-
The Great Depression
This was the biggest crash in stock market history and was what led the world into a giant spiral into economic depression. After WWI and the Great Depression, people in Europe were looking for someone to blame for all their troubles, especially Germany who drew the short straw when it came to deals for post-WWI. Hitler took advantage of this widespread economic depression and gave the people someone to blame for their problems. -
Japan conquers Manchuria in Northern China
-
Roosevelt first elected president
Roosevelt won his first election by a landslide with 472 electoral votes whereas Hoover, his opponent, had 59. This was a major win for not just America, but the world. Roosevelt’s New Deal helped bring us out of the Great Depression, and he led the U.S. throughout most of WWII. He was inaugurated March 4, 1933. -
Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany
Through a group of men in high government who liked Hitler’s ideas regarding Nazism, Hitler was made Chancellor. These men convinced the president of Germany, Paul von Hindenberg, to appoint him. This gave Hitler the power he needed to start his revolution against the Jews. It also made him even more of a household name. -
Nuremberg Laws
These were a set of laws that excluded Jews from many things including: prohibiting citizenship, prohibiting voting, prohibiting holding office, and prohibiting the right to marry anyone of German descent. This was the next step up the ladder towards genocide and went a little farther than just discrimination. -
Hitler and Mussolini form the Rome-Berlin Axis
-
Japan invades China
-
Germany invades Austria
This was the first invasion that took place before the war. Austria was a German speaking country and so most people were on board with the fusion. After this Hitler, began to seek to invade countries that might not be quite as cooperative. -
Britain's appeasement of Germany
This was an agreement that came between Britain and Germany that was made to meet the German demands in order to prevent war. It was essentially the Munich Agreement between Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and Hitler. This agreement stated that Germany could take control of the Sudetenland if they promised not to take any other territory. Churchill was against this appeasement. -
Kristallnacht
It literally translates to “Night of Broken Glass”. It was a wave of violent Anti-Jew acts and it annexed Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia. It is called Kristallnacht because people would run around at night and break the glass in Jewish store fronts. -
Germany and Soviet Union have a nonaggression pact
-
Germany invades Poland - blitzkrieg (start of WWII)
Poland was a country that was home to a large portion of the Jewish population, so the fact that it was under Germany’s control was not good. This was the first time the Nazi’s used the war tactic blitzkrieg or “lightning war”. It was a tactic that involved fast, surprise attacks that was very effective against the Allies at the beginning of the war. This was the real beginning of WWII. -
Germany invades Denmark and Norway
-
Germany invades Belgium and France (Vichy France)
-
German air force (Luftwaffe) bombs London and other civilian targets in the Battle of Britain
-
Japan joins the Axis Powers
-
Lend-Lease Act
This act enabled the U.S. to lend supplies, weapons, and large amounts of money to other Allied countries. It put lots of Americans to work building materials for war and put America on good terms with the other Allies. Because of this act, the U.S. was a major contributor to the economics of WWII. -
Germany invades the Soviet Union
-
Manhattan Project
This was a top-secret government program that was developed to build an atomic bomb. It was led by J. Robert Oppenheimer, an American physicist. The team of professional worked to construct the bomb for 3 years. They started working toward the bomb in 1942. -
Pearl Harbor
This was a very important U.S. military port on the coast of Hawaii that was at a convenient location for trade with other Pacific islands. On this day, hundreds of Japanese bombers came and attacked Pearl Harbor, killing 2300 people. It was after this event that America finally declared war on the Japanese, involving themselves in WWII. -
The Nazi's implement the "Final Solution"
The “Final Solution” to all of Germany’s problems in the Nazi’s opinion was to kill all Jews, Roma, homosexuals, and people with opposing political views. They forced them into concentration and extermination camps where they were forced to work hard labor before being murdered. -
Tuskegee Airmen
This is the day the 100th Pursuit Squadron was constituted. These men had been training all of 1941. This was the most important African American sector of the war and they contributed greatly to many battles. In Europe, people didn’t discriminate African Americans as much as America, so these men won many military awards from other Allied countries. African Americans back in America were able to find more jobs with all the white men off at war. -
Japanese-American Incarceration
This was the year it began, there is not a specific date they were first incarcerated.After that fateful day Pearl Harbor, Americans began to think poorly of Japanese-Americans. They were so afraid of the Japanese that they believed Americans of Japanese descent were in contact with Japan and would bring America down from the inside. So the government put all Japanese-Americans into internment camps to make the country’s citizens feel safe, much like what was going on in Europe with the Jews. -
Bataan Death March
This was the aftermath of the Battle of Bataan between the U.S. and Japanese. They fought the battle for months at standstill until General Douglas MacArthur withdrew to protect Australia causing the Americans to surrender. They were forced to walk long distances in scorching heat to torturous prison camps. Along the way people died of exhaustion, sickness, and shots being fired by Japanese escorts. -
