WW2 Timeline

  • Mussolini takes over Italy’s govt. (march on Rome)

    Mussolini takes over Italy’s govt. (march on Rome)
    Benito Mussolini is appointed into the italian govt., starting his fascist rule at the age of 61, he joined the socialist party in 1900. March on Rome, the insurrection by which Benito Mussolini came to power in Italy in late October 1922. The March marked the beginning of fascist rule and meant the doom of the preceding parliamentary regimes of socialists and liberals.
  • Beer hall putsch

    Beer hall putsch
    Hitler and his party forced their way into a political meeting in a beer hall, pushed for his demands, was counterattacked by police and realized that he’d have to work a bit harder for his demands. Forcing their way into a right-wing political meeting in a beer hall in Munich on the evening of November 8, Hitler and his men obtained agreement that the leaders there should join in carrying the “revolution” to Berlin (after the pattern of Benito Mussolini’s march on Rome in the preceding year); b
  • Kellogg-briand pact

    Kellogg-briand pact
    An agreement to outlaw war, signed by fifteen nations in Paris. The Kellogg-Briand Pact was an agreement to outlaw war signed on August 27, 1928. Sometimes called the Pact of Paris for the city in which it was signed, the pact was one of many international efforts to prevent another World War, but it had little effect in stopping the rising militarism of the 1930s or preventing World War II.
  • U.S. stock market crash

    U.S. stock market crash
    Billions of dollars were lost by investors in the United States. During the 1920s, the U.S. stock market underwent rapid expansion, reaching its peak in August 1929, a period of wild speculation. By the, production had already declined and unemployment had risen, leaving stocks in great excess of their real value. Among the other causes of the eventual market collapse were low wages, the proliferation of debt, a weak agriculture, and an excess of large bank loans that could not be liquidated.
  • first anti-semitic law is passed in germany

    first anti-semitic law is passed in germany
    right after rising to power nazi’s started implementing anti-jewish laws ex: jews can’t shop in this store. Antisemitism and the persecution of Jews were central tenets of Nazi ideology. In their 25-point party program published in 1920, Nazi party members publicly declared their intention to segregate Jews from “Aryan” society and to abrogate their political, legal, and civil rights.
  • Japan invades manchuria

    Japan invades manchuria
    Japanese army deliberately went against the Kellogg-Briand pact to invade and take over Manchuria. The United States Minister to China reported to Secretary of State Stimson, in a telegram dated September 22, his opinion that this was "an aggressive act by Japan", apparently long-planned, and carefully and systematically put into effect. Minister Johnson found no evidence that it was the result of accident or the act of minor and irresponsible officials.
  • Nazi’s reach a political majority in Germany

    Nazi’s reach a political majority in Germany
    In the july election the nazi party received 13,745,000 votes becoming the largest party in germany. There were now over 400,000 storm troopers under the leadership of SA Chief Ernst Röhm. Many members of the SA considered themselves to be a true revolutionary army and were anxious to live up to that idea. Adolf Hitler had to rein them in from time to time so they wouldn't upset his own carefully laid plans to undermine the republic.
  • Hitler becomes germany’s chancellor

    Hitler becomes germany’s chancellor
    President paul von hindenburg appointed Hitler the leader of Germany after his meteoric rise to power the previous year. The year 1932 had seen Hitler’s meteoric rise to prominence in Germany, spurred largely by the German people’s frustration with dismal economic conditions and the still-festering wounds inflicted by defeat in the Great War and the harsh peace terms of the Versailles treaty.
  • Japan withdraws from the league of nations

    Japan withdraws from the league of nations
    After japan invaded manchuria they were frowned upon by the league of nations and soon after was thrown out. Geneva, Feb. 24, 1933 — The Japanese delegation withdrew from the League of Nations Assembly today after the assembly had adopted an unanimous report (42-1, with only Japan opposing) blaming Japan for the Invasion of Manchuria. Japan’s delegation, led by Yosuke Matsuoka walked from the hall amidst mingled hisses and applause.
  • the night of the long knives (rohm purge)

    the night of the long knives (rohm purge)
    hitler ordered the nazi’s to kill german political figures that were in the way of their goals, solidifying the agreement between the nazi regime and german troops. Between June 30 and July 2, 1934, the Nazi Party leadership, on the order of Nazi Party Leader and Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler, purged the leadership of the Nazi paramilitary formation, the Sturmabteilung.
  • hitler openly announces to his cabinet he will defy the treaty of versailles

    hitler openly announces to his cabinet he will defy the treaty of versailles
    Hitler held a cabinet meeting in Berlin where he made the decision that he would soon defy the treaty of Versailles and nobody could stop him from doing so. High above the town of Berchtesgaden in southeastern Bavaria, Adolf Hitler spent many hours in solitude at his mountain retreat with its magnificent views of the Alps and the valleys below. It was here that the Führer came to contemplate the future of Germany and to make all of his big decisions.
  • creation of the Nuremberg laws

