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Pan-American Conferences
The first Pan-American conference was held in 1889, but other Pan-American conferences continued to be held until 1948. -
Weimar Republic established in Germany
The Weimar Republic replaced the imperial form of government in Germany following WWI and the Treaty of Versailles -
Hitler becomes Leader of the Nazi Party
After the vote, the committee was dissolved, and Hitler was granted nearly absolute powers as the party's sole leader -
Washington Naval Conference
The Washington Naval Conference was a military conference called by President Warren Harding from Nov 12, 1921 to Feb 6 1922 regarding interests in the Pacific Ocean and East Asia. -
Four Power Treaty
A treaty signed at the Washington Naval Conference by the US, Japan, Great Britain, and France, agreeing to not seek further territorial expansion in the Pacific. -
Five Power Treaty
The Five-Power Naval Limitation Treaty, which was signed by the US, Great Britain, Japan, France, and Italy was an agreement to scrap almost 1,900,000 tons of warships belonging to the Great Powers. -
Nine Power Treaty
The Nine Power Treaty was a treaty affirming the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China and was one of several treaties signed at the Washington Naval Conference -
Benito Mussolini becomes leader of Italy
Mussolini's Fascist party led the March on Rome from the 27th to the 29th of October and ousted Prime Minister Luigi Facta. -
Stalin becomes the leader of the USSR
Stalin was one of the three recognized leaders after Lenin's death in 1924 -
Dawes Plan
An attempt following WWI to collect war reparations from Germany. -
Hitler wrote Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf is Hitler's autobiography in which he outlines his future plans for Germany and his political ideology. -
Hirohito becomes Emperor of Japan
Hirohito assumed the throne upon his father, Yoshihito's, death -
Kellogg-Briand Pact signed
The Kellogg-Briand Pact was an international agreement in which nations promised not to use war to resolve "disputes or conflicts of whatever nature or of whatever origin they may be" -
Stock Market Crash in the US
The most devastating stock market crash in US history, which started the Great Depression -
Japan invaded Manchuria
Japan invaded Manchuria after the Mukden incident and established a puppet state, Manchuko, which lasted until the end of WWII -
Stimson Doctrine
This doctrine announced the non-recognition of the governments of China and Japan. -
FDR becomes president of the US
FDR beat out President Herbert Hoover for the 1932 presidency, and was president until his death in 1945 -
The Halocaust begins
The Halocaust lasted from this date until May 8, 1945, when the Allies liberated Europe. During this time, 6,000,000 Jews were killed. -
Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany
President Paul von Hindenburg names Adolf Hitler as chancellor of Germany. -
New Deal started
Roosevelt delivered his first inagural address on this day, where he stated his plans for America's future. -
Good Neighbor Policy
The Good Neighbor policy was the foreign policy of the administration of FDR toward the countries of Latin America, with an emphasis on non-intervention and non-interference in the domestic affairs of Latin America -
London Economic Conference
This conference, held from June 12 to July 27, 1933, had purposes to win agreemen on measures like global depression, stabilize currency exchange rates, and revive international trade. -
U.S. formally recognizes the Soviet Union
FDR ended almost 16 years of American non-recognition of the Soviet Union -
Tydings-McDuffie Act
Also called the Philippine Independence Act, this law provided for self-government of the Philippines and for Filipino independence from the United States after a period of ten years -
Reciprocal Trade Agreement
After this was passed, the President was allowed to adjust and levy tariff rates. -
Hitler defies the Treaty of Versailles
Adolf Hitler defied the Treaty of Versailles by building up Germany's military forces. -
Neutrality Acts
These acts were passed because of the US's isolationist policies following WWI and were repealed in 1941 due to German u-boat attacks and the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor -
Italy invades Ethiopia
Italy invaded Ethiopia without a declaration of war, which prompted Ethiopia to declare war on Italy -
Germany reoccupies the Rhineland
Adolf Hitler violated the Treaty of Versailles by sending German military forces into the Rhineland, a demilitarized zone along the Rhine River in western Germany. -
Rome-Berlin Axis
An agreement informally linking the two Fascist countries was formualted by Italy's foreign minister was reached on this day an was reinforced by the Pact of Steel. -
Quarantine Speech
A speech given by F.D.R. calling for an international "quarantine of the aggressor nations" as an alternative to American neutrality -
Rape of Nanking
During the second Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese captured the Chinese capital, Nanking, and started an episode of mass murder and widespread looting and rape -
Anschluss
Anschluss was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany. -
Hitler took the Sudetenland
