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The Great Depression Begins
The Stock Market Crash of 1929 was a plunge in stock market prices that marked the beginning of the Great Depression. During this period, millions of Americans experienced starvation and homelessness. European countries were also affected because they had borrowed money from U.S. banks to rebuild after World War I, so when the American economy failed, so did theirs. -
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Time of the Great Depression
The Stock Market Crash of 1929 was a plunge in stock market prices that marked the beginning of the Great Depression. During this period, millions of Americans experienced starvation and homelessness. European countries were also affected because they had borrowed money from U.S. banks to rebuild after World War I, so when the American economy failed, so did theirs. -
Japan Conquers Manchuria in Northern China
The need for new markets and new sources of raw materials such as coal, oil, bauxite (for aluminum), and iron ore led Japan to invade and annex Manchuria, renaming it Manchukuo. China protested to the League of Nations, but the League was not able to stop the aggression. Japan kept a large army in southern Manchuria. -
Hitler Becomes Chancellor of Germany
Hitler overthrew the constitution and took control of the government after the elections of 1932. He called himself the der Führer, or “the Leader”. He led the fascist Nazi Party which attracted supporters by preaching German racial superiority. -
Roosevelt First Elected President
FDR was inaugurated as the 32nd president. He created the New Deal to counter the effects of the Great Depression. In his first "hundred days," he proposed, and Congress enacted, a sweeping program to bring recovery to business and agriculture, relief to the unemployed and to those in danger of losing farms and homes, and reform. -
German air force (Luftwaffe) bombs London and other civilian targets in the Battle of Britain
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Nuremberg Laws
The Nazi Leaders announced these new laws which excluded German Jews from Reich citizenship and prohibited them from marrying people of "German or German-related blood." It also deprived them of most political rights. Jews were disenfranchised and could not hold public office. The first amendment to the Nuremberg Laws defined anyone who had three or four Jewish grandparents as a Jew. -
Hitler & Mussolini form the Rome-Berlin Axis
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Japan Invades China
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Germany Invades Austria
Hitler invaded Austria and announced that Austria had become part of the German Reich. The laws of Germany also applied in Austria. The Austrian chancellor, Schuschnigg, was arrested and imprisoned and almost immediately the Austrian Jews lost their rights. -
Britain’s Appeasement of Germany
The objective of this policy was to maintain peace in Europe by making limited concessions to German demands. During the meeting, the leaders of Britain and France acceded to Hitler's demands to cede the Sudetenland to Germany, as well as to most of his additional demands . In return, Hitler pledged that he had no territorial claims on the rest of Czechoslovakia. -
Kristallnacht
Nationwide, anti-Jewish pogroms which took place throughout Germany. Owes its name to the broken glass from the windows of synagogues, Jewish homes, and businesses which were destroyed. -
The Nazis implement the “Final Solution
The Nazis used the term “Final Solution” to refer to their plan to annihilate the Jewish people. It is not known when the leaders of Nazi Germany definitively decided to implement the "Final Solution." The genocide, or mass destruction, of the Jews was the culmination of a decade of increasingly severe discriminatory measures. -
Germany & Soviet Union have a nonaggression pact
With this pact, the two countries agreed that they wouldn't attack each other. Germany had protected itsself from fighting on two fronts -
Germany invades Poland - blitzkrieg (start of WWII)
German forces bombard Poland on land and from the air, as Adolf Hitler seeks to regain lost territory and ultimately rule Poland. Germany used the "blitzkrieg" strategy to invade. This was characterized by extensive bombing early on to destroy the enemy's air capacity, railroads, communication lines, and munitions dumps, followed by a massive land invasion with overwhelming numbers of troops, tanks, and artillery. -
Rosie the Riveter
Was an image of a strong woman hard at work at an arms factory whihc was promoted in the U.S. as a symbol for its new group of wage earners. More than 300,000 women served in the U.S. armed forces. Women made up roughly 30 percent of the work force. -
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o Germany invades Denmark, Norway, Belgium, and France (Vichy France)
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Japan Joins the Axis Powers
Germany, Italy, and Japan signed the Tripartite Pact, which became known as the Axis alliance. -
Lend-Lease Act
This act allowed the United States to lend or lease resources and equipment to the Allies. The United States sent Great Britai, the Soviet Union, and other Allies about $50 billion worth of goods. -
Tuskegee Airmen
African Americans were denied military leadership roles and skilled training becuas many believed that they lacked qualifications for combat duty. Civil rights organizations and the black press exerted pressure that resulted in the formation of an all African-American pursuit squadron. -
Germany Invades the Soviet Union
