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The Great Depression
In 1929 the American stock market crashed. Many people lost jobs and money was scarce. IN Europe, many countries suffered from this crash because they were taking money and trade from America due to post-WWI expenses. It lasted until the start of WWII. The stock market crashed throughout several days, but the worst point of the crash was on October 29: Black Tuesday. Many countries ended up being ruled by dictators who promised to get rid of all of the problems that the Depression caused. -
Japan conquers Manchuria in northern China
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Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany
By using Jewish people and other groups as scapegoats for depression in Germany, Hitler grew popular with the people and started his Nazi party. They tried to take over using force, but that didn’t work and Hitler was imprisoned where he wrote Mein Kampf. Next, Hitler tried to use politics to gain power. Because he was so popular, the President appointed him chancellor to try to use Hitler’s power, but Hitler would not be easily controlled. -
Roosevelt first elected president
IN 1932, Roosevelt became president after Hoover. People were expecting good things from his optimistic attitude because of Hoovers failed attempts at halting the depression. He easily related to the people and kept their support with his New Deal and fireside chats. -
Nuremberg Laws
These laws separated German Jews from other German people. They were not allowed to marry those of “pure German blood”, nor were they considered true citizen and they were not allowed to display the Reich flag or colors. They also claimed that if someone had three or more Jewish grandparent, they were considered a Jew, no matter what they believed. -
Hitler & Mussolini form the Rome-Berlin Axis
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Japan invades China
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Germany invades Austria
Hitler easily invades and takes over Austria. Because many of the people in Austria were German-speaking, this take-over was widely welcomed. Both people in Austria and Germany approved of this union. -
Britain’s appeasement of Germany
Because Germany was planning on taking over more territory, namely Sudetenland, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain tried to make peace. Sudetenland, like Austria, was filled with people from German decent. The territory, however, was in Czechoslovakia, and they did not want to give it up. The Soviet Union and France agreed to defend the territory if Germany attacked. In order to try to avoid war, Chamberlain gave Hitler Sudetenland with the terms that Hitler stop seeking new territory. -
Kristallnacht
This event is often referred to the Night of Broken Glass. These days were filled with an extremely large number of anti-Jew pogroms all throughout Germany. A pogrom is a violent, destructive riot. It was called The Night of Broken Glass because of all of the windows and property shattered. It lasted through the 10th. -
Germany & Soviet Union have a nonaggression pact
Dates not exact. Sometime in August. -
Germany invades Poland - blitzkrieg (start of WWII)
Breaking contract, Germany took over the rest of Czechoslovakia after Sudetenland and threated to attack Poland. Again they were warned of war (by France and Britain). On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Two days later France and Britain declared war on Germany and WWII had begun. To invade many territories, Germany used a strategy called Blitzkrieg, (lightening war) which meant using fast surprise attacks with a lot of weapons (tanks, troops, and planes) -
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Rosie the Riveter
After America’s entry in the war, many men left to serve in the military. Even with those who left, people were needed to work in industry. They often built ships (they would be riveters, hence the term), planes, and other military machines. They would wear men’s clothing and do men’s worked, but instead of being looked down upon, they began to be admired. Many of these women also had to take care of their children. Rosie was a fictional character meant to depict these women. -
Germany invades Denmark, Norway, Belgium, and France (Vichy France)
Denmark: April 9th, 1940
Norway: April 9th, 1940
Belgium: November 5th, 1940
France: September, 1940 -
Tuskegee Airmen
Racial tensions were high at this point in history. The Tuskegee airmen were a segregated group of pilots who were African American, just one example of segregation based off of racial prejudice. -
German air force (Luftwaffe) bombs London and other civilian targets in the Battle of Britain
Dates not exact. This took place in Summer and Fall. -
Japan joins the Axis Powers
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Lend-Lease Act
This act allowed the U.S., which claimed to be neutral in the war, to ship supplies to its allies (the Allies). In this way, they could still impact the war without formally picking a side and getting involved and dragging the country into another world war. -
Germany invades the Soviet Union
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Pearl Harbor
On the island of Oahu in Hawaii, Pearl Harbor was a military base with a very large amount of American ships and planes. On December 7, Japan bombed the completely unprepared American base, marking America’s entry into WWII. Many lives were lost because it was almost impossible for American Airmen to get into planes and retaliate against the Japanese strikes. Fighting back from the ships didn’t work very well either. -
Pearl Harbor (continued for lack of space)
On the mainland, Japanese diplomats were trying to arrange form of peace with Americans until they were ordered to leave just before the attack. -
The Nazis implement the “Final Solution”
The final solution was to put all enemies, or those that they wanted exterminated into death camps. This mostly meant Jews, although there were also Roma Communist Party and Soviet state officials. Those who could do hard labor were put to work, but those who could not were immediately killed. Eventually, when they ran out of energy after being starved and mistreated, those who could no longer do work were also killed. Most killings were in gas chambers. The bodies were then incinerated. -
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Manhattan Project