The leaders of Nazi Germany, Great Britain, France, and Italy signed an agreement allowing the Nazis to annex the Sudentenland. -
Hitler hosts Munich Conference
The Munich Agreement was a settlement permitting Nazi Germany's annexation of portions of Czechoslovakia along the country's borders mainly inhabited by German speakers, negotiated at a conference -
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass) was a series of coordinated attacks by the Nazis against Jews across Germany -
Hitler takes Czechoslovakia
Hitler's forces invaded and occupied Czechoslovakia, which had been sacrificed at the Munich conference -
Francisco Franco's Fascist revolt in Spain
Franco's Fascist revolt in Spain was supported by Mussolini and Hitler. -
Nazi-Soviet Pact signed
Representatives from Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union met and signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact, which guaranteed that the two countries would not attack each other, which prevented Germany from having to fight a two-front war -
German invasion of Poland (Blitzkrieg)
The German invasoin of Poland is largely considered to be the beginning of WWII. Poland was occupied by Germany until January 1945 -
Sitzkrieg begins
Also called the Phoney War, this period (Sept. 1939- April 1940) was marked by a lack of major military operations -
Auschwitz opens
The first of the three Auschwitz death camps opened in May 1940. The second opened in early 1942, and the third opened in October 1942 -
Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister of GB
Churchill became Prime Minister after Neville Chamberlain resigned, soon after WWII broke out. -
Allies Evacuate Dunkirk
The Dunkirk evacuation, code-named Operation Dynamo, was the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, France, between May 27 and June 4 1940 -
Cost-Plus system
The government pays a manufacturer the cost to produce an item plus a guarenteed percentage of the profit -
Battle of Britain
This was the name of the air campaign waged on Britain by Germany from July to October 1940. -
Vichy Government established in France
This puppet government of Nazi Germany stayed in France until Allied liberation in 1944. -
Destroyers for Bases Deal
This was a deal between the United States and the United Kingdom in which fifty destroyers were transferred to the UK by the US Navy in exchange for land rights on British possessions. -
Tripartite Pact signed
The Tripartite Pact was a pact signed in Berlin, Germany which established the Axis Powers of World War II. -
Election of 1940
In this election, FDR ran for a third term and won against Wendell Willkie -
Four Freedoms
In FDR's 1941 State of the Union Address, he proposed the four freedoms everyone should have, freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear -
Lend-Lease Act
The act authorized the president to transfer arms or any other defense materials for which Congress appropriated money to “the government of any country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States.” -
Operation Barbarossa
This was the code name for the German invasion of the Soviet Union, which ultimately ended in failure -
Atlantic Charter
This was signed by Winston Churchill and FDR and stated the ideal goals of the postwar era -
Office of Price Administration created
The Office of Price Administration was originally created to control money and rents after WWII started. -
Shoot-on-Sight Orders
FDR issued an order to the Navy to shoot German or Italian warships in the west Atlantic on sight -
Manhattan Project began
President Roosevelt approved the atomic program, which produced the first atomic bombs from 1942-1946 -
Japanese attack Pearl Harbor
Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii in a surprise attack -
U.S. declares war on Japan
After Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared war on them. -
War Production Board created
The WPB directed conversion of industries from peacetime work to war needs, allocated scarce materials, established priorities in the distribution of materials and services, prohibited nonessential production, and rationed commodities. -
Double V Campaign
The Double V campaign demanded that African Americans who were risking their lives abroad receive full citizenship rights at home. -
Nisei were interned in Relocation Center
FDR signed Executive Order 9066 allowing military commanders to designate "military areas" at their discretion, "from which any or all persons may be excluded." -
Hitler enacts the Final Solution
Massacres of Jews existed before 1942, but after that year, extermination camps were built and industrialized mass slaughter of Jews began -
MacArthur's "I have returned" speech
MacArthur was ordered by President Roosevelt to relocate to Australia with his wife and son -
Bataan Death March
After the U.S. surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on the main Philippine island of Luzon to the Japanese during WWII, the Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make an arduous 65-mile march to prison camps -
Doolittle Raids begin over Japan
This was the first U.S. air raid to strike the Japanese home islands during WWII and is notable in that it was the only operation in which U.S. Army Air Forces bombers were launched from an aircraft carrier into combat. -
