WW II Timeline

  • Hitler writes Mein Kampf

    Hitler writes Mein Kampf
    Hitler’s book, Mein Kampf was published. He wrote it in prison, where he was serving a sentence for a failed coup he attempted in 1923
  • Mussolini’s March on Rome

    Mussolini’s March on Rome
    The March on Rome came about as part of a drive to establish Mussolini and his Fascist Party as the key political party in Italy.
  • Stalin becomes dictator of USSR

    Stalin becomes dictator of USSR
    Stalin assumed leadership over the Soviet Union following Lenin's death in 1924.
  • 1st “five year plan” in USSR

    1st “five year plan” in USSR
    The first five year plan was created in order to initiate rapid and large-scale industrialization across the USSR
  • Japan invades Manchuria

    Japan invades Manchuria
    immediately following the Mukden Incident Japan invaded Manchuria. At the war's end in February 1932, the Japanese established the puppet state of Manchukuo.
  • Holodomor

    Holodomor
    Joseph Stalin feeling threatened by Ukraine's strengthening cultural autonomy, Stalin took measures to destroy the Ukrainian
  • Hitler appointed chancellor of Germany

    Hitler appointed chancellor of Germany
    President Paul von Hindenburg names Adolf Hitler, leader or führer of the Nazi party as chancellor of Germany
  • “Night of the Long Knives” in Germany

    “Night of the Long Knives” in Germany
    The purge of Nazi leaders by Adolf Hitler to get rid of any threat. Hitler ordered his elite SS guards to murder the organization’s leaders.
  • Nuremburg Laws enacted

    Nuremburg Laws enacted
    The Nazis enacted the Nuremberg Laws because they wanted to put their ideas about race into law.
  • Italian invasion of Ethiopia

    Italian invasion of Ethiopia
    Italian troops invaded Ethiopia forcing the country's Emperor, Haile Selassie, into exile. Italy soon took control and used it for its resources.
  • The Great Purge and gulags

    The Great Purge and gulags
    The “Great Purge,” the Soviet secret police arrested millions of people, including government officials, scientists, artists, and intellectuals, and sent them to gulags (work camps).
  • Spanish civil war

    Spanish civil war
    The Spanish Civil War (Spanish: Guerra Civil Española) was a civil war in Spain fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republicans and the Nationalists with the Nationalists being led by Francisco Franco.
  • The Rape of Nanking

    The Rape of Nanking
    The Rape of Nanking was the mass murder of Chinese civilians in Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China, immediately after the Battle of Nanking
  • Kristallnacht

    Kristallnacht
    the Nazi regime coordinated a wave of antisemitic violence. This became known as Kristallnacht or the "Night of broken glass"
  • Nazi Germany invades Poland

    Nazi Germany invades Poland
    German troops invaded Poland triggering World War II. In response to German aggression, Great Britain and France declared war on Nazi Germany.
  • Japan bombs Pearl Harbor

    Japan bombs Pearl Harbor
    The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Japanese upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii.