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Mussolini’s March on Rome
The March on Rome was an organized mass demonstration in October 1922 which resulted in Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party ascending to power in the Kingdom of Italy. The fascist party leaders planned an insurrection, to take place on October 28. On October 29 1922, the King appointed Mussolini as Prime Minister, thereby transferring political power to the fascists without armed conflict. Thus, one of the Axis powers came to power. -
Hitler writes Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf, translated to My Struggle or My Fight, is an autobiographical manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. Hitler began Mein Kampf while imprisoned for what he considered to be "political crimes" following his failed Putsch in Munich in November 1923. The work describes the process by which Hitler became antisemitic and outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germany. Mein Kampf was published in 1925. -
Stalin Becomes Dictator of USSR
Joseph Stalin was a Soviet politician who ruled the Soviet Union from 1927 until 1953. Initially governing the country as part of a collective leadership, he consolidated power to become the Soviet Union's dictator by the 1930s. Stalin is known for his collaboration with Hitler in WWII. -
1st “Five Year Plan” in USSR
The first five-year plan of the USSR was a list of economic goals, created by Joseph Stalin, based on his policy of Socialism in One Country. The plan was implemented in 1928 and took effect until 1932. The plan, overall, was to transition the Soviet Union from a weak, poorly controlled, agriculture state, into an industrial powerhouse. While the vision was grand, its planning was ineffective and unrealistic given the short amount of time given to meet the desired goals. -
Japan invades Manchuria
Japan invaded Manchuria on September 18 1931. Japan's ongoing industrialization and militarization ensured their growing dependence on oil and metal imports from the US. The US sanctions which prevented trade with the United States resulted in Japan furthering their expansion in the territory of China and Southeast Asia in search of resources. The invasion is sometimes cited as an alternative starting date for World War II. -
Holodomor
The Holodomor, also known as the Terror-Famine or the Great Famine, was a famine in Soviet Ukraine from 1932-1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians. The Holodomor was man-made & intentional because of the rejection of outside aid, confiscation of all household foodstuffs, & restriction of population movement. The Holodomor is a recognized genocide of Ukrainian people carried out by the USSR. Stalin is suspected to have planned the famine to eliminate a Ukrainian independence movement. -
Hitler Appointed Chancellor of Germany
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming Chancellor in 1933, and then assuming the title of Führer und Reichskanzler in 1934. During his dictatorship from 1933 to 1945, he initiated World War II in Europe. He was central to the perpetration of the Holocaust, the genocide of about 6 million Jews and millions of other victims. -
“Night of the Long Knives” in Germany
The Night of the Long Knives was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from June 30 to July 2, 1934. Chancellor Adolf Hitler, ordered a series of political extrajudicial executions intended to consolidate his power and alleviate the concerns of the German military about the role of Ernst Röhm and the Sturmabteilung (SA). The murders were intended to improve the image of the Hitler government with a German public that was increasingly critical of thuggish SA tactics. -
Italian Invasion of Ethiopia
The Second Italo-Ethiopian War was a war of aggression which was fought between Italy and Ethiopia from October 1935 to February 1937. It is seen as an example of the expansionist policy that characterized the Axis powers and the ineffectiveness of the League of Nations before the outbreak of World War II. On October 3 1935, 200,000 soldiers of the Italian Army commanded by Marshal Emilio De Bono attacked from Eritrea without prior declaration of war. -
Nuremburg Laws Enacted
The Nuremberg Laws were antisemitic and racist laws that were enacted in Nazi Germany on September 15 1935. The two laws were the Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour, which forbade marriages and extramarital intercourse between Jews and Germans, and the Reich Citizenship Law, which declared that only those of German or related blood were eligible to be Reich citizens. The remainder were classed as state subjects without any citizenship rights. -
The Great Purge and Gulags
The Great Purge was a campaign of political repression in the Soviet Union that occurred from 1936-1938. It involved a large-scale repression of relatively wealthy peasants (kulaks). The total number of deaths due to Stalinist repression in 1937–38 are estimated to be between 950k to 1.2 million. The "Kulak Operation" and the targeting of national minorities, were the main components of the Great Terror, accounting for 9/10 of the death sentences and 3/4 of Gulag prison camp sentences. -
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War was a civil war in Spain fought from 1936 to 1939. General Francisco Franco achieved a high-ranking role. Due to the political climate at the time, the war was variously viewed as class struggle, a war of religion, a struggle between dictatorship and republican democracy, between revolution and counterrevolution, and between fascism and communism. The Nationalists won the war, which ended in early 1939, and ruled Spain until Franco's death in November 1975. -
The Rape of Nanking
The Rape of Nanjing (Nanking), or the Nanjing Massacre, was an episode of mass murder and mass rape committed by Imperial Japanese troops against the residents of Nanjing. The massacre occurred over six weeks, starting when the Japanese captured Nanjing on December of 1937. Soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army murdered an estimated 40k-300k people, perpetuating widespread rape and looting. The event remains a contentious political issue and an obstacle in Sino-Japanese relations. -
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, was a pogrom against Jews carried out by SA paramilitary forces and civilians throughout Nazi Germany on November 9-10 1938. The name Kristallnacht ("Crystal Night") comes from the shards of broken glass that littered the streets after the windows of Jewish-owned stores, buildings and synagogues were smashed. -
Invasion of Poland
The invasion of Poland was an attack on the Second Polish Republic by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on September 1 1939, one week after the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between Germany and the USSR. The Soviets invaded Poland on September 17. The campaign ended on October 6 with Germany and the Soviet Union dividing and annexing the whole of Poland under the terms of the German–Soviet Frontier Treaty. -
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor
The Attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by Japan upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. The attack led to the United States' formal entry into WWII the next day. Japan intended the attack as a preventive action to keep the United States Pacific Fleet from interfering with its planned military actions in the Philippines, Guam, and Wake Island and on the British Empire in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong