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Adolf Hitler becomes the leader of the Nazi Party
after a power play within the Nazi party, Adolf Hitler became the party leader and began a system of authoritarian control. -
Period: to
World War ll Era from 1921 to 1946
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Benito Mussolini appointed Prime Minister of Italy
ruling the country as Prime Minister from 1922 until his ousting in 1943. He ruled constitutionally until 1925, when he dropped all pretense of democracy and set up a legal dictatorship. Known as Il Duce, Mussolini was one of the key figures in the creation of fascism. -
Josef Stalin sole dictator of the Soviet Union (USSR)
Joseph Stalin is made the sole dictator of the Soviet Union (USSR). He commanded the Soviet Union during this time as a dictatorship. Pictured: Portrait of Joseph Stalin. -
Japan’s Army seizes Manchuria, China
The Japanese army seizes the town of Manchuria, China. Under Japanese control, Manchuria was one of the most brutally run regions in the world. Pictured: Japanese soldiers storm into Manchuria. -
Hitler is named Chancellor of Germany
Adolf Hitler is named the Chancellor of Germany. Under Hitler, Germany soon would start World War II with the invasion of Poland and would start rounding up Jews for what we now know as the Holocaust. Pictured: Portrait of Adolf HItler. -
Neutrality Acts passed by US Congress
The Neutrality Act, preventing the United States from aiding anyone in the war, is passed. This is to ensure that no harm is done to the U.S. Pictured: Signing of the Neutrality Act. -
Italian Army invades Ethiopia in Africa
the Nazis invade Poland; In response to this, Britain and France declared war on Germany. This was the official start of World War Two. Pictured: Invasion of Poland by Nazi soldiers. -
Militarist take control of Japanese Government
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Hitler sends troops into Rhineland of Germany in violation of the Versailles Treaty
Adolf Hitler sends his troops into the Rhinelands. This was, for Germany, a violation of the Versailles Treaty. Pictured: German troops march into Rhineland. -
Japan’s army pillages Nanjing, China; massacre a quarter of a million people
VIDEO
The Nanjing Massacre, commonly known as "The Rape of Nanking," was an infamous war crime committed by the Japanese military in and around the then capital of China, Nanjing, after it fell to the Imperial Japanese Army on December 13, 1937 -
Munich Pact signed giving the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia to Germany
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, for which a new territorial designation "Sudetenland" was coined. -
Nazis begin rounding up Jews for labor camps
The Nazis begin to round of Jews for labor camps, which eventually turn into execution camps. This will be later known as the Holocaust. Pictured: Jews surrender to Nazi soldiers. -
Nazi-Soviet Pact signed by Hitler and Stalin
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the Nazi German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, officially the Treaty of Non-aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics,[a] and also known as the Ribbentrop–Molotov Pact or Nazi–Soviet Pact, was a non-aggression pact signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939. -
Nazis invade Poland; Britain and France declare war on Germany
On this day in 1939, in response to Hitler's invasion of Poland, Britain and France, both allies of the overrun nation declare war on Germany -
Nazis invade Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium – take control
Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are common names for Germany during the period from 1933 to 1945, when its government was controlled by Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP), commonly known as the Nazi Party. -
Germany invades France and forces it to surrender
In the Second World War, the Battle of France, also known as the Fall of France, was the successful German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, defeating primarily French forces. -
Battle of Britain – Royal Air Force defeats German Air Force to prevent invasion of their island
The Battle of Britain is the name given to the Second World War air campaign waged by the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940. -
First time Peacetime Draft in US
The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, also known as the Burke-Wadsworth Act -
Hitler breaks Pact with Stalin’s Russia and invades - USSR which now joins England in fighting the Germans
The Pact did not prevent war between Germany and Russia, but certainly helped Hitler in his war aims. It caused confusion and demoralisation amongst honest communists around the world, who for years had been denouncing Hitler as the foremost enemy of the labour movement and a threat to world peace. -
Churchill and FDR issue the Atlantic Charter
The Atlantic Charter was a pivotal policy statement issued in August 14, 1941 that, early in World War II, defined the Allied goals for the post-war world. It was drafted by the leaders of Britain and the United States, and later agreed to by all the Allies. -
Japanese invade French Indochina (Viet. Laos, Cambodia)
In September 1940, the Japanese occupied Vichy French Indochina in order to prevent the Republic of China from importing arms and fuel through French Indochina along the Sino-Vietnamese Railway, from the port of Haiphong through Hanoi to Kunming in Yunnan. -
Pearl Harbor in Hawaii attacked by Japanese Naval and Air forces, US declares war on Japan, Germany and Italy declare war on the US
The attack on Pearl Harbor[nb 4] was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941 (December 8 in Japan). The attack led to the United States' entry into World War II. -
Japanese Americans interned in isolated camps
Japanese American internment was the World War II internment in "War Relocation Camps" of over 110,000 people of Japanese heritage who lived on the Pacific coast of the United States -
Philippines fall to Japanese – Bataan Death March
The Bataan Death March began on April 9, 1942, was the forcible transfer by the Imperial Japanese Army of 60,000–80,000 Filipino and American prisoners of war after the three-month Battle of Bataan in the Philippines during World War II.[3][4] All told, approximately 2,500–10,000 Filipino and 100–650 American prisoners of war died before they could reach their destination at Camp O'Donnell. -
June 4-7 Battle of Midway, turning point of war in the Pacific
The Battle of Midway in the Pacific Theater of Operations was one of the most important naval battles of World War II. -
Russians stop Nazi advance at Stalingrad save Moscow
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in the southwestern Soviet Union -
British and US forces defeat German and Italian armies in North Africa
The allied forces defeated the german/italian armies. -
Zoot Suit Riots – Los Angeles, CA
The Zoot Suit Riots were a series of riots in 1943 during World War II that broke out in Los Angeles, California. -
Italy surrenders, Mussolini dismissed as Prime Min
Mussolini was relieved of his duty as prime minister. -
D-Day invasion of France at Normandy by Allies
The landing operations of the Allied invasion of Normandy. -
Paris retaken by Allies Forces
The Liberation of Paris lasted until the occupying German garrison surrendered. -
Battle of the Bulge – last offensive of German Forces
The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive campaign launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium. -
US forces return to recapture the Philippines
On this day in 1944, more than 100,000 American soldiers land on Leyte Island, in the Philippines, as preparation for the major invasion by Gen. -
FDR dies, Harry S. Truman becomes President
As president, Truman made important foreign policy decisions such as using atomic weapons on Japan to end World War II. -
V-E Day, war ends in Europe
Victory in Europe Day, generally known as V-E Day or VE Day, was the public holiday celebrated on 8 May 1945. -
First Atomic Bombs dropped
The atomic bombings of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan were conducted by the United States during the final stages of World War II in August 1945. -
V-J Day, Japan surrenders to Allied Forces
The surrender of the Empire of Japan on September 2, 1945, brought the hostilities of World War II to a close. -
War Crimes Trials held in Nuremburg, Germany; Manila, Philippines and Tokyo, Japan
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East, also known as the Tokyo Trials, the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, or simply the Tribunal, was convened on April 29, 1946, to try the leaders of the Empire of Japan for three types of war crimes.
