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Mussolini Takes Power
Mussolini’s road to a dictatorship took much longer than Hitler’s in 1933. Hitler was appointed chancellor on January 30th 1933. By April 1st 1933, his power was such that, after the Enabling Act, Hitler could only be seen as the dictator of Nazi Germany regardless of Hindenburg's presidency. -
Joseph Stalin Rises in Russia
Joseph Stalin was the dictator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from 1929 to 1953. Under Stalin, the Soviet Union was transformed from a peasant society into an industrial and military superpower. -
Hitler publishes Mein Kampf
On this day in 1925, Volume One of Adolf Hitler’s philosophical autobiography, Mein Kampf, is published. It was a blueprint of his agenda for a Third Reich and a clear exposition of the nightmare that will envelope Europe from 1939 to 1945. The book sold a total of 9,473 copies in its first year. -
FDR becomes president in the US
Assuming the Presidency at the depth of the Great Depression as our 32nd President (1933-1945), Franklin D. Roosevelt helped the American people regain faith in themselves. -
Hitler leader of Germany
Adolf Hitler was the leader of Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1945. He initiated World War II and oversaw fascist policies that resulted in millions of deaths. -
Germany Invades Rhineland
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. -
Germany Invades Austria
On March 12, 1938, German troops march into Austria to annex the German-speaking nation for the Third Reich. -
Germany invades Poland
After heavy bombing, Warsaw surrendered to the Germans on September 27 1939. Britain and France, standing by their guarantee of Poland's border, had declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939. The Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland on September 17, 1939. -
Great Britain/France declare war on Germany
On this day in 1939, in response to Hitler’s invasion of Poland, Britain and France, both allies of the overrun nation declare war on Germany. -
Battle of Britain
Longest sustained bombing campaign to date. Victory by the British Royal Air Force. Victory prevented a ground invasion by German forces -
Japan, Germany, Italy become the Axis
On this day in 1940, the Axis powers are formed as Germany, Italy, and Japan become allies with the signing of the Tripartite Pact in Berlin. The Pact provided for mutual assistance should any of the signatories suffer attack by any nation not already involved in the war. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941 (December 8 in Japan). The attack led to the United States' entry into World War II. -
U.S Declares war on Japan
On this day, as America’s Pacific fleet lay in ruins at Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt requests, and receives, a declaration of war against Japan -
Germany/Italy declare war on U.S.
Germany and Italy have announced they are at war with the United States. America immediately responded by declaring war on the two Axis powers. -
Internment of American Japanese
Over 127,000 United States citizens were imprisoned during World War II. Their crime? Being of Japanese ancestry. -
Battle of Midway
American’s break Japanese Navy code. U.S. Navy all but destroys the Japanese Navy. -
Operation Torch
America’s first battle of WW2 against the Germans. Another Allied victory over the Afrika Korps that sent them into retreat -
Stalingrad
One of the bloodiest battles in history w/2 million military and civilian casualties. Stopped the advance of the German Army into the Soviet Union -
Victory at guadalcanal
First major offensive victory for the Allies in the Pacific Theater.
Air base was strategic in controlling lines of communication between U.S. and Australia -
North Africa Liberated
When Italy entered World War II in June 1940, the war quickly spread to North Africa, where her colony of Libya bordered the vital British protectorate of Egypt. On 7 September 1940, Marshall Graziani’s troops began a land offensive. -
Battle of Tarawa
In the Battle of Tarawa (November 20-23, 1943) during World War II (1939-45), the U.S. began its Central Pacific Campaign against Japan by seizing the heavily fortified, Japanese-held island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands. -
Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord was the code-name given to the Allied invasion of France scheduled for June 1944. The overall commander of Operation Overlord was General Dwight Eisenhower. -
Battle of leyte Gulf
Major Allied Victory in the Philippines. Japan uses Kamazaies, U.S. sees the willingness of Japan to die for country. Kamazaies push America to quickly find ways to end the war -
Battle of the Bulge
Last major offensive for Germany, through the use of Blitzkrieg. Attempt to split allied forces from Ardennes to Antwerp to force negotiated peace. Germans ran low on supplies and fuel, halting the German advance -
Liberation of Auschwitz
More than 15,000 died during the death marches from Auschwitz. On January 27, 1945, the Soviet army entered Auschwitz and liberated more than 7,000 remaining prisoners, who were mostly ill and dying. -
Iwo Jima captured
Provided a air base near the Japanese coast, Famous photo of Americans raising flag over Mt. Suribachi -
FDR Dies
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Hitler Commits suicide
Der Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, dictator of Germany, burrowed away in a refurbished air-raid shelter, consumes a cyanide capsule, then shoots himself with a pistol, on this day in 1945, as his 1,000-year” Reich collapses above him. -
Germany Surrenders
This instrument of surrender was signed on May 7, 1945, at Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower's headquarters in Reims by Gen. Alfred Jodl, Chief of Staff of the German Army. -
V-E Day
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Battle of Okinawa
Last and biggest battle of the Pacific Islands. Island provided air bases vital to the projected invasion of Japan -
Atomic Bomb: Hiroshima
The United States becomes the first and only nation to use atomic weaponry during wartime when it drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Though the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan marked the end of World War II, many historians argue that it also ignited the Cold War. -
Atomic Bomb: Nagasaki
On this day in 1945, a second atom bomb is dropped on Japan by the United States, at Nagasaki, resulting finally in Japan’s unconditional surrender. -
VJ
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 Victoryover Japan Day,or simply V-J Day.
