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Period: to
World War II
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Adolf Hitler became the leader of the Nazi Party
Hitler was nominated a the leader of the Nazi Party on July 29, 1921. He promised to fix his broken country. After World War I peace and normalcy were both desirable to Germans, So, the Germans wanted Hilter to be the leader of the Nazi Party. -
Benito Mussolini appointed minister of Italy
Mussolini was apppointed prime minister of Italy. Like Hitler, he promised to restore order after the depression from the war. -
Josef Stalin sole dictator of the Soviet Union (USSR)
Stalin, the sole dictator of the USSR, turned the Soviet Union into a tolotarianism. He took high measures to have complete control of industry and agriculture. -
Japan’s Army seizes Manchuria, China
Japan's army takes over Manchuria, China. The League of Nations, which was supposed to ensure world peace, protested this but did nothing to help. -
Hitler is named Chancellor of Germany
Hitler os named Chancellor of Germany, The Great Depression has increased Hitler's popularity because of his promises, which he never kept. Once he was in office, his power grew expontentially. -
Neutrality Acts passed by US Congress
Neutrality Acts passed by US Congress in August 31, 1935. This act promised the American people that the United States would not get involved in forgein affairs. -
Italian Army invades Ethiopia in Africa
It was a brief colonial war that is also remembered in history as the second Italo-Abyssinian war. Mussolini, who was the leader of Italy, had his eye set on annexing Ethiopia into Italy’s newly created colony of East Africa. Although the Italian military was successful in occupying Ethiopia, the Abyssinians did not capitulate or surrender to the Italian forces. -
Militarist take control of Japanese Government
Hard-line militarists in the Japanese government and army pointed to Japan's samurai military traditions, and accused moderate politicians, bureaucrats, and armed service leaders of disregard for Japan's national interests if they opposed military spending or territorial expansion by force. The views of hard-line militarists became increasingly influential in shaping Japan's foreign policy during the 1930s, and they used intimidation and assassination of moderate politicians, bureaucrats and arm -
Hitler sends troops into Rhineland of Germany in violation of the Versailles Treaty
Nazi leader Adolf Hitler violates the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Pact by sending German military forces into the Rhineland, a demilitarized zone along the Rhine River in western Germany. The Treaty of Versailles, signed in July 1919--eight months after the guns fell silent in World War I--called for stiff war reparation payments and other punishing peace terms for defeated Germany. Having been forced to sign the treaty, the German delegation to the peace conference indicated its attit -
Japan’s army pillages Nanjing, China; massacre a quarter of a million people
The Nanjing Massacre, commonly known as "The Rape of Nanking," was an infamous war crime committed by the Japanese military in and around the then capital of China, Nanjing, after it fell to the Imperial Japanese Army on December 13, 1937 (at the time, Nanjing was known in English as Nanking). The duration of the massacre is not clearly defined, although the violence lasted well into the next six weeks until early February 1938. -
Nazis begin rounding up Jews for labor camps
Labor camps were camps for Jews and any other person who went against Hitler beliefs. Jews worked in an evinornment not very welcoming. -
Munich Pact signed giving the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia to Germany
On August 14, 1939, German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop contacted the Soviets to arrange a deal. Ribbentrop met with the Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov in Moscow and together they arranged two pacts - the economic agreement and the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact. -
Nazi-Soviet Pact signed by Hitler and Stalin
On August 14, 1939, German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop contacted the Soviets to arrange a deal. Ribbentrop met with the Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov in Moscow and together they arranged two pacts - the economic agreement and the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact. -
Nazis invade Poland; Britain and France declare war on Germany
Poland and the Poland Campaign (German: Polenfeldzug) in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the beginning of World War II in Europe. The invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week after the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, and ended on 6 October 1939 with Germany and the Soviet Union dividing and annexing the whole of Poland. -
Nazis invade Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium – take control
In April 1940, Hitler’s armies conquered Denmark and Norway. Within two months, they also captured Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and France. -
Germany invades France and forces it to surrender
German forces invaded France on May 10, 1940. On June 22, 1940, France signed an armistice with Germany which went into effect on June 25, 1940. Under the terms of the armistice, Germany annexed the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine which shared borders with Germany and had long been a bone of contention between the two countries. -
Battle of Britain – Royal Air Force defeats German Air Force to prevent invasion of their island
In the spring of 1940, Hitler's armies smashed across the borders of the Netherlands and Belgium and streamed into the northern reaches of France. The German "Blitzkrieg" moved swiftly to the west and the south, splitting the British and French defenders, trapping the British army at Dunkirk and forcing its evacuation from continental Europe. -
First time Peacetime Draft in US
On October 16, 1940, the first peacetime program of compulsory military service takes effect. Under the Selective Training and Service Act, all males between the ages of 21 to 35 are required to register for the draft. A lottery system determines who will be called into service. -
Hitler breaks Pact with Stalin’s Russia and invades -USSR which now joins England in fighting the Germans
Because of the invasion England now joins in on fighting the Germans. -
Churchill and FDR issue the Atlantic Charter
The President of the United States of America and the Prime Minister, Mr. Churchill, representing His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, being met together, deem it right to make known certain common principles in the national policies of their respective countries on which they base their hopes for a better future for the world. -
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
Pearl Harbor will be rememberd forever, The surprise was complete. The attacking planes came in two waves; the first hit its target at 7:53 AM, the second at 8:55. By 9:55 it was all over. By 1:00 PM the carriers that launched the planes from 274 miles off the coast of Oahu were heading back to Japan. -
Japanese invade French Indochina (Viet. Laos, Cambodia)
Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, & Cambodia) had been occupied by the Japanese during the war. In 1941, a Vietnamese nationalist movement, the Viet Minh, was formed by Ho Chi Minh to resist the occupiers -
Japanese Americans interned in isolated camps
Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of about 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. -
Philippines fall to Japanese – Bataan Death March
Imperial Japanese Army, of 76,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war after the three-month Battle of Bataan in the Philippines during World War II, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of prisoners. -
Battle of Midway, turning point of war in the Pacific
In May 1942, Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto sought to draw the US Pacific Fleet into a battle where he could overwhelm and destroy it. -
British and US forces defeat German and Italian armies in North Africa
Fighting in North Africa started with the Italian declaration of war on 10 June 1940. On 14 June, the British Army's 11th Hussars (assisted by elements of the 1st Royal Tank Regiment, 1st RTR) crossed the border into Libya and captured the Italian Fort Capuzzo -
Zoot Suit Riots – Los Angeles, CA
Zoot Suit Riots were a series of riots in 1943 during World War II that exploded in Los Angeles, California between white sailors and Marines stationed throughout the city and Latino youths, who were recognizable by the zoot suits they favored -
Italy surrenders, Mussolini dismissed as Prime Min.
The Armistice with Italy was an armistice signed on September 3 and publicly declared on September 8, 1943, during World War II, between Italy and the Allied armed forces, who were then occupying the southern end of the country, entailing the capitulation of Italy -
D-Day invasion of France at Normandy by Allies
General Eisenhower 'Ike' on D-Day plus one, going to Normandy on H.M.S. Apollo, a fast minelayer, Abdiel class -
Paris retaken by Allies Forces
Paris is liberated by Allied forces. Just as the Allies (UK, USA, Canada, Free French Forces) had secured the area around Normandy, Free French Forces insisted on advancing into Paris. The Allies reluctantly agreed to provide support (instead wanting to push east toward Berlin). The campaign began on August 19, with the Germans surrendering Paris August 25. -
Battle of the Bulge – last offensive of German Forces
The 7th Army—at the orders of U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower—had sent troops, equipment, and supplies north to reinforce the American armies in the Ardennes involved in the Battle of the Bulge -
US forces return to recapture the Philippines
On 9th January 1945 Allied troops landed on Luzon, the largest of the islands in the Philippines. The Japanese Army, under General Tomoyuki Yamashita, fought a vigorous rearguard action but within a month General Douglas MacArthur and his troops had crossed the Central Plain and were approaching Manila. Yamashita and his main army now withdrew to the mountains but left enough troops in Manila to make the capture of the city as difficult as possible. An estimated 16,000 Japanese soldiers were kil -
FDR dies, Harry S. Truman becomes President
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884 – December 26, 1972) was the 33rd President of the United States (1945–1953). As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States (1945), he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his unprecedented fourth term. -
V-E Day, war ends in Europe
Victory in Europe Day — known as V-E Day or VE Day — commemorates 8 May 1945 (in Commonwealth countries; 7 May 1945), the date when the World War II Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. -
V-J Day, Japan surrenders to Allied Forces
On August 14, 1945, it was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War II. Since then, both August 14 and August 15 have been known as "Victory over Japan Day," or simply "V-J Day." -
First Atomic Bombs dropped
The explosion carrying more power than 20,000 tons of TNT and visible for more than 200 miles succeeded. The world's first atomic bomb had been detonated. -
War Crimes Trials held in Nuremburg, Germany; Manila, Philippines and Tokyo, Japan.
Twenty-eight Japanese military and political leaders were charged with Class A crimes, and more than 5,700 Japanese nationals were charged with Class B and C crimes, mostly entailing prisoner abuse. China held 13 tribunals of its own, resulting in 504 convictions and 149 executions.
