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• U.S. Stock Market Crashes
On Black Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 38 points to 260, a drop of 12.8%. The deluge of selling overwhelmed the ticker tape system that normally gave investors the current prices of their shares. -
Japan seizes Manchuria
Japan occupied Manchuria in 1931-32, when Chinese military resistance, sapped by civil war, was weak. The seizure of Manchuria was, in effect, an unofficial declaration of war on China. -
FDR is elected president
He was elected President in November 1932, to the first of four terms. He is tyhe only President in United States history to have served three terms as President. -
Hitler is named Chancellor of Germany
Hitler's emergence as chancellor on January 30, 1933, 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. -
• Mussolini take power in Italy
He promised to give pride and power back to Italy. His Fascist army took over the country and Mussolini bacame dictator. The master of propoganda is admired by Italians. -
Hitler defies the Treaty of Versailles
Hitler defied the Treaty of Versailles because he wanted to make Germany great again. The other countries such as France and Britain did not immediately stop them from defying the treaty -
U.S. Neutrality Act
Neutrality Act, law passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Aug., 1935. It was designed to keep the United States out of a possible European war by banning shipment of war materiel to belligerents at the discretion of the President and by forbidding U.S. citizens from traveling on belligerent vessels except at their own risk. -
Italy invade Ethiopia
Fascist Italy invaded Ethiopia on Oct. 3, 1935, forcing Haile Selassie into exile in May 1936. Ethiopia was annexed to Eritrea, then an Italian colony, and to Italian Somaliland, forming Italian East Africa. -
France militarizes the Rhineland
This was significant because it violated the terms of the Locarno Treaties and was the first time since the end of World War I that German troops had been in this region. -
Civil War erupts in Spain
The Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) broke out with a military uprising in Morocco on July 17, triggered by events in Madrid. The country was divided into loyalists and nationalist lead by fransisco franco -
Japan invades China
On July 7, after long-time plans to conquer China, Japan started what has been called the first battle of World War II. -
Anschluss
The Anschluss. The Germans poured into Austria. Austria held a referendum, and 97-98% of the Austrians decided they were going to join Germany. The changes that happened gradually in Germany, occurred overnight in Austria. They hit the Austrian community by storm. -
Munich Conference
The Munich Pact was an agreement permitting the Nazi German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. The Sudetenland were areas along Czech borders, mainly inhabited by ethnic Germans. -
Kristallnacht
During the Kristallnacht over two hundred synagogues were destroyed by Germans, mainly NS party members, making the anti-semitic policies, attititudes, and laws of the regime violently public -
Nazi-Soviet Pact
The Nazi- Soviet Pact was an agreement between Germany and Russia that promised neither would attack the other for 10 years. There was also an economic agreement attached it to that said Germany would exchange manufactured goods for Russia's raw materials. -
Germany invades Poland
The invasion began on 1 September 1939, and ended on 6 October 1939 with Germany and the Soviet Union dividing and annexing the whole of Poland. -
Phony War
‘Phoney War’ is the name given to the period of time in World War Two from September 1939 to April 1940 when, after the blitzkrieg attack on Poland in September 1939, seemingly nothing happened. -
Churchill is Elected Prime Minister in England
In May 1940, Neville Chamberlain resigned as prime minister and Churchill took his place. -
Miracle at Dunkirk
At Dunkirk the British army had been pushed back to the beaches by the German forces and faced total wipeout. One day when the weather was nice, all boats within the region who could make the trip across the channel helped to evacuate soldiers, including British citizens. Over 300 000 soldiers were saved from almost certain death. There were very minimal casualties. -
France Surrenders
Hitler dictates that the French capitulation take place at Compiegne, a forest north of Paris. This is the same spot where twenty-two years earlier the Germans had signed the Armistice ending World War I. Hitler intends to disgrace the French and avenge the German defeat. To further deepen the humiliation, he orders that the signing ceremony take place in the same railroad car that hosted the earlier surrender. -
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain took place between August and September 1940. After the success of Blitzkrieg, the evacuation of Dunkirk and the surrender of France, Britain was by herself. The Battle of Britain remains one of the most famous battles of World War Two. -
Lend-Lease Act
On 11th March 1941, Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act. The legislation gave President Franklin D. Roosevelt the powers to sell, transfer, exchange, lend equipment to any country to help it defend itself against the Axis powers. -
Japan seizes French Indo-China
Japan invades French Indochina and the USA places an embargo on oil exports to Japan -
Atlantic Charter
Atlantic Charter joint program of peace aims, enunciated by Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Great Britain and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt of the United States on Aug. 14, 1941. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise attack by the Japanese to try to destroy the US Navy fleet but only crippled the fleet. 2,403 people died during the attack.