    jewish germans were no longer considered citizens in Germany but “subjects of the state. After Hitler’s accession to the offices of president and chancellor of Germany, he set about the task of remaking his adopted country (Hitler had to pull some strings even to be eligible for office, as he was Austrian by birth) into the dream state he imagined.
  • italy invade ethiopia

    italy invade ethiopia
    fascist italy, lead by mussolini invades ethiopia killing tens of thousands of their people with poisons and gasses. The League of Nations votes to impose deliberately ineffectual economic sanctions against Fascist Italy for its invasion of Ethiopia. Steps that would impede the progress of the invasion, such as banning the sale of oil to Italy and closing the Suez Canal, were not taken, out of fear of igniting hostilities in Europe.
  • hitler militarizes the rhineland

    hitler militarizes the rhineland
    Hitler violates the treaty of versailles again and orders his troops to the rhineland/bufferzone. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler violates the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Pact by sending German military forces into the Rhineland, a demilitarized zone along the Rhine River in western Germany.
  • rape of nanking

    rape of nanking
    the japanese army was ordered to destroy the city of Nanking, during the process many were killed and many women were. During the Sino-Japanese War, Nanking, the capital of China, falls to Japanese forces, and the Chinese government flees to Hankow, further inland along the Yangtze River.
  • germany annexes austria

    germany annexes austria
    On March 12, 1938, German troops march into Austria to annex the German-speaking nation for the Third Reich. German troops march into Austria to annex the German-speaking nation for the Third Reich.
  • munich conference

    munich conference
    1938, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, French Premier Edouard Daladier, and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signed the Munich Pact, which seals the fate of Czechoslovakia, virtually handing it over to Germany in the name of peace.
  • kristallnacht

    kristallnacht
    November 9 to November 10, 1938, in an incident known as “Kristallnacht”, Nazis in Germany torched synagogues, vandalized Jewish homes, schools and businesses and killed close to 100 Jews.
  • Hitler demands the sudetenland from Czechoslovakia

    Hitler demands the sudetenland from Czechoslovakia
    after the munich agreement was signed hitler received the sudetenland from czechoslovakia which included 66 percent of Czechoslovakia’s coal, 70 percent of its iron and steel, and 70 percent of its electrical power, leaving the country defenseless against germany
  • einstein’s letter to FDR, “the manhattan project”

    einstein’s letter to FDR, “the manhattan project”
    Einstein wrote a letter to franklin roosevelt about a theory that germany may be starting to build a uranium bomb.
  • molotov-ribbentrop pact

    molotov-ribbentrop pact
    On the night of August 20, 1939, Hitler wanted stalin(soviet union) to stay away from his war/takeover of poland, so he sent a telegram to stalin asking him to leave the subject alone. their foreign ministers were brought together to make the pact.
  • nazi invasion of poland

    nazi invasion of poland
    1.5 million German troops invade Poland all along its 1,750-mile border with German-controlled territory. Simultaneously, the German Luftwaffe bombed Polish airfields, and German warships and U-boats attacked Polish naval forces in the Baltic Sea.
  • evacuation of dunkirk

    evacuation of dunkirk
    June 4, 1940, the evacuation of Allied forces from Dunkirk on the Belgian coast ends as German forces capture the beach port. The nine-day evacuation, the largest of its kind in history and an unexpected success, saved 338,000 Allied troops from capture by the Nazis. the allied forces were finally done being evacuated from dunkirk on the belgian coast
  • france surrenders

    france surrenders
    Paris fallen and the German conquest of France reaching its conclusion, Marshal Henri Petain replaces Paul Reynaud as prime minister and announces his intention to sign an armistice with the Nazis. The next day, French General Charles de Gaulle, not very well known even to the French, made a broadcast to France from England, urging his countrymen to continue the fight against Germany.
  • battle of Britain

    battle of Britain
    On this day in 1940, the Germans begin the first in a long series of bombing raids against Great Britain, as the Battle of Britain, which will last three and a half months, begins.
  • tripartite pact

    tripartite pact
    signed by germany, italy, and japan the pact states that there would be mutual assistance for any of the three countries should a country that’s not already involved in the war “specifically directed at the US” attack them. formalizing the axis alliance in berlin
  • operation barbarossa

    operation barbarossa
    Hitler sent the vast majority of his troops to invade the soviet union, leaving only a small portion to fight the other half of the two-front war, the germans failed on both sides, marking an important turning point in WWII
  • battle of stalingrad

    battle of stalingrad
    On this day, part of operation barbarossa, the germans unsuccessfully try to take stalingrad, a place wealthy in resources like oil, and after many long months and dead soldiers they surrender
  • lend lease act

    lend lease act
    On this day in 1941, President Roosevelt, determined to keep the United States out of the war while helping those allies already mired in it, approves $1 billion in Lend-Lease loans to the Soviet Union. The terms: no interest and repayment did not have to start until five years after the war was over.
  • bombing of pearl harbor

