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Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was the outcome treaty signed after WWI. Signed by Germany and the Allie powers after the Allied powers won the war. This event led to WWII, because the nations blamed the war on Germany. Therefore, Germany was ultimately punished rather than worked with and they made the Germans pay for the war. They wrecked the German economy and angered the German people ultimately leading to the rise of Nazism and Hitler within Germany. -
March on Rome
Mussolini and other fascist leaders organized a march on Rome. With the sole intention of forcing the kind to yield the government to Mussolini. The Insurrection when Benito Mussolini came to power in Italy in late October of 1922. This marked the beginning of the reign of fascist rule and the fall of other forms of government. It official established fascism as major political motive and practice throughout Europe. Which would soon become very dominant with time. -
Stock Market Crash, Black Tuesday, (Great Depression)
Some causes for the crash were: World War I debt, national tariff policies, overproduction, decreasing currency value, disrupted trade patterns, unsupervised economy, and speculation all weekend economies across the globe. Dependence on American investment capital after WW led to financial collapse and when the stock market crashed the U.S. cut off capital flows to Europe. Most importantly, when the western democracies failed to overcome the G.D. and this led to the rise of extremist movements. -
Fall of the Weimar Republic/Nazi Revolution
Germany set up a new constitution in July of 1919, for the new Weimar Republic. During economic instability from the reparations to France, Adolf Hitler organized the Nazi party. Eventually, with help from the Dawes plan, Germany made it back to pre-war economic levels. However, this changed after the G.D. and now Germans had to choose between the Communist and the Nazi party. Eventually, he became chancellor in January of 1933, and president in 1934 with 90% of voters approving. -
Munich Agreement
An agreement made between France, Italy, Germany, and Great Britain that allowed Germanys annexation of Sudetenland Czechoslovakia. This agreement featured each of the countries prime ministers of the time. Which was a western chunk of Czechoslovakia that had a largely German ethnic population. Which was an exchange for Hitler's promise for no further territorial demands in Europe. -
Germany's Invasion of Poland
Hitler invaded Poland, starting the war, ultimately to get back the part of East Prussia, the Polish Corridor, that the Treaty of Versailles had ceded to Poland Baltic Sea access. The Germans used the blitzkrieg technique for this invasion. Two days later, France and England declared war against Germany to honor their treaty with Poland. In October, Poland fell occupied by the Germans in the west and the Soviets in the East as a part of the 1938 nonaggression Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. -
Fall of Paris
The Battle of France included the German invasion of France and the Low Countries. In just over six weeks German armed forces overran Belgium and the Netherlands, which drove the British army out of the continent. They then captured Paris, and forced the surrender of the French government on June 14th. Therefore, Germany occupied the north and west. Then a puppet French government, known as the Vichy Regime, controlled the south and the North African possessions. Free French continued to fight. -
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain was an air war for supremacy of the skies over Britain. The Battle targeted the industrial cities of southern England, including London. The population was subjected to nightly bombings called the Blitz. If the Luftwaffe (German AF) had been victorious the German Army would have invaded G.B. However, the Royal Air Force (British AF) was victorious which blocked a possible invasion of G.B. and allowed for G.B. to continue in the war and eventually achieve Nazi defeat. -
Pearl Harbor
A surprise ariel attack on the U.S. naval base Pearl Harbor on Oahu Island, Hawaii. By the Japanese which initiated US involvement in WWII. The Japanese thought that by attacking the U.S. they would have six months free rein throughout the Pacific without any interference from the US or other countries. Pearl Harbor along with Operation Barobossa secured the cooperation of the US and the USSR with the British against the axis powers. Establishing the Big Three: Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt. -
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle between the US and Japan. Yamamoto Isoroku sought to seize midway Island by the engaging the US Pacific fleet. US intelligence had broken the Japanese Naval code, and the US prepared for the attack. Then, on June 3rd the US bombers began striking Japan's carrier force. Japan was unable to match the US air power, and after many losses, abandoned efforts to land on Midway. This battle marked the turning point towards the US in the pacific theater. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a successful Soviet defense of Stalingrad, during WWII. German forces invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 and had advanced to Stalingrad in the summer of 1942. Until they were met by the Red Army. In November, the Soviets counteracted and encircled the German army, who surrendered in February 1943 with 91,000 troops. The axis forces lost 800k and the Soviets lost 1.1M. It stopped further German advance into the USSR and the turning tide of the war favoring the allies. -
D-Day (Normandy Invasion)
Allied Invasion with the largest amphibious landing in history in Normandy, France. The landing transported 156k US, British, and Canadian troops across the English Channel. They soon established lodgment areas, despite German resistance. Eventually, the allied troops broke out of the beachheads in mid-July and began to advance rapidly across Northern France. Also includes the Liberation of Paris on 8/25/1944. They would eventually meet with Soviet forces to bring an end to the Nazi Reich. -
Battle of the Bulge
The last major German offensive on the Western Front during WWII. It was an unsuccessful attempt to push the allies back from German home territory. In December 1944, Allied forces were met unprepared by a German counterattack in the wooded Ardennes region of southern Belgium. The German forces who were originally successful were haltered by the Allied resistance. With both sides having losses the Germans eventually withdrew from the Ardennes region of Belgium and France in January of 1945. -
United Nations
It was an organization where nations could openly discuss issues instead of going directly to war. It showed the idea that all nations had a voice. They can draft resolutions. It served as a way to solve problems and it was similar to the League of Nations. There were permanent members: US, G.B, France, China, and USSR. The UN also had their own military, something the League of Nations never had. This was important, because it was a set up to establish peace for the future post-war Europe. -
VE Day
The European phase of WW2 ended with the unconditional surrender of the Nazi German forces to the Allies. This event is known as Victory in Europe Day. From then on Hitler's Thousand Year Reich ceased to exist and the government of the German people was assumed by the US, GB, the USSR, and France. -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
After the VE Day the U.S. was focused on the Pacific Front and defeating Japan. Thus, Truman decided that it would be best to drop the atomic bombs, from the Manhattan Project, because if they fought the Japanese the U.S. would have too many casualties. On August 6th 1944 they bombed the little boy on Hiroshima and on August 9th 1944 the fat man was dropped on Nagasaki. These were the first and last times that atomic weapons were used in Warfare. Approximately 6 days later Japan Surrendered. -
VJ Day
Marked the end of WWII with the surrender of Imperial Japan on August 14, 1945. With the official signing of the document on September 2, 1945.