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World War II
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Great Depression Begins
The Great Depression was the worst economic crisis in the nation's history, and affected millions of people around the globe. Many European countries had borrowed money from U.S. banks to help rebuild the damage caused from World War I. Many experienced starvation, homelessness, and extreme suffering. -
Japan conquers Manchuria in northern China
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Hitler Becomes Chancellor of Germany
After elections in 1932, Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany. He overthrew the constitution and took control of the goverment. -
Roosevelt First Elected President
Democratic president who created the New Deal to counter the effects of the Great Depression. Three steps that boosted public confidence: declared a bank holiday, promise that only the banks that were in good shape were allowed to reopen, and FDR communicated directly with the public through fireside chats. -
Nuremberg Laws
They were when the Nazis wanted to abrogate the Jews civil rights. Soon the Jews were restricted from their public and private lives. -
Hitler & Mussolini form the Rome-Berlin Axis
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Japan Invades China
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Germany Invades Austria
Home to mostly German-speaking people. Hitler took over Austria after many residents of Austria and Germany welcomed the unification. -
Britain's appeasement of Germany
Neville Chamberlain, British Prime Minister, met with HItler in Munich, Germany. They reached an agreement: Germany would gain control of the Sudetenland and Hitler promised to stop seeking more territory. The Munich agreement was part of the British and French policy of appeasement, meeting Germany's demands in order to avoid war. -
Kristallnacht
Wave of violent anti-Jewish Programs. -
Germnay & Soviet Union have a nonagression pact
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Germany invades Poland - blitzkrieg (start of WWII)
German forces went deep into Poland using a new method of warfare called blitzkrieg, or "lightning war," which stressed speedand surprise in the use of tanks, troops, and planes. In less than a month Poland fell. -
Japan Joins the Axis Powers
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Germany invades Denmark, Norway, Belgium, and France
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Rosie the Riveter
With so many men fighting overseas, the demand for women workers rose sharply. About 14 million women worked. Women worked in munitions factories, shipyards, and offices. The country promoted "Rosie the Riveter" (an image of a strong woman hard at work at an arms factory, as its symbol for its new group of wage earners). -
Germany air force (Luftwaffe) bombs London and other civillian targets in the Battle of Britain
In the summer and fall of 1940, the German air force, or Luftwaffe, fought the RAF and bombed London and other civilian targets during the Battle of Britain. The RAF was able to hold off the Luftwaffe. Despite constant bombing, the British people did not surrender. -
Lend-Lease Act
Congress approved the Lend-Lease Act, which allowed the United States to lend or lease resources and equipment (weapons) to allies. Roosevelt supported the Lend-Lease Act. The United States sent Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and other Allies about $50 billion worth of goods. -
Germany invades the Soviet Union
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Pearl Harbor
Japanese warplanes bombed the huge American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The attack came as a surpirse, about 2,400 Americans (civilians and servicemen) died. Many U.S. warplanes and ships were destroyed or damaged, leaving the U.S. fleet devasted. December 7, 1941 is called "a date that will live in infamy." -
British forces stop the German advance at El Alamein
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Manhattan Project
This was a top-secret program to build an atomic bomb. Led by American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the project team worked for three years to construct the weapon. -
Japanese-American incaraceration
In the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt signed the Executive Order 9066. The order allowed the removal of Japanese and Japanese-Americans from the pacific coast. More than 110,000 men, woman, and children wree taken. They were forced to sell their homes, possessions, and give up their jobs. They were forced to be moved into prison-like camps. -
Bataan Death March
More than 70,000 Filipino and American troops surrendered to the Japanese on the Bataan Peninsula in the philippines. From there, the Japanese marched the soldiers over 645 miles to a prison camp. On the way about 10,000 prisoners died from shootings, beatings, or starvation. -
Battle of Midway
Turning point in the war. The U.S. Navy destroyed four Japanese carriers and at least 250 planes. America lost one carrier and 150 planes. -
Guadalcanal
