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The Great Depression Begins
The Great Depression began in October of 1929, when, after a decade of prosperity, the stock markets crashed. The stock prices dropped sharply on Black Tuesday, and millions of people experienced starvation, homelessness, and extreme suffering. Europe's economy failed when America's did because many countries borrowed money from the US after WWI. -
Japan conquers Manchuria in northern China
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Roosevelt is elected President
Franklin Deleano Roosevelt was elected as president over Hoover, who did not try to take the country out of their depression. Roosevelt got elected with a goal to rebuild Americans' hope for the future and their trust in government through the First and Second New Deal, fireside chats, and the Social Security Act. -
Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany
Adolf Hitler was leading the fascist National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazi Party). The Nazis preached German racial superiority. Hitler was soon appointed chancellor of Germany, and then overthrew the constitution and took control of the government. -
Nuremberg Race Laws
The Nuremberg Laws were a plan to segregate Jews, and to abrogate them of their political, legal, and civil rights. Nuremberg Laws were anti-Semitic (against Jews) laws in Nazi Germany where they banned non-Aryans from certain rights. -
Hitler and Mussolini Form the Rome-Berlin Axis
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Japan Invades China
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Germany Invades Austria
Hitler invaded Austria, home to many people who spoke German. Most people welcomed and agreed with the unification. After invading Austria, Hitler wanted to begin invading Sudetenland. -
Britain's Appeasement of Germany
Great Britain (Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister) made an agreement Hitler (Chancellor of Germany) at Munich, Germany, that after invading Sudetenland, he would not invade any more areas. This agreement was in order to meet Germany’s demands to avoid war, however many people believed that Hitler would not keep this promise. -
Kristallnacht
November 9-10, 1938. Refers to the “Night of Crystal,” or “Night of Broken Glass.” Kristallnacht refers to a wave of violent anti-Jewish murders/persecutions/massacres. It took place in Germany, Austria, Sudetenland, and invaded Austria. Germany said that Kristallnacht was a spontaneous outburst that resulted after a Jewish person shot a German diplomat. Kristallnacht is an essential point in the holocaust, leading to an attempt to annihilate the European Jews. -
Germany & Soviet Union Nonaggression Pact
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Germany Invades Poland (Start of WWII)
Germany broke the appeasement with Britain that they would not try to invade any more countries. This date marks the beginning of World War II because the peace between Great Britain and Germany was broken. France and Great Britain declared war on Germany, who had a new method of warfare, called blitzkrieg (lightning war tactics). Germany quickly conquered Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and Belgium. -
Japan Joins the Axis Powers
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Germany Invades Denmark, Belgium, France, and Norway
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German air force (Luftwaffe) bombs London and other civilian targets in the Battle of Britain
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Germany invades the Soviet Union
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Lend-Lease Act
Congress approved of the Lend-Lease Act, which is an act that allowed the U.S. to give supplies to the Allies during the war. The United States sent Britain, the Soviet Union, and other Allied countries over $50 billion worth of resources and equipment. -
Pearl Harbor
Tojo came to control in 1941, making Japan more warlike after they join the Axis powers. Japan wanted to take control of the Dutch East Indies, a source of oil, and other Asian countries, however the US Navy was in the way. As a “solution,” they bombed a huge naval base in Hawaii. The attack came off as a surprise, and 2,400 Americans died. After these deaths, Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan, and the United States entered the war. -
Tuskegee Airmen + African American Experience
About one million African-Americans served in the US military during the war, but because of racial prejudice, these units were often segregated. The Tuskegee Airmen was a famous segregated unit of African-American pilots in the United States. They served with honor in North Africa and Europe. Other African-Americans during the war worked in the defense industries, and many migrated from the South to the North and the West Coast to find jobs. This created racial tensions, and many race riots. -
The Nazis implement "The Final Solution"
The Final Solution was deporting the Jewish from Germany and the other countries, sending them to poor-condition ghettos and killing centers. At these concentration camps, the Jewish men, women, and children were left to be murdered in gassing facilities. -
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a secret project to build an atomic bomb. This top-secret program was led by J. Robert Oppenheimer, who worked with his project team for three years to create this weapon. After successfully testing this bomb, President Truman told Japan that if they did not surrender, the US would use this bomb against them. -
Japanese-American Incarceration
President Roosevelt signed an executive order, approving of the removal of Japanese-Americans in America. More than 110,000 Japanese-Americans were forced to leave their homes, possessions, jobs, and move to poor-condition prison-like camps. Even Nisei, Japanese-Americans born in the US, were forced to leave because the nation feared that if they looked like the Japanese who bombed Pearl Harbor, they probably acted like it, too, and had the same intentions. -
