The Cold War

Joseph Stalin became the leader of the USSR

1924

Serving in the Russian Civil War before overseeing the Soviet Union's establishment in 1922, Stalin assumed leadership over the country following Lenin's death in 1924. Under Stalin, socialism in one country became a central tenet of the party's ideology.

Benito Mussolini became the leader of

1925

Benito Mussolini was an Italian nationalist and the founder of Italian Fascism. He ruled Italy from 1922–1925 as Prime Minister, and from 1925–1943 as il Duce, the Fascist dictator

European appeasement of Hitler began

1930

Instituted in the hope of avoiding war, appeasement was the name given to Britain's policy in the 1930s of allowing Hitler to expand German territory unchecked. Most closely associated with British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, it is now widely discredited as a policy of weakness.

Japan invaded Manchuria

1932

The Empire of Japan's Kwantung Army invaded Manchuria on 18 September 1931, immediately following the Mukden Incident. At the war's end in February 1932

Adolf Hitler became the leader of Germany

1933

Following several backroom negotiations – which included industrialists, Hindenburg's son, the former chancellor Franz von Papen, and Hitler – Hindenburg acquiesced and on 30 January 1933, he formally appointed Adolf Hitler as Germany's new chancellor.

FDR began his Good Neighbor Policy

1933

In his inaugural address on March 4, 1933, Roosevelt stated: “In the field of world policy I would dedicate this nation to the policy of the good neighbor—the neighbor who resolutely respects himself and, because he does so, respects the rights of others