Battle of the Coral Sea
The battle (May 4-8, 1942) was the first action in which aircraft carriers engaged each other, as well as the first in which neither side's ships sighted or fired directly upon the other. -
Battle of Midway
Between the 4th and 7th of June 1942, the United States defeated an attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy and inflicted irrepairable damage on the Japanese fleet. -
Battle of El Alamein
This was the first battle of El Alamein, fought between July 1st- 27, and although it ended in a stalemate, it halted a second advance byt Axis forces into Egypt. -
Battle of Guadalcanal
The Battle of Guadalcanal, also called the Guadalcanal Campaign, was fought from August 7, 1942 to February 9, 1943, and was the first major offensive by Allied forces against Japan. -
Battle of Stalingrad
This battle was fought between the Germans and the Russians from Aug 23 1942 to Feb 2 1943 for control of Stalingrad -
Operation Torch begins
Operation Torch, lasting from November 8-16, was the British-American invasion of North Africa, led by Dwight D. Eisenhower -
Casablanca Conference
The conference, held from January 14-24, produced a unified statement of purpose, the "Casablanca Declaration" which announced to the world that the Allies would accept nothing less than the “unconditional surrender” of the Axis powers -
Rosie the Riveter
Rosie the Riveter first appeared on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post, but prior to that, the term was first used in 1942 in a song of the same name. -
Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act
This Act allowed the federal government to seize and operate industries threatened by or under strikes that would interfere with war production,and prohibited unions from making contributions in federal elections -
Allies land in Sicily
This was the beginning of the Allies' Italian campaign, and after 38 days of fighting, the Allies prepared to fight on the Italian mainland -
Island Hopping Campaign
Island Hopping was a military strategy employed by the Allies used to bypass heavily fortified Japanese positions and instead concentrate the limited Allied resources on strategically important islands that were not well defended -
Tehran Conference
The Tehran conference was held between Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt, with the main purpose being committing to opeing a second war front -
Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord was the codename for the Normandy landings, starting with D-Day, which lasted from June 6 to August 25 1944. -
Kamikaze Pilots appear in the Pacific
USS Reno was hit by a deliberately crashed Japanese plane -
MacArthur returns to the Philippines
MacArthur returned on the USS Nashville in an assault on the Pilippine island of Leyte -
FDR starts his 4th term
FDR's fourth term began in 1944 when he won the presidential election against Thomas Dewey, and lasted until his death on April 12, 1945 -
Battle of the Bulge
Fought from December 16 1944-January 25, 1925, this was a major German offensive campaign that caught the Allies completely off guard -
Yalta Conference
This was the 2nd of the three wartime conferences by the Big Three, and was held mainly to discuss the re-establishment of the nations of Europe -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The US Armed Forces fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Empire -
Battle of Okinawa
The Allies planned to use Okinawa as a base for air operations on the planned invasion of the Japanese mainland after a long campaign of island-hopping. This battle lasted from April 1 to June 22 -
Benito Mussolini executed
Mussolini was shot, along with his mistress and members of the Italian Social Republic. -
Hitler commits suicide
Adolf Hitler died by a self inflicted gunshot wound, while his wife, Eva, committed suicide with him by ingesting cyanide -
Germany surrenders
Germany signed an unconditional surrender at Allied headquarters in Reims, France, to take effect the following day, ending the European conflict of WWII -
V-E Day
V-E (Victory in Europe) Day was the public holiday to mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces -
United Nations Charter signed
The Charter of the United Nations was signed in San Francisco, at the conclusion of the United Nations Conference on International Organization, and came into force on October 24, 1945 -
Potsdam Conference
This was the last wartime conference, and the goals included the establishment of post-war order, peace treaties issues, and countering the effects of the war. -
Atomic Bomb dropped on Hiroshima
The US dropped their first atomic bomb, "Little Boy," on Japan, followed by the bombing of Nagasaki a few days later -
Atomic Bomb dropped on Nagasaki
The US had successfully created an atomic bomb with the Manhattan Project, and used it to bomb the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki -
V-J Day
V-J Day is also known as Victory over Japan Day -
Japan surrenders
Japan's surrender on board the USS Missouri brought about the official end of WWII -
Nuremburg Trials
The Nuremburg Trials were the trials of prominent members of the political, economic, and military systems of Nazi Germany between November 20, 1945 and October 1, 1946