The Bataan Death March
More than 70,000 Filipinos and American troops surrendered to the Japanese on the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines. The Japanese marched these soldiers over 65 miles to the prison camps, and 10,000 soldiers died of shootings, starvation, and beatings on the way there. -
The Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was a major turning point in the war, in favor of the Allies. The Allies raided Japan, dropping 16 bombs, and it caused little damage, but still shocked the Japanese. The US Navy clashed with Japanese forces at the Coral Sea off of Australia. Warplanes launched from aircraft carriers. The winner was not clear, but the Americans blocked the Japanese from getting to Australia. Off Midway Island in the Pacific, they clashed again, the US destroyed four carriers and 250 planes. -
Germany surrenders at Stalingrad
The German troops attacked the Soviet city, Stalingrad, as the Soviet soldiers fiercely defended the area. The Germans wanted to surrender, but Hitler would not let them. Soviet troops cut off the Germans’ food and supplies, and many Nazis froze or starved to death. In February of 1943, the remaining soldiers surrendered. This was a turning point of the war because the Soviet troops were pushing the Germans out of the Soviet Union, and back into Germany. -
British forces stop the German advance at El Alamein
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Rosie the Riveter + Women's Experience
During the war, men were off fighting, and they left their jobs behind. Women had to fill these jobs in shipyards, factories, and offices. Soon, the amount of working women increased (14 million in 1940, 19 million in 1945), and the country promoted the idea of “Rosie the Riveter,” who was a strong, hardworking woman at an arms factory. 300,000 women were also in the military, doing non-combat duties, and were clerks, nurses, mechanics, and drivers. -
Guadalcanal
After six months of bitter fighting on the island, Guadalcanal, the US Marines finally won the battle. This was the first Allied land victory. Helping them win this battle were over 400 recruited Navajo Indians, who helped transmit the messages the Marines sent to each other in Navajo, so that the Japanese could not read them. -
D-Day
Hitler felt that the Allies would invade the narrowest point of the English channel, Calais. Shortly after midnight on June 6th, the Allied paratroopers and forces lined up behind the German lines in France. In the morning, more than 5,000 ships and landing craft (carrying 150,000 American, British, and Canadian soldiers), and they attacked. This was known as D-Day, the largest land-sea-air operation. 10,000 Allied soldiers were killed or wounded, but they had control of the beaches at the end. -
Battle of the Bulge
Hitler launched a final assault. The Germans pushed back the Allies to Belgium and Luxemburg, before US troops came and defeated the Germans. There was a large number of casualties: 120,000 German and 80,000 American. -
Yalta Conference
The Allies met in the Soviet resort, Yalta, where Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met up. They made a plan for the war, and the future after the war. Stalin said he would declare war on Japan after the war with Germany was over, and they also established a postwar international peace-keeping organization. -
Iwo Jima
During their island hopping, the US Marines won a long battle at the island, Iwo Jima. This was one of the islands that was closest to Japan. They planted a flag on Iwo Jima’s tallest mountain, signaling their victory, and kept fighting. -
Allied forces advance on Berlin, Germany surrenders
The Russians reach Berlin, and Hitler senses that the end is near. He commits suicide. The Soviet Army captures Berlin. Five days later, German soldiers sign a surrender, ending the war in Europe. -
Okinawa
After Iwo Jima, the US troops went to another close-by island called Okinawa. It took several months for the troops to conquer both islands, and over 18,000 men died, however there were over 120,000 Japanese deaths. -
Roosevelt dies, Truman becomes president
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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 charter, creating a new international peacekeeping body known as the United Nations. Before Roosevelt had died, he had urged Americans not to turn their backs on the world again. Therefore, unlike the League of Nations, the United States is a member of the United Nations. -
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Potsdam Conference
Allies held the Potsdam Conference to plan the war's end. The decision was made to put Nazi war criminals on trial. -
Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki
The Allies planned to invade Japan in November 1945, however the President thought that there would be too many casualties. After the development of the atomic bomb, Japan still did not surrender. On August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, killing 75,000 people and destroying 5 square miles of land. On August 9th, the Americans dropped another bomb on Nagasaki when they refused to surrender, killing another 40,000 people. -
Japanese sign a letter of surrender (End of WWII)
The Japanese officials met up with the Allies on the US battleship, Missouri, in Tokyo Bay. The Japanese had surrendered on August 14. After the official letter was signed, the war was officially over. -
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Nuremberg Trials
24 defendants, inlcuding some of Hitler's top officials. Hermann Goerig was one of the defendants, creator and head of Gestapo (secret police). They were charged against humanity. Hitler and other head people in the Nazi party commited suicide before they were sent to the trials. 19 were found guilty, and 12 were sentenced to death. "People are 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