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Mussolini's March on Rome
This was a planned mass demonstration organized by Mussolini and his supporters to demand political power from the Italian government. It was not a violent march, but the threat of violence and perception of widespread support was used to pressure the government into granting Mussolini's demands. Fearing a potential coup and civil unrest, King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy invited Mussolini to form a new government, and appointed him prime minister, marking the beginning of Fascist rule in Italy. -
Stalin becomes dictator of USSR
After Vladimir Lenin died in 1924, Stalin acted as his successor and gained control of the Soviet Union. He used his positions in the Communist Party and outmaneuvered other Bolshevik leaders to gain power. Stalin was a communist and seized all property, farms, and factories in order to control the economy and create equality. He used secret police and the "Great Purge" to eliminate rivals. His Five Year Plans transformed the Soviet Union into an industrial and military power by 1939. -
Hitler writes Mein Kampf
Hitler and his followers staged the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich, a failed takeover of the government in Bavaria, Germany. In the aftermath, Hitler was convicted of high treason and sentenced to five years in prison. He spent less than a year behind bars, and during this time he wrote "Mein Kampf", his political autobiography. It describes how Hitler became antisemitic and expresses his political ideology and future plans for Germany. -
1st “five year plan” in USSR
The first "five year plan" was created and executed to create quick growth and and large scale industrialization. During this time, heavy industrial and agricultural changes were put in place by Stalin. -
Nazi Germany invades Poland
The Nazi Party invaded Poland to expand the territory of Germany and have more Germans living there. Hitler saw the Polish people as inferior and only fit as a work force. The invasion was "justified" with propaganda depicting Polish people killing German residents in Poland. This was the major trigger to the start of World War 2, as Great Britain and France declared war on Nazi Germany. -
Japan invades Manchuria
Looking for raw materials to power industrial growth, Japan's military invaded Manchuria, China, to get them. The Soviet Union clashed with Japan in Manchuria in a nearby river, battling for about 4 months, ending with Japan leaving in defeat. -
Holodomor
Also known as the Ukrainian Famine, Holodomor was a man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine that killed millions of Ukrainians. It was a result of Stalin's forced collectivization of agriculture and grain requisitioning, which aimed to crush Ukrainian resistance to Soviet rule, punish Ukrainian peasants who resisted collectivization, and strengthen Stalin's control over the region -
Hitler appointed chancellor or Germany
German president Paul Von Hindenburg appointed Hitler as chancellor at the head of a coalition government in 1933. This gave the Nazi's government power and lead to a major turning point for Germany, and ultimately, the world. -
"Night of the Long Knives" in Germany
Hitler, fearing that the paramilitary SA group(enemies of the SS) was becoming too powerful, felt they needed to be stopped. This led to Hitler ordering the elite SS guards to murder the SA leaders. Other perceived opponents of Hitler were murdered as well. It established Hitler as the supreme administrator of justice of the German people, further raising his power. -
Italian Invasion of Ethiopia
One of the major battles that paved the path of World War 2 was the Italo-Ethiopian war, or the Italian Invasion of Ethiopia. A "justification" for the attack was an incident during December 1934, between Italian and Abyssinian (Ethiopian) troops at the Wal-Wal Oasis on the border between Abyssinian Somaliland, where 200 soldiers died. Both parties were exonerated in the incident, much to Mussolini's disgust, as he felt Abyssinia should have been held accountable for the incident. -
Nuremberg Laws Enacted
Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party in 1935 changed the status of German Jews to lower than they already were, thus "legally" establishing the framework that eventually led to the Holocaust. The Nuremberg laws made new Jewish parents choose a name for their child from a government list. They also made German passports of all German Jews invalid, and to make them valid again, they must be stamped with the letter J. All Jews in Nazi Germany had to wear the star of David on their left breast. -
The Great Purge and Gulags
The Great Purge consisted of 3 publicized show trials held in the Soviet Union in the 1930's. Lots of old Bolsheviks were found guilty of treason, and were executed or imprisoned in Gulags, which were hard labor camps that put people in terrible conditions. It was later found that they were actually innocent, and were pressured by fear to admit their "crimes." The whole thing was an effort by Stalin to eliminate challenge from past and potential opposition groups -
Spanish Civil War
Spain spent much of the 1920s under the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera, and the economic hardships caused by the Great Depression increased tension in the Spanish public. Labor unrest was widespread in the early 1930s. These factors caused the Spanish military to revolt against their republican government. The nationalists were given help from the Nazi's and Italians, meaning Spain would be dragged into World War 2. -
The Rape of Nanking
The Imperial Japanese Army massacred, killed, raped, looted, and committed other forms of violence against the citizens of Nanking, China. The Japanese army sought to break Chinese resistance and assert control over Nanking as a part of their plan to conquer china. The soldiers, fueled with propaganda, a lack of command and control, and a sense of racial superiority, acted in what they felt as "revenge" for perceived offenses against Japanese troops. -
Kristallnacht
Known also as, "Night of Broken Glass," Kristallnacht was a night where Nazi storm troopers attacked Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues across Germany. Many Jews were killed, injured, arrested, and fined for the damage. The broken glass from the buildings littered the ground, giving it its name. -
Japan Bombs Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is a US naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii. Japan sought to quickly weaken US naval strength and capture strategically vital oil supplies, so many bombs were dropped on the naval base, and once a pilot was out of bombs, he flew his plane straight into a ship, exemplifying the Japanese idea that suicide is better than capture. Days later, Germany and Italy declared war on the US, dragging the neutral country into another global war.