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Benito Mussolini becomes Dictator
Mussolini was a fascist dictator of Italy from 1925 to 1945. He also allied with Adolf Hitler and was called "II Duce" by his countrymen. -
Hirohito becomes dictator
He was given the position Emperor of Japan after his father died. He was young but was determined to lead Japan to greatness and be aggressive. -
Adolf Hitler becomes dictator
Hitler was a German leader who led the Nazi army and killed millions of Jews and other minorities. His great speeches and trust helped him to become leader and plans to help Germany and solve his issues. -
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Hitler's Control
Adolf Hitler, the leader of Germany’s Nazi Party, was one of the most powerful and notorious dictators of the 20th century. Hitler capitalized on economic woes, popular discontent and political infighting to take absolute power in Germany beginning in 1933. Hitler’s virulent anti-Antisemitism and obsessive pursuit of Aryan supremacy fueled the murder of some 6 million Jews, along with other victims of the Holocaust. -
Neutrality Act of 1939
This act lifted the arms of embargo and put all trade with nations under the terms of "cash-and-carry." The ban on loans remained in effect, and American ships were barred from transporting goods to ports. -
Fall of France
It starts with Germany invading Czechoslovakia in 1939. Then Hitler invades Poland in 1939. Then he invades Denmark and Norway in 1939-1940. There were also treaties broken and lose supplies. -
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World War II
In late August 1939, Hitler and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin signed the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, which incited a frenzy of worry in London and Paris. On May 10, German forces swept through Belgium and the Netherlands in what became known as “blitzkrieg,” or lightning war.At the Potsdam Conference of July-August 1945, U.S. President Harry S. Truman, Churchill and Stalin discussed the ongoing war with Japan as well as the peace settlement with Germany. -
Battle of Britain
The Successful defense of Great Britain against unremitting and destructive air raids conducted by the German air force from July through September 1940, after the Fall of France. The battle created conditions for Great Britain's survival, for the extension of the war, and for the eventual defeat of Nazi Germany. -
Japanese Aggression
The Japanese aggression started in 1919 and ended in 1941. Important battles like the attack on Pearl Harbor and The Manchuria Invasion were a big part of the Japanese aggression. -
Pearl Harbor: Embargo on Japanese Trade
American officials responded to this aggression with a battery of economic sanctions and trade embargoes. They reasoned that without access to money and goods, and especially essential supplies like oil, Japan would have to rein in its expansionism. -
Pearl Harbor: Importance of Pearl Harbor
Because American military leaders were not expecting an attack so close to home, the naval facilities at Pearl Harbor were relatively undefended. Almost the entire Pacific Fleet was moored around Ford Island in the harbor, and hundreds of airplanes were squeezed onto adjacent airfields.To the Japanese, Pearl Harbor was an irresistibly easy target. -
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The Holocaust
Beginning in late 1941, the Germans began mass transports from the ghettos in Poland to the concentration camps, starting with those people viewed as the least useful: the sick, old and weak and the very young. -
Bataan Death March
75,000 Filipino and American troops marched 65 miles to a prison camp. It was harsh, brutal, and people died before they got their because of exhaustion. Some would die because of starvation, disease, and they were beat if too weak to walk. -
Battle of Midway Island
World War II naval battle, fought almost entirely with aircraft, in which the United States destroyed Japan's first-line carrier strength and most of its best trained naval pilots. It also the threat of further Japanese invasion in the Pacific. -
Atomic Bomb: The Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was the code name for the American-led effort to develop a functional atomic bomb during World War II. The Manhattan Project was started in response to fears that German scientists had been working on a weapon using nuclear technology since the 1930's. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The battle was a brutal military campaign between Russian forces and Nazi Germany. It was the longest and bloodiest engagements in modern warfare. It ultimately turned the tide of the war. -
D-Day (Operation Overload)
During World War II (1939-1945), the Battle of Normandy, which lasted from June 1944 to August 1944, resulted in the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control. 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region. The invasion was one of the largest amphibious military assaults in history and required extensive planning. -
V-E Day
Both Great Britain and the United States celebrate Victory in Europe Day. Cities in both nations, as well as formerly occupied cities in Western Europe, put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of the Nazi war machine. -
Yalta Conference
The February 1945 Yalta Conference was the second wartime meeting of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. During the conference, the three leaders agreed to demand Germany’s unconditional surrender and began plans for a post-war world. -
Atomic Bomb: Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombing
Scientists at Los Alamos had developed two distinct types of atomic bombs by 1945—a uranium-based design called “the Little Boy” and a plutonium-based weapon called “the Fat Man.”
