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Stalin comes to power
In 1912, Lenin, then in exile in Switzerland, appointed Joseph Stalin to serve on the first Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party. Three years later, in November 1917, the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia. The Soviet Union was founded in 1922, with Lenin as its first leader -
Mussolini becomes Prime Minister of Italy
He forged the paramilitary Fascist movement in 1919-1921, using it to march on Rome, become prime minister, and then to seize dictatorial power (1925-1926). -
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also referred to as the Shoah, was a genocide in which some six million European Jews were killed by Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany, and the World War II collaborators with the Nazis. -
Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany
On the night of January 30, 1933, the Nazis organized a massive torchlight parade in Berlin to celebrate the appointment of Hitler as Chancellor of Germany -
Invasion of Poland by Germany
On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. The Polish army was defeated within weeks of the invasion. -
Lend-lease act passed
Proposed in late 1940 and passed in March 1941, the Lend-Lease Act was the principal means for providing U.S. military aid to foreign nations during World War II. -
Pearl harbor
on December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The barrage lasted just two hours, but it was devastating: The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels. -
America declares war on japan
as America’s Pacific fleet lay in ruins at Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt requests, and receives, a declaration of war against Japan. -
War production board created
The War Production Board (WPB) was an agency of the United States government that supervised war production during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established it on January 16, 1942 -
Executive order 9066
Executive Order 9066 was a United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. -
Operation Torch
Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of French North Africa during the North African Campaign of the Second World War which started on 8 November 1942. -
Okinawa
invasion of Okinawa itself. The 82-day-long battle lasted from 1 April until 22 June 1945. -
Iwo Jima
the Battle of Iwo Jima was a major battle in which the United States Marine Corps landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Imperial Army -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
President Harry S. Truman, warned by some of his advisers that any attempt to invade Japan would result in horrific American casualties, ordered that the new weapon be used to bring the war to a speedy end. On August 6, 1945, the American bomber Enola Gay dropped a five-ton bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. -
End of WW2
Germany was defeated by the allied powers. The USA forces Japan to surrender. -
D Day
The Normandy landings were the landing operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II.
