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Bolsheviks sign Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
After having taken control of the Russian Government, the Bolshevik party signs a treaty with the Central Powers ending Russia's involvement in World War I. -
Tsar Nicholas II and His Family Assassinated
During Russian civil war following the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, communist revolutionaries shoot the former tsar and tsaringa and their five children, eliminating them as potential rallying symbols for counterrevolutionaries. -
Germany seeks Armistice
WWI conflicts come to a close -
Pan-African Congress Begins
The first Pan-African Congress is held in Paris, organized by W.E.B DuBois, the same location as the Paris Peace Conference. Representatives from African colonies, the West Indies, and United States convened to call on the Conference to approve a charter of rights for Africans. Though these demands are largely ignored, the cooperation between African and African American leaders is reestablished. -
Paris Peace Conference
Representatives of Allied Nations congregate in Paris to negotiate and discuss the fate of Europe, the remains of the Central Powers including the former Ottoman Empire, and various colonies owned by the Central Powers. The Central Powers and Russia were excluded from this Conference. -
The Prohibition Ratified
The Prohibition was a constitutional nationwide ban on the production and distribution of alcohol in the United States. This amendment, however, led to a sudden explosion of organized crime and illegal bars known as speakeasies. -
Lenin forms the Comintern
Lenin's Communist International was a group whose purpose was to encourage revolution across the world by aiding revolutionary groups around the world and prompting colonial natives to rise up against their imperial rulers. -
Treaty of Versailles Signed
Allied powers force German representatives to sign the Treaty of Versailles, making them responsible for starting the war, paying reparations, and, to prevent further conflicts, demilitarization. -
Treaty of Sevres signed by former Ottoman Empire
Allied powers in 1920 presented to the Ottoman sultan a treaty in which the defeated Ottoman Empire's Arab and North African lands were seized, as well as some lands in Asia Minor being distributed among various Allied nations. -
Irish Free State Established
After long-standing disputes on Irish independence are finally brought back to the surface, Irish and British moderates reach an agreement, establish the majority of Ireland as the Irish Free State. -
Egypt Wins Independence
After a series of protests, strikes, and rallies against British Imperialist rule, Egypt finally gains independence. -
USSR Established
V.I. Lenin establishes the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics, or the Soviet Union, out of much of the old Russian empire. -
Hitler fails to take power in Munich
Adolf Hitler, having taken to a growing leadership based on promises of solutions to Germany's post-war Great Depression economic crisis and the restoration of national pride, becomes the leader of the far-right extremist group the National Socialist German Workers. Despite this power, his plan to overtake Munich fails and he is imprisoned, during which he writes "Mein Kampf", the defining text of Nazi ideology. -
Turkey Becomes a Republic
The signing of Treaty of Sevres places areas of Asia Minor into Greek control. Turkish nationalists rise under the leader Mustafa Kemal to overthrow the sultan and defeat the Greeks, as well as declaring Turkey a republic. -
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, aka Lenin, dies
The first leader of the Soviet Union dies at age 54, sparking a power struggle between Communist leaders Joseph Stalin and Trotsky. Following his death, Lenin's body is preserved and put on display. -
General Strike in Britain
In rebellion of low wages and poor factory conditions, some three million people participate in a strike across many different industries at the same time, lasting about nine days. Following this strike, conservatives in Parliament pass bills limiting the striking power of the working class. -
Stalin Initiates First Five Year Plan
The first of Stalin's Five Year Plans are established once Stalin takes lead of the Russian government. The Plans serve to increase industrial and agricultural production, focusing on steel, machines, weapons, collectives of farms run by peasants, and the improvement of transportation and farm equipment. -
The Kellogg-Briand Pact is Signed
In optimistic spirits of peace, the major world powers pursued disarmament and to "renounce war as an instrument of national policy". However the involved nations failed to agree on limiting the size of their armies. -
Penicillin is Discovered
Scientist Alexander Fleming accidentally discovers a bacteria-killing substance in London which he names penicillin. Penicillin becomes the forerunner to modern antibiotics. -
