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Mussolini's March On Rome
The 1922 March on Rome was to establish Mussolini and the Fascist Party he led, as the most important political party in Italy. It became an official political party. In its October 1922 party conference, Mussolini said: “Either the government will be given to us or will shall seize it by marching on Rome.”. Mussolini, with the party’s hierarchy, drew up a blueprint on how to do this. 1. Fascists would be brought into Rome from all over Italy, and many more. -
Stalin Becomes Dictator
Joseph Stalin was the dictator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from 1929 to 1953. Under Stalin, the Soviet Union was transformed from a peasant society into an industrial and military superpower. In 1912, Lenin, then in exile in Switzerland, appointed Joseph Stalin to serve on the first Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party. Three years later, in November 1917, the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia. -
Hitler Writes Mein Kampf
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 envelop Europe from 1939 to 1945. -
First "Five Year Plan" in USSR
The first five-year plan was created in order to initiate rapid and large-scale industrialization across the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Having begun on October 1st, 1928, the plan was already in its second year when Harry Byers first set foot in the Soviet Union -
Japan Invades Manchuria
Japan had invaded Manchuria without declarations of war, breaching the rules of the League of Nations. Japan has 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. China's immediate response was to plead out of China. Since Japan was in a depression and the only means that the League of Nations could punish nations was by economic sanction. -
Holodomor
Holodomor was a man-made famine that convulsed the Soviet republic of Ukraine from 1932-1933, peaking in the late spring of 1933. It was part of a broader Soviet famine (1931-1934) that also caused mass starvation in the grain-growing regions of Soviet Russia and Kazakhstan. The famine was caused by a combination of a severe drought, chaotic implementation of forced collectivization of farms, and the food requisition program carries out by the Soviet authorities. -
Hitler appoints chancellor of Germany
This marked a crucial turning point for Germany and, ultimately, for the world. His plan, embraced by much of the German population, was to do away with politics and make Germany a powerful, unified one-party state. He began immediately, ordering a rapid expansion of the state police, the Gestapo, and putting Herman Goering in charge of a new security force, composed entirely of Nazis and dedicated to stamping out whatever opposition to his party might arise. -
"Night of the Long Knives" in Germany
Night of the Long Knives, in German history, purge of Nazi leaders by Adolf Hitler on June 30, 1934. Fearing that the paramilitary SA had become too powerful, Hitler ordered his elite SS guards to murder the organization’s leaders, including Ernst Röhm. Also killed that night were hundreds of other perceived opponents of Hitler. -
Invasion of Ethiopia
An armed conflict resulted in Ethiopia’s subjection to Italian rule. Seen as one of the episodes that prepared the way for WWII, the war demonstrated the ineffectiveness of the League of Nations when League decisions were not supported by the great powers. 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. -
The Great Purge and Gulgas
The Great Purge was a brutal political campaign led by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin to eliminate dissenting members of the Communist Party and anyone else he considered a threat. Most experts believe at least 750,000 people were executed during the Great Purge. The trials successfully eliminated the major real and potential political rivals and critics of Joseph Stalin. The Gulag was a system of Soviet labor camps and accompanying detention and transit camps and prisons. -
Nuremberg Laws Enacted
Nürnberg Laws, two race-based measures depriving Jews of rights, were designed by Hitler and approved by the Nazi Party at a convention in Nürnberg. The enacted Nurnberg Laws enacted The
Reich Citizenship Law and The Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor. The Nazis enacted the Nuremberg Laws because they wanted to put their ideas about race into law. They believed in the false theory that the world is divided into distinct races that are not equally strong and valuable. -
Spanish Civil War
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. In rural areas with a strong right-wing political presence, Franco's confederates generally won out. They quickly seized political power and instituted martial law. The war's end brought a period of dictatorship that lasted until the mid-1970s -
The Rape of Nanking
Over a period of six weeks, Imperial Japanese Army forces brutally murdered hundreds of thousands of people including soldiers and civilians in the Chinese city of Nanking. Though the Japanese initially agreed to respect the Nanking Safety Zone, the refugees weren't safe from vicious attacks. In January 1938, the Japanese declared that order had been restored in the city, and dismantled the safety zone. A puppet government was installed, which would rule Nanking until the end of World War II. -
Kristallnacht
Nazis in Germany torched synagogues, vandalized Jewish homes, schools, and businesses, and killed close to 100 Jews. In the aftermath of Kristallnacht, also called the “Night of Broken Glass,” some 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to Nazi concentration camps. German Jews had been subjected to repressive policies since 1933 when Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany. It had a massive emotional, economic, social, political effect on the Jewish people. -
Nazi Germany Invades Poland
German forces under the control of Adolf Hitler bombard Poland on land and from the air. World War II had begun. Germany invaded Poland to regain lost territory and ultimately rule their neighbor to the east. The German invasion of Poland was a primer on how Hitler intended to wage war–what would become the “blitzkrieg” strategy. -
Japan Bombs Pearl Harbor
U.S. naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii, was the scene of a devastating surprise attack by Japanese forces. Just before 8 a.m. on that Sunday morning, Japanese fighter planes descended to the base, managed to destroy or damage nearly 20 American naval vessels, eight battleships, and over 300 airplanes. 2,400 Americans died in the attack, 1,000 people were wounded. Hoped that it would destroy the US Pacific Fleet and weaken the resolve of the American people.