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Mussolini's March on Rome
The insurrection by which Benito Mussolini came to power. The March marked the beginning of fascist rule and meant the doom of the preceding parliamentary regimes of socialists and liberals. -
Hitler writes Mein Kampf
A blueprint of his agenda for a Third Reich and a clear exposition of the nightmare that will envelope Europe from 1939 to 1945. -
1st “five year plan” in USSR
Implemented by Joseph Stalin, concentrated on developing heavy industry and collectivizing agriculture, at the cost of a drastic fall in consumer goods from 1928 to 1932. He wanted this to speed up the process of industrialisation in the Soviet Union so that it could compete with output levels in developed capitalist economies. -
Stalin becomes dictator of USSR
After Lenin died in 1924, Stalin eventually outmaneuvered his rivals and won the power struggle for control of the Communist Party. By the late 1920s, he had become dictator of the Soviet Union. -
Nazi Germany invades Poland
German forces under the control of Adolf Hitler bombard Poland on land and from the air. Germany invaded Poland to regain lost territory and ultimately rule their neighbor to the east. -
Japan invades Manchuria
Japan invaded the northern Chinese province of Manchuria as an effort to secure resources for its expanding industries. -
Holodomor
A man-made famine engineered by the Soviet government of Joseph Stalin from 1932 to 1933. The primary victims of were rural farmers and villagers, who made up roughly 80 percent of Ukraine's population. Feeling threatened by Ukraine's strengthening cultural autonomy, Stalin wanted to destroy the Ukrainian peasantry, the Ukrainian intellectual and cultural elites to prevent them from seeking independence for Ukraine. -
Hitler appointed chancellor of Germany
President Paul von Hindenburg names Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazi Party, as chancellor of Germany. His emergence as chancellor marked a crucial turning point for Germany and, ultimately, for the world. -
“Night of the Long Knives” in Germany
Hitler ordered a bloody purge of his own political party, from June 30, 1934 to July 2, 1934, assassinating hundreds of Nazis whom he believed had the potential to become political enemies in the future. It represented a triumph for Hitler, and a turning point for the German government. It established Hitler as "the supreme leader of the German people" -
Nuremburg Laws enacted
The Nazis enacted the Nuremberg Laws, because they wanted to put their ideas about race into law. They believed in the false theory that the world is divided into distinct races that are not equally strong and valuable. -The Reich Citizenship Law
-The Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor -
Italian invasion of Ethiopia
An armed conflict that resulted in Ethiopia’s subjection to Italian rule. The war demonstrated the ineffectiveness of the League of Nations when League decisions were not supported by the great powers.
Lasted until May 5, 1936. -
The Great Purge and gulags
A brutal political campaign led by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin to eliminate dissenting members of the Communist Party and anyone else he considered a threat from 1936 to 1938. Survivors were sent to forced labor camps, known as Gulags. -
Spanish civil war
A military revolt against the Republican government of Spain, supported by conservative elements within the country. The war was an outcome of a polarization of Spanish life and politics that had developed over previous decades. -
The Rape of Nanking
In Nanking, China, the Japanese butchered an estimated 150,000 male “war prisoners,” massacred an additional 50,000 male civilians, and raped at least 20,000 women and girls of all ages, many of whom were mutilated or killed in the process. -
Kristallnacht
Nazi leaders unleashed a series of pogroms against the Jewish population in Germany and recently incorporated territories on November 9-10, 1938. This event came to be called Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass) because of the shattered glass that littered the streets after the vandalism and destruction of Jewish-owned businesses, synagogues, and homes. -
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, a U.S. naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii, that was the scene of a devastating surprise attack by Japanese forces. Just before 8 a.m. on that Sunday morning, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes descended on the base, where they managed to destroy or damage nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight battleships, and over 300 airplanes. More than 2,400 Americans died in the attack, including civilians, and another 1,000 people were wounded.