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Election of Mussolini
After suffering great losses after WW1, Italian citizens looked for a new leader to help steer them away from their economic collapse, and with an election coming along, so did the Fascist Party. Being led by Mussolini, the Fascists are a political group that focuses on extreme measures of government, meaning almost everything run and controlled by the government, even having war as a necessary option. But with no other option, on this day, Fascist leader Benito Mussolini became leader of Italy. -
Beginning of Great Depression
The Great Depression was a worldwide event that was caused by many countries economies falling to a record low. It is said that it really began on this day, when the U.S. Stock Market crashed, along with the U.S. economy, and once America's economy fell, others did too, due to their helping to support European countries rebuild after WW1. What essentially happened next was country after country falling into an economic depression, a problem that WW2 would actually help to solve. -
Japanese Invasion of Manchuria
Japan looked to expand their territory after WW1, but because they were an island country, the only way for this to happen was for them to conquer other country's or make deals with them for their land, Japan took the extreme route. On this day, Japanese forces attacked and captured the country of Manchuria, having their forces move up and down the coast, capturing any cities they came across, before moving into the center of the country. This was Japan's first aggressive act leading to WW2. -
Hitler's Rise to Power
After the loss of the German army in WW1, Germany had still not recovered 15 years later, they had fallen into an economic depression, with their money becoming worth close to nothing,
that's how the Nazi Socialist party came to attention. With promises to fix the economy, and give jobs back to the citizen's, the Nazi party became a favorite of the German's. So when it was time for the election, the elected leader of the Nazi's, Adolf Hitler, was elected Chancellor of Germany. -
Hitler's Enabling Act
Hitler's Enabling Act was a proposed law by the Nazi Party, it would allow Hitler to remove or imprison anyone he saw as a threat to Germany or its' people. But in reality, it would essentially put Adolf Hitler as the dictator of Germany. When time came for the Reichstag (German Parliament) to vote on whether or not it would be accepted, Nazi soldiers stood outside where the voting was taking place, and some even lined the hallways, where they silently threatened anyone who would vote otherwise -
Re-Militarization of the Rhineland
In order to achieve his goals, and bring their military back to its' former strength, Hitler decided to break the Treaty of Versailles and move his troops into western Germany where they were not allowed. This went unchecked by France due to instability in their government, and British king, Edward VIII, let it slide because he felt the Treaty of Versailles was unjust to Germany. -
The Hossbach Memorandum
On this day, a meeting was held in the Reich Chancellery to discuss Germany's plans for expansion. Hitler explained the plans to his top commander's of Germany's armies, where he first made them swear a vow of secrecy. His plan was for in the next 6 years at the earliest, they would attack and capture both Czechoslovakia and Austria, thus reinforcing Germany's eastern and southern borders, and continue to capture as many countries as possible, ending in the capture of both France and England. -
Invasion of Albania
After the Nazi forces took over Czechoslovakia, Italian leader Benito Mussolini wanted to show that Italy was also a strong force within the Axis powers. In order to prove this, he ordered the Albanian king, King Zog, to accept Italy's occupation. He refused, and in response, Mussolini had his forces march into Albania, where they successfully conquered it without much resistance from Albanian forces, in a matter of three days. -
Nazi's Euthanization of the Disabled
In Hitler's perfect Germany, it was free of anyone who would "slow down the process of improving the country." Hitler's solution was to make it a required law that when a child is born, whoever helped deliver that baby had to register whether the baby showed any signs of a mental or physical disability. If the answer was yes, then three doctors would look at the registered form, without any actual examination from them, would determine whether the child would be useful, or whether to kill them. -
Japanese Spreading Through Europe
With Japan becoming more militaristic, they decided it was time to expand their territory, and pushed into Asia and Europe. Moving into China inflicted conflict with the U.S. and Britain, especially with the Nanjing Massacre, where Japanese soldiers murdered thousands of Chinese civilians. But when Japan moved into southern France, President Roosevelt decided to take action, his decision was to freeze all oil shipments into Japan, prompting The Netherlands and Britain to follow suit.
