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The British issue the Balfour Declaration, supporting a Jewish homeland in Palestine
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British fire on Indians in the Amritsar Massacre
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Gandhi begins the Great Fast in opposition to Hindu-Muslim violence
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Gandhi leads the salt march to protest British rule
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Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany in January
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In March, the Enabling Act is passed, and Hitler becomes dictator of Germany
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In late February, the Reichstag is burned to the ground
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Roosevelt has his first "fireside chat"
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The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is established
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Period: to
Franklin D. Roosevelt serves as President
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Congress passes the Social Security Act
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The Boulder Dam is completed
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The Works Progress Administration begins
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British "White People" policy limits Jewish immigration into Palestine
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Germany invades Poland. Hitler and Stalin divide Polish lands and people between them.
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Soviets invade Finland.
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Finland surrender to the U.S.S.R.
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Nazi troops Norway and Denmark
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German armies invade Belgium and Holland
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Miracle of the Dunkirk rescue
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Battle of France ends when France signs an armistice with Germany
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Period: to
The Battle of Britain is fought
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The United States repeals the Neutrality Act of 1935 and passes the Lend-Lease Act
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The German army unleashes the first airborne invasion of the island of Crete
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Hitler launches Operation Barbarorssa and invades the U.S.S.R.
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German officers attempt to assassinate Hitler
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The Allies liberate Rome
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The Allied troops land in Normandy on D-Day
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FDR, Churchill, and Stalin meet at Yalta
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U.S. bombs Dresden, killing 135,000 civilians
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Iwo Jima and Okinawa are taken by the Allies
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The United Nations Charter is ratified
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Period: to
Harry Truman serves as President
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Period: to
Nuremberg Trials are held
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President Roosevelt dies
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The Soviet army surrounds Berlin
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Hitler commits suicide
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Victory in Europe (V-E) Day
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Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
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Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
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Japan announces surrender (V-J Day)
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Soviet Communists take control of Bulgaria and Romania
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Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech
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Yugoslavia joins the Communist bloc
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President Truman issues the Truman Doctrine, supporting the containment of Communism
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United Nations authorizes a sovereign Jewish state
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Pakistan becomes an independent nation: Mohammad Ali Jinnah is Pakistan's first governor-general
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India becomes an independent nation: Jawaharlal Nehru is the first prime minister of India
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Israel is officially declared a state
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Gandhi is assassinated
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Period: to
Israel fights a brief war for independence against five Arab states
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Israel enters the United Nations