The Allies gained their first major land victory against the Japanese on the island of Guadalcanal. They finally won in February 1943, after six months of brutal fighting. Navajo Indians played an important role in this victory. To keep Japanese intelligence from breaking American codes, the U.S. military had begun using the Navajo lanuage to transmit important messages. Also, the Marines recruited over 400 Navajos to serve as code talkers. -
German forces surrender at Stalingrad
German forces attacked the Russian city of Stalingrad, an important industrial center. The Soviet amry fiercly defended 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 the Germans and cut off their food and supplies. The German defeat at Stalingrad was the turning point of the war. -
Tuskegee Airman
Riots of erupted in Los Angeles after American servicemen attacked Mexican Americans. About one million African Americans served in the armed services. Due to racial prejudice, they served in segregated units. One unit was the Tuskegee Airmen, Afircan-American pilots and crew members who served with honor in North Africa and Europe. -
Iwo Jima
(Allies had to establish bases closer to the mainland, and they chose the Japanese-held islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa). U.S. Marines invaded Iwo Jima, and eventually planted the U.S. flag at the top of Iwo Jima's Mount Suribachi, signaling their victory., through fighting continued for several days afterward. (It took the U.S. Marines several months to conquer both islands, more than 18,000 U.S. men died.) -
Okinawa
(Allies had to establish bases closer to the mainland, and they chose the Japanese-held islands of Iwo Jima and OKinawa.) They invaded Okinawa, and in several months it took the U.S. Marines to conquer both islands, more than 18,000 men died. -
D-Day
Allied invasion of France and was the largest seaborne invasion in history. The plan, Operation Overlord, was commanded by General Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. Allied paratroopers and gliderborne forces landed behind German lines in Normandy, a region of nothern France. More than 5,000 ships and landing craft carried more than 150,000 American, British, and Canadian soldiers across the channel to Normandy. 10,00 people were killed. -
Battle of the Bulge
German troops pushed back Allied forces in the Ardennes region of Belgium and Luxembourg before U.S. forced regrouped and defeated them. The battle's human toll was costly, with about 120,000 German casualties and about 80,000 American causalities. -
The Nazis implement the "Final Solution"
The Final Solution was the Nazi leaders set out to murer every Jew under German rule. To accomplish every scheme, the Germans built huge facilities known as concentration camps. Officals crammed Jews into railroad boxcars and sent them to these camps. They forced able-bodied people to work, while everyone else was slaughtered. -
Roosevelt dies, Truman becomes president
During the time of the Yalta Conference, President Roosevelt was in poor health. In just months after being sworn in for a fourth term, the president died. Roosevelt's vice-president, Harry S. Truman, succeeded him and continued the war effort. -
Allied forces advance on Berlin, Germany surrenders
Russians reached Berlin. Deep inside his air-raid bunker, Adolf Hitler sensed the end was near. On April 30, 1945, the man who had conquered much of Europe comminted suicide. -
Formation of the United Nations
50 nations met in San Francisco to discuss a new peacekeeping organization to replace the weak and ineffective League of Nations. -
Formation of the United Nations
All 50 nations ratified the charter, creating a new international peacekeeping body known as the United Nations. President Roosevelt had urged Americans not to turn their backs on the world again. Unlike the League of Nations, the United States is a member of the United Nations. -
Potsdam Conference
Allies held the Potsdam Conference to plan the war's end. Decision was made to put the Nazi war criminals on war. -
Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki
The B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on the industrial city of Hiroshima. The explosion killed more than 75,000 people and turned five square miles into a wasteland. Japanese refused to surrender. On August 9, the United States dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki, killing 40,000 people. -
Japanese officals sign an offical letter of surrender on the U.S.S Missouri, ending World War II
Japanese and allied leaders met aboard the U.S. battlship Missouri in Tokyo Bay. There, Japanese officals signed an offical letter of surrender. The war was over. -
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Nuremberg Trials
24 defendants, including some of Hitler's top officials. Hermann Goering - creator & head of Gestapo (secret police). Charged with crimes against humanity. 19 found guilty, 12 sentenced to death. People are responsible for their actions, even in wartime. -
Marshall Plan
Congress approved Secretary of State George Marshall's plan to help boost European economies. The U.S. gave more than $13 billion to help the nations of Europe get back on their feet.