Stock Markets Crash in America
Following multiple attempts by the Federal Reserve to slow the burst of activity on the stock market by increasing interest rates, financial panic sets in. As people all begin to sell their stocks at once, stock prices plummet, annihilating the fortunes of many investors, and beginning the Great Depression around the world. -
Mussolini named Prime Minister of Italy
Benito Mussolini's growing support of the Fascist party in Italy prompts support from not only the government but also the pope. The government, fearing Mussolini's power to cause revolution, grants the leader the title of Prime Minister, increasing his influence tremendously. -
Ghandi's Salt March
In response to British oppression and discrimination in India, Mahatma Ghandi begins a 240 mile march to the sea, where he breaks British law by producing salt. This act was soon taken up by Indians throughout the country in passive rebellion against British policies. -
Unemployment reaches 25% in Britain
As a result of the Great Depression's effects throughout the world, the number of unemployed in the United Kingdom steadily increase, just as the rest of the world. -
Japan Invades Manchuria
As economic situations worsen in Japan, extreme nationalist leaders demand continued expansions in order to fulfill the need for natural resources and an outlet for the exploding population. In a staged incident, Japanese army officers blew up railroad tracks, blamed the damage on the Chinese, then proceeded to occupy the territory with permission from the government to treat it as a puppet state. -
Hitler is made Chancellor of Germany
The government of Germany, believing they could control Hitler, allows his election as chancellor of Germany. However, Hitler's thirst for power led to his establishment as dictator of Germany within a year. -
Japan leaves the League of Nations
As the League of Nations, condemning the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, China, prepare to take action against the Japanese government, Japan withdraws from the League. Following the exit from the League of Nations, Japan negates agreements limiting military size, while the League can do nothing to take action against them. -
Franklin Delano Roosevelt becomes President
Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected as the 32nd President of the United States, presiding over the era of the Great Depression. -
FDR implements the New Deal
Soon after taking office, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt swiftly begins a series of policies to solve the issues of the Great Depression. The New Deal takes initiative in rebuilding the nation's economy through massive public work projects, though coming at the cost of a heavily reduced military budget. -
The Prohibition Repealed
Under Democratic president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 21st amendment, effectively repealing the 18th amendment, ending the nationwide ban on sale and production of alcoholic beverages. -
Italy invades Ethiopa
As an act of defiance against the Allied powers and the Treaty of Versailles, Italy, under the leadership of dictator Mussolini, arms and invades the African territory of Ethiopia. -
The Great Purge Begins
In efforts to eliminate all traces of rebellion and political opposition to his political power, Stalin begins targeting, arresting, executing, and deporting hundreds of thousands of people including Old Bolsheviks, army heroes, industrial managers and more through systems of labor camps, constant monitoring of the public by secret police and censorship of the press. Approximately 8-10 million people are killed during this period. -
Hitler forcefully claims the Rhineland
Germany, having secretly re-militarized under Hitler, takes military action against the French-occupied Rhineland. Hitler is met with very little resistance and conquers one of the first of many territories in his vision for the German Empire. -
Japan initiates Nanjing Massacre
Other wise known as the Rape of Nanjing, the Japanese invasion of the central capital of the Republic of China during the second Sino-Japanese war is composed of the mass murder and mass rape of the citizens of Nanjing by Japanese troops, affecting 50 to 300 thousand people. -
Hitler is appeased and given the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia
Hitler's conquest of Europe cannot be stopped by the Western Powers' military might, due to the budget shortages in military as enacted in order to enable social works as a part of recovering from the Great Depression. British Prime Minister Chamberlain appeases Hitler, granting him the rights to areas of Czechoslovakia in hopes that he will be satisfied and stop his expansion. -
Germany annexes Austria
In what is known as the Anschluss, Germany annexes the German-speaking nation of Austria into the Nazi Germany as the expansion of the German Empire continues.
