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Stock Market Crash
Most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, taking into consideration the full extent and duration of its fallout. The crash signaled the beginning of the 12-year Great Depression. -
Japan Seizes Manchuria
Japan launched an attack on Manchuria. Within a few days Japanese armed forces had occupied several strategic points in South Manchuria. -
Hitler is named Chancellor of Germany
President Paul von Hindenburg names Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazi Party, as chancellor of Germany. So begins Hitler's plan for world domination. -
FDR is elected president
He passed more bills through congress in first 100 days than most presidents in entire first term in office. -
Hitler defies the Treaty of Versailles
Hitler defies the treaty of Versailles by building up his army, taking back the Rhineland. -
Italy invades Ethiopia
The aim of invading Ethiopia was to boost Italian national prestige. -
France militarizes the Rhineland
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. -
Japan seizes French Indo-China
Prevent China from importing arms and fuel through French Indochina. -
Civil War erupts in Spain
Spain was divided in two: a "Republican" or "Loyalist" Spain -
Japan invades China
Attempt by the Japanese Empire to gain control over the whole province, in order to eventually encompass all of East Asia -
Anschluss
Occupation and annexation of the German Republic Austria into Nazi Germany. -
Mussolini takes power in Italy
Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism. -
Munich Conference
Agreement permitting the Nazi German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. -
Kristallnacht
series of co-ordinated attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria carried out by SA stormtroopers and civilians -
U.S. Neutrality Act
1939 laws that were passed by the United States Congress in the 1930s, in response to the growing turmoil in Europe and Asia. -
Nazi-Soviet Pact
Agreement between Germany and Russia that promised neither would attack the other for 10 years. -
Germany invades Poland
Invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe. -
Phony War
Phase early in World War II—in the months following Britain and France's declaration of war on Germany. -
Churchill is Elected Prime Minister in England
British Conservative politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during World War II. -
Miracle at Dunkirk
Evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbor of Dunkirk, France. -
France Surrenders
For the Axis Powers, the campaign was a spectacular victory. -
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain was the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces, and was also the largest and most sustained aerial bombing campaign. -
Lend-Lease Act
Program under which the United States of America supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, Free France, and other Allied nations with weapons between -
Atlantic Charter
Pivotal policy statement first issued in August 1941 that early in World War II defined the Allied goals for the post-war world. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
Surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
