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Mussolini's March on Rome
Benito Mussolini's Blackshirt's infamously March on Rome, seizing total control over the Italian government. The March on Rome marked the beginning of Fascist rule over Italy, ending all social-liberal parliamentary regimes. -
Hitler writes Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf, in essence, lays out the ideological program Hitler established for the German revolution, by identifying the Jews and "Bolsheviks" as racially and ideologically inferior and threatening, and "Aryans" and National Socialists as racially superior and politically progressive. -
1st “five year plan” in USSR
In the Soviet Union, the first Five-Year Plan, implemented by Joseph Stalin, concentrated on developing heavy industry and collectivizing agriculture, at the cost of a drastic fall in consumer goods -
Japan invades Manchuria
Japan had invaded Manchuria without declarations of war, breaching the rules of the League of Nations. Japan had a highly developed industry, but the land was scarce of natural resources. Japan turned to Manchuria for oil, rubber and lumber in order to make up for the lack of resources in Japan. -
Holodomor
This suggests that the famine was caused by a combination of a severe drought, chaotic implementation of forced collectivization of farms, and the food requisition program carried out by the Soviet authorities. -
Hitler appointed chancellor of Germany
He feared a seizure of power by Hitler, but came to believe he could control him and appointed him chancellor in 1933, with three other Nazis in the Cabinet and Goering controlling some police forces. -
“Night of the Long Knives” in Germany
Hitler used the purge to attack or eliminate German critics of his new regime, especially those loyal to Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen, as well as to settle scores with old enemies. -
Nuremburg Laws enacted
The Nuremberg Laws were antisemitic and racist laws that were enacted in Nazi Germany -
Italian invasion of Ethiopia
The aim of invading Ethiopia was to boost Italian national prestige, which was wounded by Ethiopia's defeat of Italian forces at the Battle of Adowa in the nineteenth century, which saved Ethiopia from Italian colonization. -
Spanish civil war
he Spanish Civil War began on, when generals Emilio Mola and Francisco Franco launched an uprising aimed at overthrowing the country's democratically elected republic. The Nationalist rebels' initial efforts to instigate military revolts throughout Spain only partially succeeded. -
The Great Purge and gulags
The political purge was primarily an effort by Stalin to eliminate challenge from past and potential opposition groups, including the left and right wings led by Leon Trotsky and Nikolai Bukharin, respectively. -
The Rape of Nanking
To break the spirit of Chinese resistance, Japanese General Matsui Iwane ordered that the city of Nanking be destroyed. Much of the city was burned, and Japanese troops launched a campaign of atrocities against civilians. -
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom, was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's Sturmabteilung paramilitary forces along with civilians throughout Nazi Germany -
Nazi Germany invades Poland
Germany invades Poland, initiating World War II in Europe. German forces broke through Polish defenses along the border and quickly advanced on Warsaw, the Polish capital. -
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor
Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in hopes that it would destroy the US Pacific Fleet and weaken the resolve of the American people. They hoped that the defeat at Pearl Harbor would be so devastating, that Americans would immediately give up. The goal was a quick US capitulation allowing Japan to continue imperial expansion. -
Stalin becomes dicator of USSR
Serving in the Russian Civil War before overseeing the Soviet Union's establishment in 1922, Stalin assumed leadership over the country following Lenin's death in 1924. Under Stalin, socialism in one country became a central tenet of the party's dogma. By 1937, he had absolute control over the party and government.