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Great Depression Begins.
In 1929, there was a plunge in stock market prices that marked the beginning of the Great Depression.
Image is of a newspaper that signified "Black Tuesday", or the day the stock market crashed. -
Japan Conquers Manchuria in Northern China.
Japan launched an attack on Manchuria. Within a few days Japanese armed forces had occupied several strategic points in South Manchuria.
Image is of Japanese troops entering Manchuria. -
Roosevelt First Elected President.
Democratic president who created programs to counter the effects of the Great Depression, such as the New Deal. -
Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany.
After elections in 1932, Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany and then overthrew the constitution and took control of the government.
Image is of people congragulating Hitler on his becoming Chancellor. -
Nuremberg Laws.
The Nazi government passes two new laws that deprived German Jews of their rights of citizenship.
Image is of the original Nuremberg Laws. -
Hitler & Mussolini Form the Rome-Berlin Axis.
Formed an alliance known as the Axis, which Japan would join in 1940.
Image is of Hitler and Mussolini. -
Japan invades China.
The Japanese claimed they were fired on at the Marco Polo Bridge by the Chinese. Using that as an excuse, the Japanese then launched a full – scale invasion of China. -
Britain's Appeasment of Germany.
Germany would gain control of 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.
Image is of hte British Prime Minister and Adolf Hitler making the appeasement. -
Kristallnacht.
Two days were Nazis in Germany torched synagogues, vandalized Jewish homes, schools and businesses, and killed about 100 Jews. Kristallnacht is also referred to as the “Night of Broken Glass”.
Image is of a Jewish - owned bussiness destroyed during Kristallnacht. -
Germany & Soviet Union have a Non-Aggression Pact.
Germany and the Soviet Union agreed not to attack each other. -
Germany invades Poland - blitzkrieg (Start of WWII)
German forces drove deep into Poland using a method of warfare called “blitzkrieg” which stressed speed and surprise in the use of tanks, troops, and planes. In less than a month, Poland collapsed.
Image is of German troops entering Poland after the blitzkrieg. -
Germany invades Denmark & Norway.
Hitler conquered Denmark and overran Norway. -
Germany invades Belgium and France.
With the primary goal of conquering France, German bombers hit air bases in France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands, destroying large numbers of Allied planes on the ground. -
German air force (Luftwaffe) bombs London and other civilian targets in the Battle of Britain.
Hitler needed to destroy Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF), so the German air force bombed London, yet the RAF was able to hold off the Luftwaffe, and despite the constant bombing, London did not surrender. -
Japan Joins the Axis Powers.
Germany, Italy, and Japan signed the Tripartite Pact, which became known as the Axis alliance. -
The Nazis Implement the "Final Solution".
A meeting between the SS and German government agencies, which was the Nazi plan to exterminate the Jewish people.
Image is of Jews being loaded onto trains, part of the Nazi's "Final Solution". -
Lend - Lease Act.
Congress approved this act, which Roosevelt supported. The act allowed the U.S. to lend or lease resources and equipment’s to the Allies. The U.S. sent Great Britain, the Soviet Unions, and other Allies about $50 billion worth of goods.
Image is of FDR signing the Lend - Lease Act. -
Tuskegee Airmen.
Minorities could aid the war effort by serving in the armed forces. African - American pilots and crew members who served with honor in North Africa and Europe.
Image is of the Tuskegee Airmen. -
Germany invades the Soviet Union.
Even though he had a partnership with Stalin, Hitler feared Stalin’s ambitions in Europe, and wanted Soviet wheat and oil fields to help sustain his military machine. The German Nazi’s inflicted heavy casualties on Soviet Troops until December 1941. -
Pearl Harbor.
Japanese warplanes bombed the huge American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The attack came as a complete surprise to the U.S. About 2,400 Americans died, leaving many U.S. warplanes and ships destroyed or damaged.
Image is of the battleship the West Virginia, sinking. -
Japanese - American Incarceration.
President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which allowed the removal of Japanese and Japanese Americans from the Pacific Coast. They were forced to give up everything they owned, and move to prison - like camps.
Image is of Japanese Americans in internment camps. -
Bataan Death March.
The U.S. surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on the main Philippine island were approximately 75,000 American and Filipino troops were forced to make a 65 – mile march to prison camps. Marchers made the trek in intense heat and were subjected to harsh treatment by Japanese guards, causing thousands to perish.
Image is of soldiers walking the Bataan Death March. -
British Forces Stop the German Advance at El Alamein.
General Erwin Rommel's tanks pushed the British lines to the Egyptian town of El Alamein. This happened sometime in June 1942. -
Battle of Midway.
In part to major advances in code breaking, the United States was able to preempt and counter Japan’s planned ambush of its few remaining aircraft carriers, inflicting permanent damage on the Japanese Navy. This was the U.S.'s most decisive naval battles of WWII. The Battle of Midway ended on June 7, 1942.
Image of oil tanks burning after the Battle of Midway. -
Guadalcanal.
The U.S. 1st Marine Division begins operation Watchtower, the first U.S. offensive of the war, by landing on Guadalcanal, one of the Solomon islands.
Image of marines in battle in Guardalcanal. -
Manhattan Project.
The Manhattan Project was a secret military project created to produce the first U.S. nuclear weapon, led by American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer. The project team worked for three years to construct the weapon. -
German Forces Surrender at Stalingrad.
After fighting with the Soviet army for almost five months, and having thousands of Nazi soldiers freeze or starve to death, the remaining German troops surrendered.
Image is of 91,000 German troops taken prisoner at Stalingrad. -
Rosie the Riveter.
Women worked in munitions factories, shipyards, and offices. Rosie the Riveter promoted the image of a strong woman hard at work at an arms factory. More than 300,000 women served in the U.S. armed forces. Many worked for the WAC, joined the Army and Navy Nurse Corps, and performed important noncombat duties in the Navy and Coast Guard. -
D-Day.
Codenamed Operation Overlord, when some 156,000 American, British, and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50 – mile stretch of the coast of France. It was the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control. -
Battle of the Bulge.
Hitler launched a final assault by having German troops push back the Allied forces in the Ardennes region of Belgium and Luxembourg. The human toll was costly, with about 120,000 German casualties and 80,000 American casualties. -
Yalta Conference.
Until Feburuary 11, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin made important decisions regarding the future progress of the war and the postwar world. -
Iwo Jima.
The Marines pounded Iwo Jima for 74 days, with only 3,000 Japanese alive by March 26, and 6,821 killed/missing and 19,217 wounded for American forces. -
Okinawa.
Last and biggest Pacific island battles of WWII. At stake were air bases vital to the projected invasion of Japan. Ended on June 21, 1945.
Image is of the Okinawa Jeep cemetary. -
Roosevelt Dies, Truman becomes President.
FDR death, Truman takes his place. -
Allied Forces Advance on Berlin, Germany Surrenders.
After Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945; German leaders officially signed an unconditional surrender at General Eisenhower’s headquarters in France.
Image of German leaders signing surrender. -
Atomic Bomb Dropped on Hiroshima.
The B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on the industrial city of Hiroshima, killing more than 75,000 people and turned five square miles into a wasteland. -
Atomic Bomb Dropped on Nagasaki.
After the Japanese refusing to surrender from the first bomb in Hiroshima, the U.S. dropped a second atomic bomb, killing another 40,000. -
Japanese Officials Sign an Official Letter of Surrender on the U.S.S. Missouri, Ending World War II.
Japanese and Allied leaders met about the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay were Japanese officials signed an official letter of surrender.
