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The Great Depression
The serious and world-wide economic decline of the 1930s. Worst economic crisis in the nation’s history. Many people involved experienced starvation, homelessness, and extreme suffering. It started in October 1929, and ended into the entry of America into WWII in 1941. -
Japan conquers Manchuria, China
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Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany
He led the fascist National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazi Party). The Nazis received many supporters by preaching German racial superiority. Hitler was elected Chancellor in 1933 and overthrew the constitution and took control of the government. -
Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated
Franklin D. Roosevelt was the 32nd president of the U.S. and was responsible for creating the New Deal to help fight off the Great Depression. -
Nurmeberg Laws instituted
The Nuremberg Laws were laws created by the Nazis that revoked Reich citizenship for Jews and prohibit Jews from marrying or having sexual relations with persons of "German or related blood." -
Hitler and Mussolini form the Rome-Berlin Axis
Hitler and Mussolini form the Rome-Berlin Axis which was later known as the Axis Powers. -
Japan invades China
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Germany invades Austria
Hitler invades Austia and wanted to unify it with Germany, and many Austrians supported the unification. -
Britain's appeasement of Germany
British Prime Ministr, Neville Chamberlain, met with Hitler in Munich, Germany and they reached an agreement: Germany would gain control of Sudetenland and Hitler promised to stop seeking more land. Hitler broke his promise. -
Kristallnacht
A massive coordinated attack throughout the German Reich. It was known as the night of broken glass. Many Jewish owned shops were broken into and a lot of furniture was destroyed. Many Jews, were arrested and sent to concentration camps. This happened in the town of Zeven and Baden-Baden. -
Germany and the Soviet Union sign a nonaggression pact
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Germany invades Poland
Germany used a new form of warfare called blitzkrieg, or "lightning war," which stressed speed and suprise in the use of tanks, troops, and planes. Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. In less than a month, Poland fell. -
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Germany invades Denmark, Norway, Belgium, and France
April: Hitler conquered Denmark, overran Norway, launched blitzkrieg against Belgium and the Netherlands. June: Germany invaded France and in less than two weeks, they surrendered. -
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German air force (Lftwaffe) bombs London and other civillian targets in the Battle of Britian
Hitler made plans to invade Britain in the summer and fall of 1940. The Luftwaffe fought the RAF (Royal Air Force) and bombed london and other civillian targets. The RAF was able to hold off Germany and did not give up. -
Japan joins the Axis Powers
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Lend-Lease Act
U.S. Congress approved the Lend-Lease act which allowed the U.S. to lend or lease resources and equipment to the Allies. The U.S. sent about $50 billion worth of goods to the Soviet Union, Great Britian, and other Allies. -
Tuskegee airmen
The Tuskegee Airmen were a famous segregated unit of African-American pilots. They served with honot in North Africa and Europe. About 1 milion African Americans served in the armed services. -
Germany invades the Soviet Union
Germany feared Stalin's ambitions and wanted the Soviet wheat and oil. -
Pearl Harbor
The Tojo government planned to conquer the East Indies, a source of oil, and other Asian countries, but in the eyes of Japan's rulers, only the U.S. Navy stood in their way. Japanese warplanes were sent to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii to bomb the U.S. Navy and launch a suprise attack. After the bombing the U.S. joined the Second World War. -
The Nazis implement the "Final Solution"
Nazi leaders set out to murder every Jew under German rule. To accomplish such goals, the Germans crammed Jews into railroad boxcars and sent them to concentration camps where the able-bodied were forced to work and the rest were slaughtered. -
Japanese-American incarceration
During WWII, Japanese-Americans were sent to the West to prison camps. More than 110,000 men, women and children were rounded up and were forced to sell their homes, theirpossessions, and leave their jobs. -
Bataan Death March
More than 70,000 Filipino and American troops surrendered to the Japanese on the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines. Japanes marched soldiers 65 miles to a prison camp. On the way, about 10,000 prisoners died from shootings, beatings, or starvation. -
The Manhattan Project
The U.S. had set up a top secret program called the Manhattan project in 1942. This program was created to bbuild the atom bomb, which took 3 years to create. -