This was the American program to build the atomic bomb. It a top secret project that gave many people jobs, although they didn’t know exactly what they were doing. It took three years to build the bomb with a team of researchers led by J. Robert Oppenheimer ( a physicist). -
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Japanese-American incarceration
After Pearl Harbor, people were afraid of Japanese spies, and, giving in to public pressure, the government had them incarcerated. Japanese-Americans were moved from their homes against their wills. They moved from temporary camps (in fairgrounds and racetracks) that had large families living in horse stalls, into slightly-larger, more-permanent camps also had poor conditions. In these camps, many Japanese Americans helped find ways to support the war effort. They returned to vandalized homes. -
Bataan Death March
After surrendering in a battle, 70,000 American and Filipino troops were marched 65 miles to a prison camp in very poor conditions. Along the way, they were shot, beaten, and starved. Around 10,000 of the original 70,000 died on this march. -
Battle of Midway
This was considered a major turning point in the war in the pacific. It was at an island called Midway in the center of the Pacific. Much was lost in this battle (1 American carrier and 150 planes/4 Japanese carriers and 250 planes – estimated) but it ended in an Allied victory that was shortly followed by the Allied push on Japanese territory. -
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Guadalcanal
When news that a Japanese base was being set up here, Americans realized that this would make Allied trade between the U.S. and Australia almost impossible. They launched a surprise attack that was successful. It was considered the first major land battle victory for the Allies. It was a six month battle. -
German forces surrender at Stalingrad
Germany attacked the city of Stalingrad in Russia. After a two-month battle in which the German commander asked for his troops to be allowed to retreat (Hitler did not allow it). Eventually the German forces surrendered. This was a turning point in the war as Germany began losing major battles. -
British forces stop the German advance at El Alamein
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D-Day
After waiting and attacking through North Africa, the Allies finally attacked German-controlled France. In the largest oversea invasion, the Allies attacked the shore in three waves (forces flying in in lightweight planes and parachutes to block bridges to prevent German-back-up from reaching the beaches, planes to bomb the shores and defense, and ships to lead the final strike). -
D-Day(continued)
Neither side was expecting such a victory with this little losses (the losses, however, were still extremely vast. The bloodiest battle in American histroy sinse Antietam). Although the Allies suffered great losses in some places, the German forces weren’t expecting their numbers of location of attack. -
Battle of the Bulge
Hitler’s final assault pushed back Allied forces through the Ardennes region (Belgium and Luxembourg). Afterwards, the U.S. regrouped, eventually defeating the German forces. It was an extremely costly and bloody battle (casualties=120,000 German; 80,000 American) -
Iwo Jima
Near the end of the fighting Allied troops began bombing Japan, but they needed stations set up closer to the mainland. Here, the American flag was placed at top of the island’s Mount Suribachi to show victory (although the battle had not yet been won) -
Yalta Conference
(4-11th) Just before Germany was defeated, Roosevelt (U.S.A), Churchill (Great Britain), and Stalin (Soviet Union) met to discuss life after the war. They made sure to address the governments that would be set up in Eastern Europe, and a peacekeeping organization that was international. At this conference, Stalin promised to declare war on Japan as soon as Germany was defeated. -
Okinawa
For the same reasons as Iwo Jima (see Iwo Jima) Allied forces took over this island. IN BOTH BATTLES a total of more than 18,000 Americans died and more than 120,000 Japanese died. -
Roosevelt dies, Truman becomes president
Stae not accurate. Month is correct -
Hitler's Death
When Russians reached Berlin, Hitler killed himself in his air-raid bunker, knowing the end was near. -
Allied forces advance on Berlin, Germany surrenders
May 2-8 1945
Shortly after Hitler’s death, the Soviet Union captured Berlin (May 2nd). Afterwards, Germany officially surrendered (May 7th) in the headquarters of General Eisenhower in France. The next day was considered V-E (victory in Europe) day. -
Formation of the United Nations
On April 25, 1945, 50 nations met in SanFransisco to discuss a new peacekeeping organization to replace the weak and ineffective League of Nations
Two months later, all 50 nations ratified the charter, creating a new international peacekeeping body known as the United Nations.
President Roosevelt had urged Americans not to turn their backs on the world before he died, so the U.S. was part of the UN from the beginning. -
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Potsdam Conference
A conference held by the Allies to plan what to do with the end of the war. Tried to find better solutions than those made in the Treaty of Versalles. The largest decision was that the Nazi war criminals would be put on trial, which had never happened before. -
Atomic Bomb Dropped on Hiroshima
After the atomic bomb was built, Truman threaten destruction if Japan did not surrender. When no surrender came, bomber Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. It killed 75,000 people. -
Atomic Bomb Dropped on Nagasaki
The first atomic bomb did not bring surrender, so a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. It killed 40,000 people. -
Japanese officials sign an official letter of surrender on the U.S.S. Missouri, ending World War II
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Nuremberg Trials
24 defendants, including some of Hitlers top officials that were held with crimes against humanity. 19 of them were found guilty and 12 were sentensed to death. Hermann Goering was the creator and head of Gestapo (secret police); one of the main defendants. Many of the well known guilty people that weren't put on this trial were already dead. It proved that people were responcible for their actions, even in war. Many war criminals ran to other countries. -
Marchall Plan
Named after Secretary of State, George Marchall. Congress approved it to help boost European economies. The U.S. gave more than 13 billion dollars to help the nations of Eurpoe get back on thier feet.