    bombing of pearl harbor
    Japanese dive bomber bearing the red symbol of the Rising Sun of Japan on its wings appears out of the clouds above the island of Oahu. A swarm of 360 Japanese warplanes followed, descending on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in a ferocious assault. The surprise attack struck a critical blow against the U.S. Pacific fleet and drew the United States irrevocably into World War II.
  • the Wannsee conference and the “final solution”

    the Wannsee conference and the “final solution”
    July 1941, Hermann Goering, writing under instructions from Hitler, had ordered Reinhard Heydrich, SS general and Heinrich Himmler’s number-two man, to submit “as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative, material, and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired final solution of the Jewish question.
  • bataan death march

    bataan death march
    75,000 filipino and american troops captured during the philippine invasion were forced to march to a prison camp 85 miles away in 6 days with only 1 meal of rice, hundreds of americans and more filipinos died at the hands of the japanese.
  • doolittle raid

    doolittle raid
    On this day in 1942, 16 American B-25 bombers, launched from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet 650 miles east of Japan and commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle, attack the Japanese mainland.
  • operation torch

    operation torch
    On this day in 1942, American Maj. Gen. Mark Clark meets in Algeria with French officials loyal to the Allied cause, as well as Resistance fighters, regarding the launch of Operation Torch, the first Allied amphibious landing of the war.
  • island hopping (date for buna-gona campaign)

    island hopping (date for buna-gona campaign)
    The battle of Buna, 19 November 1942-2 January 1943, was one part of the Allied attack on the Japanese beachhead on the northern coast of Papua (along with the battles of Gona and Sanananda). This beachhead had been established to allow the Japanese to launch an overland assault over the Kokoda Trail to Port Moresby. This attack came within thirty miles of Port Moresby, before an Australian counterattack forced the Japanese back along the trail.
  • d-day/operation overlord day

    d-day/operation overlord day
    Although the term D-Day is used routinely as military lingo for the day an operation or event will take place, for many it is also synonymous with June 6, 1944, the day the Allied powers crossed the English Channel and landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, beginning the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi control during World War II.
  • operation valkyrie

    operation valkyrie
    On this day in 1944, Hitler cheats death as a bomb planted in a briefcase goes off, but fails to kill him. High German officials had made up their minds that Hitler must die. He was leading Germany in a suicidal war on two fronts, and assassination was the only way to stop him.
  • battle of the bulge

     battle of the bulge
    On this day, the Germans launch the last major offensive of the war, Operation Mist, also known as the Ardennes Offensive and the Battle of the Bulge, an attempt to push the Allied front line west from northern France to northwestern Belgium. The Battle of the Bulge, so-called because the Germans created a “bulge” around the area of the Ardennes forest in pushing through the American defensive line, was the largest fought on the Western front.
  • hitler’s suicide

    hitler’s suicide
    On this day in 1945, holed up in a bunker under his headquarters in Berlin, Adolf Hitler commits suicide by swallowing a cyanide capsule and shooting himself in the head. Soon after, Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allied forces, ending Hitler’s dreams of a “1,000-year” Reich.
  • v-e day

    v-e day
    On this day in 1945, both Great Britain and the United States celebrate Victory in Europe Day. Cities in both nations, as well as formerly occupied cities in Western Europe, put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of the Nazi war machine.
  • discovery of Majdanek

    discovery of Majdanek
    During the entire period of its existence, the Majdanek camp was under construction. Construction on the camp began in October 1941 with the arrival of about 2,000 Soviet prisoners of war. Most of the Soviet prisoners of war at Majdanek were too weak to work; virtually all were dead by February 1942.
  • bombing of hiroshima and nagasaki

    bombing of hiroshima and nagasaki
    On August 6, 1945, during World War II (1939-45), an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people.
  • v-j day

    v-j day
    On August 14, 1945, it was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War II. Since then, both August 14 and August 15 have been known as “Victory Over Japan Day,” or simply “V-J Day.”
  • beginning of the cold war

    beginning of the cold war
    On this day in 1945, John Birch, an American missionary to China before the war and a captain in the Army during the war, is killed by Chinese communists days after the surrender of Japan, for no apparent reason.
  • creation of the United Nations

    On this day in 1945, the United Nations Charter, which was adopted and signed on June 26, 1945, is now effective and ready to be enforced. The United Nations was born of perceived necessity, as a means of better arbitrating international conflict and negotiating peace than was provided for by the old League of Nations.
  • the nuremberg trials

    the nuremberg trials
    Twenty-four high-ranking Nazis go on trial in Nuremberg, Germany, for atrocities committed during World War II. The Nuremberg Trials were conducted by an international tribunal made up of representatives from the United States, the Soviet Union, France, and Great Britain.
  • japanese war crime trials

    japanese war crime trials
    In Tokyo, Japan, the International Military Tribunals for the Far East begins hearing the case against 28 Japanese military and government officials accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during World War II. On November 4, 1948, the trial ended with 25 of 28 Japanese defendants being found guilty.