Battle of Midway
The U.S. had a victory over Japan off the coast of Midway. It turned out to be a major turning point in the war. -
British forces stop the German advances at El Alamein
The Germans were planning on controlling Egypt, but then the British would lose the Suez Canal, which was the shortest sea route to Asia and the Middle Eastern oil fields. The Germans fought their way to El Alamein, but the British stopped them there and they retreated. -
Guadalcanal
First U.S. land victory over Japan. It took six months of bitter fighting, but th U.S. won the battle. -
German forces surrender at Stalingrad
In September 1942, German forces attacked the Russian city of Stalingrad, an important industrial center. The Soviet AArmy fiercelydefended the city. As winter approached, the German commander begged Hitler to let them retreat, but Hitler refused. Soviet troops drove tanks across the frozen landscape and launched a massive counterattack that trapped Germans and cut off food and supplies. Many Nazis froze and starved to death. The remaining Germans surrendered in February. -
Rosie the Riveter
Rosie the Riveter was a character that symbolized women in manufacturing jobs. She was an image of a strong woman hard at work at an arms factory.In 1940, about 14 million women worked - about 25% of the nation's labor force and by 1945, over 19 million women worked - roughly 30%. -
D-Day
More than 150,000 Allied soldiers crossed the English Channel to the coast of Normandy in Northern France. The Allied invasion of Franche became known as D-Day. It was the largest seaborne invasion in history. By the end of the month, 850,000 Allied troops had poured into France. -
Battle of the Bulge
Final German assault in December 1944 in Ardennes region of Belgium and Luxembourg. They managed to push back Allied forces before the U.S. forces regrouped and defeated them. -
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Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference was a conference where the Allies planned the post-war world. The "Big Three" (Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill). They discussed that they were going to establish a postwar international peace-keeping organization, what type of governments would be set up in Eastern Europe after the warm and Stalin promised to declare war on Japan after Germany surrendered. -
Iwo Jima
Allies began bombing Japan, but needed to establish bases closer to the mainland. They chose the Japan held islands Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The U.S. marines invaded Iwo Jima's Mount Suribachi, signaling their victory, though fighting continued several days afterward. -
Okinawa
After the U.S. conquered Iwo Jima, there next target was Okinawa. -
Roosevelt dies, Truman takes his place
The President of the U.S., Franklin D. Roosevelt, dies and the vice president, Harry S. Truman takes his place. -
Formation of the United Nations
50 nations met in San Francisco to discuss a new peacekeeping organiztion to replace the weak and ineffectivee League of Nations. By June, all 50 nations ratified the charter, creating a new international peacekeeping body known as the United Nations. -
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Allied forces advance on Berlin
The Russians reached Berlin. Hitler sensed the end was near and comitted suicide. On May 2, the Soviet Army captured Berlin. On May 7, German leaders officially signed an unconditional surrender at General Eisenhower;s headquarters in France. -
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Postdam Conference
Allies held the Postdam Conference to plan the war's end. The descision was to Nazi war criminals on trial. -
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Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki
On August 6, the B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on the industrial city of hiroshima. The explosion killed more than 750,000 people and turned five square miles into a wasteland. On August 9, the U.S. dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki killing another 40,000. -
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Japanese sign an official letter of surrender on the U.S.S. Missouri, ending World War II
Japan surrender on August 4. On September 2, Japanese and Allied leaders met aboard the U.S. battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay. There, Japanese officails signed a letter of surrender, and the war ended. -
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Nuremburg Trials
24 defendants, including some of Hitler's top officials. Hermann Goring - creator & head of Gestapo (secret police). Charged with crimes against humanity; 19 found guilty, 12 sentenced to death. Pople are responsible for their actions, even in wartime. -
Marshall Plan approved
Congess approved the Secretary of State George Marhall's plan to help boost European economies. The U.S. gave more than $13 bilion to help the nations of Europe get back on their feet.
