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Alliance System Building (NO SPECIFIC DATE.. PLEASE IGNORE JAN. 1)
Dual alliance in 1879 between Germany & austria-Hungary became a triple alliance when Italy in 1882 joined. This was called Central Powers Alliance. Then, France in 1894 made an alliance with Russia. In 1902 Britain made a naval treaty with Japan. In 1904 France made an agreement with Britain (Entente Cordiale), this promised for them to work together. Then, in 1907 Britain made an Entente with Russia making a Triple Alliance with France, Great Britain, and Russia. -
Growing Militarization
More European countries started to build up their navies in 1900, and in 1906 Kaiser Whilhem began to build more battleships, that were more powerful. By the year 1914, Germany, A-H, Italy, France, Russia, and Great Britain all had their armies built up. The armies ranged from 711,000 - 2,200,000 soldiers, and 28 - 185 warships. In the end, after all the armies were completed there were at least 3 million men in each army. -
Growing Balkan Nationalism/Assassination of Franz Ferdinand (1908-1914)
In 1908 while Bosnia was content with their system of Gov’t. Austria-Hungary annexed them. Later, in 1914 Bosnia wanted revenge when Franz Ferdinand(heir to Austria-Hungary throne)decided to visit Sarajevo, the capital.. On June 28, 1914 Gavrilo Princip a terrorist from the Black hand shot Ferdinand in a car where he died moments later. -
Trench Warfare
Trench warfare is fighting lines that consist of large canyon like structures called trenches. In the trenches, the armies would be sheltered from the enemy’s fire. The trenches were around 12 feet deep, and in a zig-zag or stepped pattern. There would usually be a cycle to the Trenches. A problem with the Trenches was the rat infestation, and soldier’s did not have time to rest. -
U‐boats & Unrestricted Warfare (1915-1917)
On Feb. 1915 Germany released unrestricted submarine warfare. Since submarines couldn’t capture prisoners and were considered useless weapons. Germany decided that they could just sink ships weakening another country's strength..After an attack on the Lusitania where 1,198 americans died. America began protesting. Germany announced again their policy on U-boats in 1917 and there wouldn’t be limits in sinking ships. This meant neutral American ships. Which is a reason America got involved in WW1 -
Entry of US -Zimmerman Telegram & Sinking of the Lusitania
In 1916, the German Empire encouraged Mexico to go to war with the United States. This proposal was then found by British Intelligence, who then created support for the United States. The message, for Mexican war against the US, was sent by Arthur Zimmerman to the German ambassador in Mexico. Zimmerman’s proposal promised Mexico the states of Texas, New Mexico,and Arizona. However, Mexico was much weaker than the United States and rejected this offer. -
Bolshevik Revolution
The Bolshevik Revolution began, when Czar Nicholas II brought around 11 million russian peasants into WWI. The goal of the Bolshevik party was to overthrow the Provisional Government and create their own for the proletariat. In July, the workers challenged the Government, but were defeated. In August, the Government weakened and started to support the Bolsheviks. Later, the Bolsheviks were convinced to go against the Government and later fell to the Bolsheviks. This brought Lenin to power. -
Stalin's Rise To Power
Joseph Stalin played a role in the Russian Revolution (1917), the Russian Civilian War (1917 - 1919), and the Polish - Soviet War (1919 - 1921). During the Russian Revolution, he was supporting the Provisional Government. Later on, when Lenin prevailed at the communist conference, Stalin decided to go against the Provisional Government. He was then elected the Bolshevik Committee. The main difference between Stalin and Lenin was that Lenin was more of good person. Stalin became a dictator. -
Rise Of Fascism
During the unification of Italy, it was then known that Italy’s government was weak and its citizens were mostly poor. This was a chance for Benito Mussolini to rise to power. He created the Fascism party in 1919. It cultivated the land, irrigated marshes, increased corn production, improved railroads, and created more employment. His main goals for Italy was to restore the prestige that was lost when they were defeated. -
Treaty of Versailles & Treatment of Germany
In 1919 the treaty of Versailles was presented to Germany. It stated certain lands that Germany was supposed to give up, but to Germany these were treasured lands due to German ethnicity and population. It also stated that Germany has to accept they were responsible for WW1, and they would be responsible for fixing any damages made during the war.The treaty restricted Germany's military making sure Germans could not be stronger than the other countries. -
League of Nations(L.N.)
