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Beniot Mussolini came to power in Italy. He would soon embark on an aggressive foreign policy and invade Ethiopia
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A 12 year occupation of Nicaragua is ended. (America intervenes again the next year when renewed unrest swept through the Latin American country)
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Adolf Hitler gained power in Germany as the head of the Nazi movement. He used domestic dissent and bitterness over WWI to his advantage. He soon imposed a dictatorship in Germany, which he ruled as the Fuhrer
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Secretary of State Hull signs a conditional pledge of nonintervention at the Pan-American Conference.
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Japan's armies begin to invade China, marking the beginning of the Pacific phase of WWII
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Russia signs a nonaggression treaty with Hitler, enabling Germany to avoid a two-front war. Russia receives part of eastern Poland as a reward
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World War II begins when Hitler invades Poland. England and France declare war soon after.
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Banned racial discrimination in war induststries. Led to black employment by the government to rise from 60,000 in 1941 to 200,000 by the end of the war
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Japanese carrier-based planes attack the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, killing 2,400 American soldiers and sinking 8 battleships
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Germany and Italy declare war against the united States in retaliation for America's declaration of war on Japan. The United States was now fully invovled in WWII
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Roosevelt and Churchill sign a pledge to fight together until the Axis powers were defeated. The declaration was eventually subscribed to by 26 countries.
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Created by FDR. Allowed business to claim rapid depreciation and huge tax credits for new plants. Also created an allocation system of critical materials. Donald Nelson was placed in charge of the board
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FDR and Winston Churchill met in Casablanca, Morocco. They declared a policy of unconditional surrender
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Violence erupted in Los Angeles when white sailors attacked Mexican American youths. The riots and racial prejudice led to heightened feelings of ethnic identity for Mexican Americans
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The day Allied troops crossed the English Channel and opened a second fron in western Europe during WWII.
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America drops the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, incinerating 4 squiare miles of the city and killing over 60 thousand
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A second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki by the United States.
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Democrat Roosevelt vs. Republican Dewey. Dewey targeted FDR's age and health during the campaign, while FDR chose Harry Truman as his vice president and received more support from labor unions. Won by FDR
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President Roosevelt dies, devestating the nation and leaving the inexperienced Harry Truman to lead the nation
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Japan signs a formal capitulation agreement on the decks of the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay, bringing WWII to a close