australia. -
Battle of Midway
United States Navy decisively defeated an attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy. -
Battle of Stalingrad
In July 1942, the Nazi Army bombs the Soviet city of Stalingrad, launching one of the bloodiest battles in history. The Battle of Stalingrad (July 17, 1942-Feb. 2, 1943), was the successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in the U.S.S.R. during World War II. -
Battle of Guadalcanal
The Guadalcanal campaign was a victory by Allied forces over the Japanese in the Pacific theatre. -
Doolittle Raids Over Japan
The Doolittle Raid of April 18, 1942 was the first U.S. air raid to strike the Japanese home islands during WWII. -
Operation Torch
British-American invasion of French North Africa during the North African Campaign of the Second World War. -
Casablanca Conference
A meeting between U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the city of Casablanca, Morocco. -
Allies Land in Sicily
The invasion of Sicily, code-named Operation Husky, began before dawn on July 10, 1943, with combined air and sea landings involving 150,000 troops, 3,000 ships and 4,000 aircraft, all directed at the southern shores of the island. -
Tehran Conference
The Tehran Conference was a meeting between U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin in Tehran, Iran, between November 28 and December 1, 1943. -
Operation Overlord
The operation that launched the invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II by Allied forces. -
Kamikaze Appear in the Pacific
Began in October 1944, followed several critical military defeats for the Japanese. -
MacArthur Returned to the Philipines
On October 20, 1944, a few hours after his troops landed, MacArthur waded ashore onto the Philippine island of Leyte. That day, he made a radio broadcast in which he declared, "People of the Philippines, I have returned!" In January 1945, his forces invaded the main Philippine island of Luzon. -
Battle of the Bulge
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. -
Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference was a meeting of British prime minister Winston Churchill, Soviet premier Joseph Stalin, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt. -
Island Hopping Campaign
“Island Hopping” is the phrase given to the strategy employed by the United States to gain military bases and secure the many small islands in the Pacific. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The American amphibious invasion of Iwo Jima during World War II stemmed from the need for a base near the Japanese coast. Following elaborate preparatory air and naval bombardment, three U.S. marine divisions landed on the island in February 1945. -
Battle of Okinawa
Fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II -
Nuremberg Trials
A series of 13 trials carried out in Nuremberg, Germany, between 1945 and 1949. -
Mussolini is exectued
Shot by Italian partisans who had captured the couple as they attempted to flee to Switzerland. -
Hitler Commited Suicide
Der Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, dictator of Germany, burrowed away in a refurbished air-raid shelter, consumes a cyanide capsule, then shoots himself with a pistol. -
Germany Surrendered
Germany signed an unconditional surrender at Allied headquarters in Reims, France. -
VE Day
Victory in Europe Day, generally known as V-E Day or VE Day, was the public holiday celebrated on 8 May 1945 -
Manhattan Project Begins
A research and development project that produced the first atomic bombs during World War II. -
Potsdam Conference
The Potsdam Conference, 1945. The Big Three—Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (replaced on July 26 by Prime Minister Clement Attlee), and U.S. President Harry Truman—met in Potsdam, Germany, from July 17 to August 2, 1945, to negotiate terms for the end of World War II. -
Bomb Dropped on Nagasaki
The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were conducted by the United States during the final stages of World War II in August 1945. -
VJ Day
The day on which Japan surrendered, in effect ending WWI -
Japan Surrendered
The surrender of the Empire of Japan on September 2, 1945, brought the hostilities of World War II to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy was incapable of conducting operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent. -
Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima
A uranium gun-type atomic bomb (Little Boy) was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, followed by a plutonium implosion-type bomb (Fat Man) on the city of Nagasaki on August 9.