This was the largest attempt made to bring peace into play after WW1. The first plan was to turn secret diplomacy into a system of open discussion. And the military could be switched to a system of agreements involving security. The majority of countries preferred the traditional congress system, but the U.S thought an organized international structure was good. However, since there was no way of enforcing the rules, the L.N. failed. -
The Great Depression
The Great Depression was a widespread economic issue. During this time there were people unemployed, who were losing their homes and starving. There were massive food shortages, and droughts. Hitler came to power because he claimed he could get Germany out of this state of depression. In 1940, still many people were unemployed, but it was a much lower amount than in 1932. -
German invasion of Austria, Sudetenland/Czechoslovakia, Rhineland (1936-1939)
After the german people voted Hitler as a leader he began building armies to make the country stronger. Then, Hitler made alliances with Italy and Japan. In March 1938 Germany took over Austria while other countries stayed distant for the fear of war. A year later on March 1939 Germany took over Czechoslovakia. Finally on March 1936 Germany took over Rhineland, and France made no attempt to stop them. -
Spanish Civil War (SCW) (1936-1939)
After Forceful changes were made on Spain. Spain supported a Fascist party called Falange (used terrorism). Later, the popular Front (Socialist and Communist) won an important election, the Falange grew more active. Breaking into the SCW. At the end of 1936 Nationalist controlled northern spain and SCW grew into a European war. Germany and Italy entered b/c they saw a chance to threaten Britain. Leading the SU to support Spain. In 1939 Nationalist won making a fascist dictatorship. -
German Invasion of poland
on September 1, 1939 Germany invaded Poland. The Polish army was weak compared to the German army making it easy for Germany to defeat them. Then, on September 3, 1939 France and Britain declared war because of their guarantee of Poland’s border. After this, Nazi Germany occupied Poland. -
Evacuation of Dunkirk
The Evacuation of Dunkirk, also called the Miracle of Dunkirk, was the evacuation of Britain’s allied soldiers from Dunkirk, France. The troops were evacuated between May 26th and June 3rd of 1940. The evacuation was issued because the British , French, and Belgian troops were cut off by the German army during WWII. On the first day 7,100 men were evacuated. In the end a total of 338,226 soldiers were evacuated. -
Fall Of France
During 1940, when Hitler was taking over Germany, France feared the German’s military strength and they knew they were not prepared for war. They announced that they would not keep the promise to defend Czechoslovakia. Hitler then took over Czechoslovakia, and France knew they couldn’t avoid his dictatorship. Therefore, they prepared for war. Britain and France teamed up, promising to protect Poland. They asked Joseph Stalin to be their leader, leading to the attack on Poland began WWII. -
Battle Of Britain
Germany was destroying the railroads and making air attacks in Britain. Britain’s efforts to fight back led to the battle of Britain. Britain and Germany were fighting non-stop through the months of September to October of 1940. British pilots were flying combat missions to help identify enemy aircrafts. Since this gave them warning, they had time to prepare. Germany bombed them at night, for months. Britain was making even heavier attacks on Germany. In 1941, the air warfare was highest. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
On December 7, 1941, The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Over 3,500 people were injured and/or killed during the two hours/waves of attacks. 8 of the U.S. battleships were destroyed. Before the attack Japan signed a treaty with the Soviet Union to prevent an attack from them if they were to go to war with the U.S. -
Bombing of Tokyo
The bombing raids on Japan began in November 17th, and ended in August 15th, 1945. There were two major raids, B-29 and Doolittle. The Doolittle raid was the first, smaller raid, that took place in April ‘42. This was very important for US’ propaganda. Two of the United States’ crews were captured, and later killed. The B-29 raid caused more than 100,000 deaths. There were 279 airplanes, that dropped over 1,700 tons of bombs. The most destruction was east of the Imperial Palace. -
Battle of Stalingrad(July 17, 1942 - Feb. 2, 1943)
Nazi Germany launched operation Barbarossa. They invaded the SU. By Spring 1942, the germans controlled the majority in the Ukraine. Stalingrad was a major industrial city with important trading routes between the Caspian sea and Northern Russia. Hitler also wanted Stalingrad, b/c it helped secure parts of the army. Joseph Stalin being the leader was Hitlers nemesis. The battle of Stalingrad was one of the largest battles in history. -
Guadalcanal
The Guadalcanal was a military campaign, fought between August 7th, 1942 and February 9, 1943, between Allies and the Japanese. There were many more allies than there were Japanese. The Allies main goal was to take over Guadalcanal and Tulagi, and use them as campaign bases. The Allies took over these places in 1942, along with Henderson field. The Japanese failed several times when trying to take Henderson field back. In December they decided that they weren’t going to try to get it back. -
D-Day
on June 6, 1944, the United states landed on the Normandy, France coastline to fight nazi-germany. General Dwight D. Eisenhower stated that this would be a crusade and losing was not an option. Over 18,000 Ships and Aircraft fought in the D-Day invasion. And by the end of the day on June 6th the U.S. gained part of Normandy, and the unharmed soldiers began the journey across Europe to defeat Hitler. -
VE Day
VE or V-E day stands for the Victory in Europe day. It takes place on May 8th, 1945, which was the day that the WWII allies surrendered to the Nazi’s and the end of Hitler’s Third Reich. On this day, there were celebrations all throughout the west. Also, in the UK, millions of people cheered in the streets. Mass crowds gather at Trafalgar Square, in London, and Queen Elizabeth made an appearance. In the US, all flags were supposed to be at half-mast, for a 30-day mourning period of President Roo -
Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
On Aug. 6, 1945 an american B-29 dropped an atomic bomb over Hiroshima.This bomb destroyed 90% of the city and killed thousands of people.Three days later another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki killing thousands more. Then, on Aug. 14-15 the Emperor Hirohito announced that the Atomic bomb was devastating and surrendered. This ended Japan’s part in World War 2. -
VJ Day(Aug. 14- Sept. 2, 1945)
On August 14, 1945 Japan had surrendered and america called it the “Victory over Japan day” (VJ-Day). Then on September 2, 1945 the surrender became official. This ended WW2 with Japan which was several months after ending the war with Nazi- Germany.
