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Mussolini becomes Prime Minister of Italy
The Italian dictator founded the Fascist Party in 1921. With the help of his followers, the Blackshirts, he overtook the Italian government. -
Stalin comes to power
The Totalitarian Communist dictator took power immediately after the death of Vladimir Lenin, the former leader of the Soviet Union. -
Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany
Being a very skilled speaker, "Der Fuhrer" was able to gain many Nazi followers, helping him rise to power in Germany. -
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Holocaust
Adolf Hitler considered Jews an inferior race and wanted to create a "pure" Germany. The Holocaust was the mass murder of 6 million European Jews, as well as other persecuted groups such as Gypsies and Homosexuals. -
Non-aggression pact
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Invasion of Poland & Start of WWII
Hitler leads German forces bombarding Poland from land and air to regain lost territory. Great Britain responded to the attack 3 days later, and World War II began. -
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Phony War ¨Sitzkreig¨
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Battle of the Atlantic
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Battle of Britain
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Lend-lease Act passed in US
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created the Lend-Lease program to provide money and materials for allies in the war. -
Hitler invades Soviet Union
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Pearl Harbor attack
A day that will live in infamy: Japanese air forces bomb Pearl Harbor sinking and damaging 15 naval ships, destroying 200 aircrafts, and killing and injuring 3,600 Americans. The United States is sucked into World War II. -
America declares war on Japan & enters WWII
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, President FDR declares war on Japan, entering the World War. -
War Production Board created
Established by President FDR to direct war production and the procurement of materials in WWII -
Executive Order 9066
Issued by President FDR ten weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, authorizing the removal of any or all military people from military areas "as deemed necessary or desirable". -
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Battle of Coral Sea
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Battle of Midway
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Battle of Stalingrad
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Operation Torch (North Africa)
The British & American invasion of French North Africa during the North Africa Campaign of WWII. This was the first time the British and Americans worked on an invasion plan together. -
Office of War Mobilization created
The US agency was created to coordinate all government agencies involved in the war effort during WWII. -
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Invasion of Sicily, Italy
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D-Day
The first day of the Battle of Normandy, aka Operation Overlord, which resulted in the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany. The invasion was one of the largest military assaults in history and required extensive planning. -
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Iwo Jima
America invades Iwo Jima for a base near the Japanese coast. Though it was being strongly defended, US marines wiped out the defending forces after a month of fighting. -
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Battle of Okinawa
The battle, aka Operation Iceberg, was the last and biggest of Pacific island battles during WWII. It resulted in the largest number of casualties: over 100,000 Japanese casualties and 50,000 Allied casualties. -
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Battle of Berlin
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Hitler commits suicide
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V-E Day
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Dropping of the atomic bombs
President Truman ordered an American B-29 bomber to drop the world's first deployed atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. A second B-29 bomber dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan three days later. -
End of WWII
Emperor Hirohito of Japan announced the country's surrender in WWII after the dropping of the atomic bombs, and US General Douglas MacArthur accepted the surrender on September 2nd, ending the war.
