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Mussolini Takes Power in Italy
He became the 40th Prime Minister of Italy and leader, also titled Il Duce. -
U.S. Stock Market Crashes
The Stock Market crash is also known as Black Tuesday and marked the beginning of the 12 year depression. -
Japan Seizes Manchuria
Manchuria was invaded by the Kwatung Army of the Empire of Japan right after the Mukden incident. -
FDR is Elected as President
In FDR’s first 100 days he passed more legislation than any president has in their four years in office. He also provided relief to unemployed. -
Hitler is named Chancellor of Germany
President Paul von Hindenburg names Adolf Hitler, leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi), as chancellor of Germany. -
Italy invades Ethiopia
Italy invaded Ethiopia without a declaration of war, so Ethiopia then declared war on Italy. The league of nations then imposed sanctions on Italy. -
Hitler defies the Treaty of Versailles-
Hitler had Germany stop paying reparations and he increased the size of the German military. Germany also invaded the Rhineland March 7, 1936 -
France militarizes the Rhineland
French decide to take action with their artillery, hoping the Nazi government would fall within a week. Hitler intuition proved to be correct that they would win, and the risk was worth it. -
Civil War erupts in Spain-
The Civil War was triggered by events in Madrid. Within days, Spain was divided in two: a "Republican" or a "Loyalist" Spain. -
Japan Invades China
Japan, fearing Chinese unity, attacked China in full force near Peiping in 1937. The Chinese retreated inland and in 1938 moved their capital to Chongqing. -
Anschluss
Anschluss was the occupation and annexation of the German Republic Austria into Nazi Germany (German Empire) in 1938. -
Munich Conference
This was an agreement permitting the Nazi German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe without Czechoslovakia. -
Kristallnacht
At least 91 Jews were killed in the attacks, and a further 30,000 arrested and confined in concentration camps. -
Nazi-Soviet Pact
The greement committed the Soviet Union to provide food products as well as raw materials to Germany in exchange for furnished products such as machinery from Germany. During the first years of the war,agreement helped Germany withstand the Bristish blockade. -
Germany invades Poland
German forces invaded Poland from the north, south, and west. As the Germans advanced, Polish forces withdrew from their forward bases of operation close to the Polish-German border to different lines of defence to the east. -
Phony War
The Phony War was a phase early in World War II that was marked by a lack of major military operations by the Western Allies against the German Reich. -
U.S. Neutrality Act
This was made to preserve the neutrality and the peace of the United States and to secure the safety of its citizens and their interests. -
Churchill is Elected Prime Minister in England
Churchill took the lead in warning about Nazi Germany and in campaigning for rearmament. -
Miracle at Dunkirk
This was the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, France because the British, French and Belgian troops were cut off by the German army during the Battle of Dunkirk in WWII. -
France Surrenders
After the Battle of Britain, France was divided into a German occupation zone in the north and west, and an unoccupied zone in the south. -
Lend-Lease Act
The plan proposed by FDR was to "lend-lease or otherwise dispose of arms" and other supplies needed by any country whose needed the defense of the United States. -
Battle of Britain
The air camaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom/ The objective of the campaign was to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force (RAF). -
Japan seizes French Indo-China
Japan wanted to prevent China from importing arms and fuel through French Indochina on a railway. -
Atlantic Charter
Atlantic Charter was a statement that early in WWII defined the Allied goals for the post-war world. It was drafted by Britain and the United States, and later agreed to by all the Allies. The Charter stated the ideal goals of the war. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The Japanese launched a surprise air attack on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. After just two hours of bombing, more than 2,400 Americans were dead and 21 ships had been destroyed.