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Attack on Pearl Harbor
The Japanese launched a surprise attakc on America and after the first 2 hours of the attack, over 2,400 Americans were killed. 21 American ships had either been sunk or damaged, and over 188 US aircrafts had been destroyed. President Roosevelt then asked Congress to declare war on Japan. -
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan project was a top-secret program to build an atomic bomb. Led by physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the project team worked for three years to construct the nuclear bombs. -
Japanese-American Incarceration
More than 110,000 men, women, and children were rounded up by American officials and sent to prison-like camps. They were forced to sell their homes, possessions, and jobs. Two-thirds of the people interned were Nisei or Japanese Americans born in the United States. -
Bataan Death March
The American soldiers fighting against the Japanese in the Philippines surrendered on April 9th, 1942. The prisoners were marched 65 miles to a prison camp and many soldiers died along the way. -
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal was the first U.S. land victory over the Japanese. The battle started in August 1942 and ended in February 1943. -
British forces stop the German advance at El Alamein
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German forces surrender at Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad began in the summer of 1942, as German forces assaulted the city, a major industrial center and a potential strategic coup. But despite repeated attempts, the German 6th Army, under Friedrich von Paulus, and part of the 4th Panzer Army, under Ewald von Kleist, could not break past the adamantine defense by the Soviet 62nd Army, despite pushing the Soviets almost to the Volga River in mid-October and encircling Stalingrad.Pockets of German belligerence continued until Feb -
D-Day
the day on which Allied forces landed in northern France to begin the liberation of occupied Europe in World War II. Allied paratroopers and gliderborne forces landed behind German lines in Normandy. More than 5,000 ships and landing craft carried more than 150,000 American, British, and Canadian soldiers across the English Channel to Normandy. -
Battle of the Bulge
Hitler sends a quarter of a million troops across an 85-mile stretch of the Allied front, from southern Belgium into Luxembourg. In deadly cold winter weather, German troops will advance some 50 miles into the Allied lines, creating a deadly "bulge" pushing into Allied defenses. -
Yalta Conference
Leaders planned the post-war Europe. The conference happened in February of 1945, and the three leaders that attended were Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin. Thw conference went on until the 11th. -
Iwo Jima
This was one of the islands that the Allies tried to conquer to get closer to the Japanese mainland. The Allies landed on Iwo Jima on February 19th, 1945. After four days of fighting, the Allies planted the American flag on the highest point of the island where the picture shown was taken. -
Okinawa
Okinawa was the last stepping stone for the Allies to conquer before reaching the mainland. The fighting was rough and lasted for more than two and a half months. Landings began on April 1st, 1945. Okinawa was completely taken over by the Aliies on June 22, 1945. -
Roosevelt dies, Truman becomes president
President Roosevelt dies on April 12, 1945, a month after being sworn in for his fourth term His vice-president, Harry S. Truman, succeeded him and continued the war effort. -
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. -
Allied forces advance on Berlin, Germany surrenders
Soviet Forces advance on Berlin on April 30th, 1945 and that same day Hitler marries his mistress and kills them both. Germany surrendered to the Russians in Berlin, however Germany’s unconditional surrender to General Dwight Eisenhower happened on May 7th, 1945, in France. -
Ratification of the Charter
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. -
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Postdam Conference
Allies held the Potsdam Conference to plan the war’s end. Their decision was made to put Nazi war criminals on trial. -
Atomic Bomb Dropped on Hiroshima
The first atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. This bomb killed 75,000 people and turned five square miles into a wasteland. Many died from radiation exposure. -
Atomic bomb Dropped on Nagasaki
When the Japanese refused to surrender, the U.S. dropped the second atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Nagasaki killing another 40,000 people. Nagasaki was a major shipbuilding city and a large military port. -
Japanese Officials Sign an official Letter of Surrender on the U.S.S. Missouri, ending World War II
More than two weeks after accepting the Allies terms, Japan formally surrendered. The ceremonies, less than half an hour long, took place on board the battleship USS Missouri, anchored with other United States' and British ships in Tokyo Bay. It was an extensively photographed occasion, and, despite overcast weather, generated many memorable images. -
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Nuremberg Trials
Period of the Nuremberg Trials in whihc there were 24 defendants, including some of Hitler's top officials.Hermann Goring, creator and head of the Gestapo(secret police), was charged with crimes against humanity. 19 were found guilty and 12 were sentenced to death. -
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Marshall Plan
Congress 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 during these years.
