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Great Depression begins
The Great Depression started on Black Tuesday when the stock markey crashed. Many Amiercans lost their incomes and homes due to the Great Depression. Europe including Germany was also hit hard because of lack of trade with the U.S. and other factors. -
Japan conquers Manchuria in northern China
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Roosevelt first elected President
He created the First New Deal from 1933-1935 to focus on programs for relief, recovery, and reform in America. The Second New Deal focused on unemployment and retirementl; out of it came the Social Security Act . -
Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany
Hitler weas popular with the people because he gave them hope and something to root for during harsh times. Hidenberg thought that they could use Hilters popularity to the people to their advantage. They thought that experience politions in offices would be able to control the Nazi's and Hitler, but they were wrong. -
Nuremberg Laws
A conference of ministers was held to discuss the economic effects of Party actions against Jews. -
Japan invades China
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Britain’s appeasement of Germany
Attempting to meet German grievances in hopes of avoiding war. Hitler took advantage of this policy by annexing Austria. He then demanded the return to Germany of the Sudetenland, a part of Czechoslovakia inhabited largely by Germans. -
The alliance between Mussolini and Hitler, later joined by Japan in WWI
The alliance between Mussolini and Hitler, later joined by Japan in WWII -
Germany invades Austria
Many German speaking people lived in Austria and welcomed the unification -
Kristallnacht
outbreak struck against Jews of Germany, Austria, and Sudetenland. 30,000 were taken to camps -
Germany & Soviet Union have a nonaggression pact
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Germany invades Poland - blitzkrieg (start of WWII)
Germany forces drove deep into Poland using new method of warfare called blitzkrieg (lightning war) which used tanks, troops, and planes to enhance speed and surprise. Poland fell in less than 1 month. -
Japan joins the Axis Powers
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Germany invades Denmark, Norway, Belgium, and France (Vichy France)
Germany invaded Denmark and Norway and won. Used blitzkrieg to invade Belgium and the Netherlands. Germany invaded France in June, 1940, France surrendered after two weeks. -
German air force (Luftwaffe) bombs London and other civilian targets in the Battle of Britain
To destroy Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) in the fall and summer of 1940; German air force (Luftwaffe) fought the RAF and bombed London and other civilian targets during the Battle of Britain. RAF was able to hold them off and did not surrender. -
Lend-Lease Act
Allowed the U.S. to lend or lease resources and equipment to the Allies. U.S. sent Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and other Allies $50 billion worth of goods. -
Germany invades the Soviet Union
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The Nazis implement the “Final Solution”
The Nazi’s and Hitler’s final way to get rid of all Jewish people and others in camps. To do this they started killing squads, made more killing camps, and developed the gas chamber; which they would tell people in camps where showers, they would go in and be killed with poisoned gases. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
Japanese warplanes bombed the huge American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack was a surprise and about 2,400 American servicemen and civilians were killed and many U.S. warplanes and ships were destroyed or damaged. U.S. declared war on Japan after that. -
Bataan Death March
more than 70,000 Filipino and American troops surrendered to the Japanese on the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines. The Japanese marched the soldiers over 65 miles to a prison camp. About 10,000 dies from shootings, beatings, or starvation. -
Tuskegee Airmen
African-American pilots and crew members who served with honor in North Africa and Europe. -
Rosie the Riveter
An image of a strong woman hard at work at an arms factory to represent women at work and their new respect and jobs. -
Manhattan Project
Top-Secret government program to build an atomic bomb, led by American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer. -
Japanese-American incarceration
After Pearl Harbor many people were afraid Japanese-Americans would side with their home country (even if born and raised in the U.S.). In result of this President Roosevelt sign Executive Order 9066 in February 1942 that allowed the removal of Jap-Americans and Japs from the Pacific Coast. They would be evicted from their homes and put into prison-like camps. (About 110,000 men, women, and children) -
Battle of Midway
off island of Midway in the central pacific, the U.S. Navy destroyed four Japanese carriers and at least 250 planes, America lost one carrier and about 150 planes. This was the true turning point of the war. -
Guadalcanal
First major land victory for the Allies, after six months of bitter fighting – in February 1943 the Americans finally won the battle -
British forces stop the German advance at El Alamein
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German forces surrender at Stalingrad
the Germans fought against the Soviet Union, German commander asked Hitler to let him retreat because they were doing badly and he didn’t let him. The Soviet Union cut off the German armies food supply at Stalingrad, and the final German troops surrendered. -
Iwo Jima
U.S. Marines invaded island of Iwo Jima, Japan to bomb them, planting the U.S. flag to signal victory. -
D-Day
Hitler was sure that the Allies were going to attack at Calais, but they did a surprise attack in France on the beaches at Normandy. This was an utter surprise to the Germans as the Allies attacked by paratrooper, glider borne forces, ships, and planes. -
Battle of the Bulge
Hitler’s final assault on the Allies by pushing them back in the Ardennes region of Belgium. Resulted in 120,000 German deaths and 80,000 American deaths. -
Yalta Conference
Allied leaders Roosevelt (U.S.A), Churchill (Great Britain), and Stalin (Soviet Union) met in the Soviet resort of Yalta to plan the end of the war and the future of Europe. Stalin promised to declare war on Japan after Germany surrendered. -
Roosevelt dies, Truman becomes president
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Okinawa
U.S. Marines invaded and conquered island of Okinawa, Japan. -
Allied forces advance on Berlin, Germany surrenders
Soviet Union forces launched a massive advance towards Berlin. On April 25, 1945, Soviet Union forces joined with U.S. forces attacking from the west at Torgau, in central Germany. As Soviet Union forces neared his command bunker in central Berlin on April 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler committed suicide. Berlin surrendered to Soviet forces on May 2, 1945. The German armed forces surrender unconditionally in the west on May 7 and in the east on May 9, 1945. -
Formation of the United Nations
April 25, 1945: 50 nations met in San Francisco to discuss a new peacekeeping organization to replace the weak and ineffective League of Nations
June 26, 1945- all 50 nations ratified the charted, creating a new international peacekeeping body known as the United Nations
President Roosevelt had urged Americans not to turn their backs on the world again. Unlike the League of Nations, the United States is a member of the United Nations -
Potsdam Conference
July 17-August 2, 1945. Allies held the Potsdam Conference to plan the war’s end, decision was made to put Nazi war criminals on trial. -
Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki
President Truman told Japan that it they did not surrender, they would face destruction. After they refused to give in, on August 6, 1945 the B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on the industrial city of Hiroshima. This killed more than 75,000 Japanese people and turned 5 square miles into a wasteland. Still the Japanese did not surrender; so on August 9 the U.S. dropped a second on Nagasaki, killing more than 40,000. -
Japanese officials sign an official letter of surrender on the U.S.S. Missouri, ending World War II
Japan surrenders on August 14, 1945 and on September 2, 1945 they signed an official letter of surrender to end the war. -
Nuremberg Trials
November 20, 1945- October 1, 1946. 24 defendants, including some of Hitler’s top officials. Hermann Goring was the creator and head of Gestapo (secret police). Charged with crimes against humanity. 19 found guilty and 12 were sentenced death, people were responsible for their actions, even in wartime. -
Marshall Plan
- Congress approved Secretary of State George Marshall’s plan to help boost European economies. The U.S. gave more than $13 billion to help the nations of Europe get back on their feet.