Battle of Midway
This battle was a turning point in the war in the Pacific. It begun when 16 bombers led air raids on major Japanese cities which helped them gain morale and also helped to jolt Japan’s own morale. It was then followed by the Battle of Coral Sea, a battle in which neither of the enemy ships saw each other. This all led up to the Battle of Midway in which the U.S. Navy obliterated four Japanese carriers and 250 planes while only losing 1 carrier and 150 planes of their own. -
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal was the Allies first major victory in the war with the Pacific. It was a 6 month battle fought mostly by Marines and the Air Force, it was the battle that the famous dogfight between Pug Southerland and Saburo Sakai. Something that helped us win was the use of the Navajo language as a code for messages between the U.S. military. -
British forces stop the German advance at El Alamein
-
German forces surrender at Stalingrad
German forces were the ones who attacked at Stalingrad, an industrial city, but the Soviets defended it with all their might. It was a long battle in which Hitler would not let his army back down. Thousands of Nazi’s died of violence, hunger, or they were frozen to death. They eventually surrendered after 6 brutal months of fighting. -
Rosie the Riveter
This was the first time there had been a visual interpretation of Rosie and it appeared on POST Magazine. Rosie represented the women of the era: strong, independent, and hard working. With all of the men off at war, women had to step up and take work in the factories to make supplies for the war (hence the riveter). On top of all that, they managed a home and a family by themselves. Rosie was the symbol for women, that they could get through and manage this difficult time! -
D-Day
This was a major turning point in the war during which Allied forces arrived at the beaches of Normandy, France. They came by way or carrier, plane, ship, and paratrooping. Massive amounts of soldiers, more than 150,000 soldiers. -
Battle of the Bulge
This was Germany’s last offensive attack. It took place in the Ardennes region of Belgium and Luxembourg. There were great casualties with around 120,000 Germans lost and some 80,000 Americans dead. Although there were many lives lost, this was another turning point in the war because it put Germany on the defense from there on out. -
Yalta Conference
This was the first time the Allies really knew they were going to win the war. The Big Three met to discuss the post-war world and made plans for punishment for the Germans. This conference established that the Eastern part of Germany and the rest of Eastern Europe would be occupied by Russia, and the Western half of Germany and Europe would belong to Great Britain, France, and the U.S. This was the first initiation of the future “iron curtain”. -
Iwo Jima
This was one of the islands that the U.S. chose to make a base for the effort to bomb Japan. On this day, they invaded the island and later placed the American flag on top of Mount Suribachi to show their victory, even though the battle persisted for several more days. -
Okinawa
This was the other island that was chosen as a U.S. base to help them bomb Japan more successfully. In both of these invasions, 18,000 American men died along with 120,000 or more Japanese deaths. -
Roosevelt dies, Truman becomes president
-
Allied forces advance on Berlin, Germany surrenders
The Soviets had finally reached Berlin and in result, Hitler, who didn’t want to see how his war would end, took his own life. May 2nd, the Allies had captured Berlin forcing German commanders to officially surrender, ending the war in Europe. The next day was pronounced “V-E Day” a.k.a. “Victory in Europe Day”. -
Formation of the United Nations
50 nations met in San Francisco to discuss a new peacekeeping organization to replace the weak and ineffective League of Nations on April 25, 1945. On this date, all 50 nations ratified the charter, creating a new international peacekeeping body known as the United Nations. President Roosevelt had urged Americans not to turn their backs on the world again. The U.S. is a member of the United Nations. -
Potsdam Conference
Allies held the Potsdam Conference to plan the war’s end. Roosevelt was dead so Truman represented the U.S. The war in Europe had already concluded so this was held to figure out the war in Japan. They made the decision to put Nazi war criminals on trial. -
Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima
The American optioned for nuclear warfare to keep the amount of American casualties to a minimum. The attack on Hiroshima, an industrial city, killed over 75,000 people, civilians and military personnel alike. The bomb was dropped out of a B-29 Enola Gay bomber and caused 5 square miles of wasteland. The Japanese still would not surrender. -
Atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki
After the Japanese refused to surrender, the U.S. dropped another atomic bomb over Nagasaki, killing 40,000 people. This was the final point in which Japan decided to surrender to America several days later. -
Japanese officials sign an official letter of surrender on the U.S.S. Missouri, ending World War II
-
Nuremberg Trials
There were 24 defendants, including some of Hitler’s top officials among which was Hermann Goering, the creator and head of Gestapo (secret police). They were charged with crimes against humanity. 19 people were found guilty and 12 were sentenced to death. This shows that people are responsible for their actions, even in wartime. -
Marshall Plan
Congress approved Secretary of State George Marshall’s plan to help boost European economies. The U.S. gave more than $13 billion to help the nations of Europe get back on their feet.
