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Adolf Hitler becomes the leader of the Nazi Party
He initiated World War II and oversaw fascist policies that resulted in millions of deaths, also leader of the nazis. -
Benito Mussolini appointed Prime Minister of Italy
Created the Fascist Party in Italy in 1919, eventually making himself dictator prior to World War II. He was killed in 1945. -
Josef Stalin sole dictator of the Soviet Union (USSR)
Ruled the Soviet Union for more than two decades, instituting a reign of terror while modernizing Russia and helping to defeat Nazism. -
Japan’s Army seizes Manchuria, China
Japan entered Manchuria hoping to expand their empire. They had conquered Manchuria and when the League of Nations sent a delegation, they ignored it. -
Hitler is named Chancellor of Germany
Hitler was voted to be chancellor in 1933 because germany and their president hoped he would give them a better government. -
Neutrality Acts passed by US Congress
The neutrality acts were passed in hopes to prevent the United States from becoming involved in future wars. The acts were repealed on November 13th, 1941. -
Italian Army invades Ethiopia in Africa
Mussolini, the leader of italy, agreed to Hitler's plan and invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in order to expand German territories -
Militarist take control of Japanese Government
The emperor of Japan, Hirohito, led Japan to take part in nationalism and militarism. -
Hitler sends troops into Rhineland of Germany in violation of the Versailles Treaty
In May 1935 France signed a treaty of friendship and mutual support with the USSR. Germany claimed the treaty was hostile to them and Hitler used this as an excuse to send German troops into the Rhineland in March 1936, contrary to the terms of the treaties of Versailles and Locarno. -
Japan’s army pillages Nanking, China; massacre a quarter of a million people.
On December 9, after unsuccessfully demanding the defending Chinese troops in Nanking to surrender, the Japanese troops launched a massive attack upon the city. -
Munich Pact signed giving the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia to Germany
a settlement permitting Nazi Germany's annexation of portions of Czechoslovakia along the country's borders mainly inhabited by German speakers, for which a new territorial designation "Sudetenland" was coined. -
Nazis begin rounding up Jews for labor camps
A labor camp is a prison camp in which a regime of hard labor is enforced. Hitler's troops would round jews up and force them into these camps overworking them daily. -
Nazi-Soviet Pact signed by Hitler and Stalin
The pact delineated the spheres of interest between the two powers, confirmed by the supplementary protocol of the German-Soviet Frontier Treaty amended after the joint invasion of Poland. -
Nazis invade Poland; Britain and France declare war on Germany
To Hitler, the conquest of Poland would bring Lebensraum, or “living space,” for the German people. -
Nazis invade Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium – take control
The Nazis began invading these countries in hopes of taking their land and gaining control. -
Battle of Britain begins – Royal Air Force defeats German Air Force to prevent invasion of their island
the Royal Air Force defended the United Kingdom against the German Air Force attacks from the end of June 1940. -
Germany invades France and forces it to surrender
(Until July 22) More than 300,000 French and British troops were evacuated from the beaches near Dunkirk (Dunkerque) across the English Channel to Great Britain. Paris, the French capital, fell to the Germans -
First time Peacetime Draft in US
Known as the Selective Training and Service Act. It required that men who had reached their 21st birthday but had not yet reached their 36th birthday register with local draft boards. -
Churchill and FDR issue the Atlantic Charter
The Atlantic Charter set goals for the post-war world and inspired many of the international agreements that shaped the world thereafter. -
Japanese invade French Indochina (Viet. Laos, Cambodia)
The invaded to prevent the Republic of China from importing arms and fuel through French Indochina along the Sino-Vietnamese Railway. -
Hitler breaks Pact with Stalin’s Russia and invades - USSR which now joins England in fighting the Germans
Hitler and stalin made a German-Soviet nonaggression pact. Hitler agreed to the pact just to insure that Germany could invade Poland unopposed. The pact fell apart when Germany invaded the USSR in 1941 -
Pearl Harbor in Hawaii attacked by Japanese Naval and Air forces, US declares war on Japan, Germany and Italy declare war on the US - Dec. 9
On December 7th early in the morning, there was an attack on Pearl Harbor. No one was expecting it and many civilians and soldiers died. This began war between the US and Japan. following this, Germany and Italy declared war on America, bringing the US into European conflict. -
Philippines fall to Japanese – Bataan Death March
Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make an arduous 65-mile march to prison camps. -
Japanese Americans interned in isolated camps
Japanese Americans were incarcerated based on local population concentrations and regional politics. More than 110,000 Japanese Americans, who mostly lived on the West Coast, were forced into interior camps. -
Battle of Midway, turning point of war in the Pacific
(Until the 7th) The Battle of Midway was a decisive naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II. Between 4 and 7 June 1942, The Japanese operation, like the earlier attack on Pearl Harbor, sought to eliminate the United States as a strategic power in the Pacific -
Russians stop Nazi advance at Stalingrad save Moscow
The Russians had different tactics and things to use as an advantage that helped save Moscow. -
British and US forces defeat German and Italian armies in North Africa
The campaign was fought between the Allies and Axis powers, many of whom had colonial interests in Africa dating from the late 19th century. -
Zoot Suit Riots – Los Angeles, CA
A series of racist attacks in June 1943 in Los Angeles, California, United States, between Mexican American youths and European American servicemen stationed in Southern California. -
Italy surrenders, Mussolini dismissed as Prime Min.
Dwight Eisenhower publicly announces the surrender of Italy to the Allies. Germany reacted with Operation Axis, the Allies with Operation Avalanche. -
D-Day invasion of France at Normandy by Allies
Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the go-ahead for the largest amphibious military operation in history: Operation Overlord, code named D-Day, the Allied invasion of northern France. -
Paris retaken by Allies Forces
a military action that took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the German garrison surrendered the French capital on 25 August 1944. -
Battle of the Bulge – last offensive of German Forces
the last major German offensive campaign of World War II. -
US forces return to recapture the Philippines
the American and Filipino campaign to defeat and expel the Imperial Japanese forces occupying the Philippines, during World War II. -
FDR dies, Harry S. Truman becomes President
On this day in 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt died of a massive cerebral hemorrhage at his Warm Springs, Georgia, retreat at the age of 63. -
V-E Day, war ends in Europe
the public holiday celebrated on 8 May 1945 to mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces. -
V-J Day, Japan surrenders to Allied Forces
Victory over Japan Day is the day on which Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect ending the war. -
First Atomic Bombs dropped
On August 6, 1945, the American bomber Enola Gay dropped a five-ton bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. -
War Crimes Trials held in Nuremburg, Germany; Manila, Philippines and Tokyo, Japan.
Held for the purpose of bringing Nazi war criminals to justice, the Nuremberg trials were a series of 13 trials carried out in Nuremberg, Germany, between 1945 and 1949
