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Mussolini takes power in Italy
Outraged by the Treaty of Versailles, Mussolini founded a new Italian political party called the National Fascist Party. He summed up the principle of fascism with the slogan, “Everything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State.” He believed that the rights and concerns of individuals were of little importance. -
U.S. Stock Market Crashes
The stock market crashed because of uneven distribution of wealth, overproduction, poor farming, and buying on credit. The damage was widespread and catastrophic. The stock market dropped in value by about $16 million in October alone. This had devastating effects on the United States. -
Japan seizes Manchuria
The military invaded Manchuria without the government’s approval to capture their land and resources for the use of the Japanese people. This demonstrated the weakening power of the Japanese government. -
FDR is elected president
Roosevelt easily defeated Hoover largely because the voting took place in the depths of the Great Depression and most of the voters were more concerned with the economic issues than with the foreign policy. Instead of focusing on foreign-policy matters, FDR focused on his New Deal. -
Hitler is named Chancellor of Germany
Hitler became interested in politics after the establishment of the Treaty of Versailles. He joined the National Socialists political party, or the Nazis. Hitler was able to use =his political skills, and violence, to eliminate his political opponents. Additionally, he also was spreading the myth of Aryan superiority, and the coming of the German empire. Due to the poor and desperate state of Germany, he rose to power in 1933. -
U.S. Neutrality Act
Congress passed this isolationist measure to prevent the nation from being drawn into the war. -
Italy invade Ethiopia
Some bitter feelings towards Ethiopia resurfaced when Mussolini came to power. In 1935 he used a dispute about the border between Ethiopia and an Italian colony as an excuse to launch an invasion. -
Germany militarizes the Rhineland
Under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was required to keep its troops out of an area in the Rhine River valley along the French border. This was meant to protect France against possible German aggression. Hitler violated this when he sent German troops into the Rhineland. As an excuse, Hitler claimed that a recent French military agreement with the Soviet Union threatened Germany. -
Hitler defies the Treaty of Versailles
Despite the clear guidelines provided by the Treaty of Versailles, German troops moved into the Rhineland in 1936. After no one had tried anything to stop him, he began Anschluss. -
Civil War erupts in Spain
The conflict between the two extreme left and right side political views led to a Spanish civil war. The war soon attracted interest and involvement from many other countries such as Germany, Italy, the Soviet Union, and the United States. -
Japan invades China
In 1937, Japan began a war against China. The attack was marked by great brutality. Japanese troops massacred an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 Chinese in the capital of Nanjing. -
Anschluss
Hitler wanted to join all ethnic Germans and so he tried to force the Austrian government to join a union with Germany. When they refused, Hitler sent troops into the country. No one did anything to stop Hitler. -
Munich Conference
Chamberlain and Daladier agreed to allow Hitler to make the Sudetenland part of Germany. Czechoslovakia, which had no representative at the meeting, protested the agreement. -
Kristallnacht
This was an anti-Jewish riot that broke out all over Germany. The Nazis claimed the attacks were a spontaneous reaction to the assassination of a Nazi official by a Jewish teenager. -
Nazi-Soviet Pact
With this pact, Hitler won Stalin’s agreement to stay out of Germany’s way as it continued to expand. In return, Hitler promised not to attack the Soviet Union. He also secretly agreed to give the Soviet Union parts of the soon-to-be-conquered territory in Eastern Europe. -
Phony War
This took place in the winter of 1939-1940. Germany made no advances, but was instead planning an attack through the Ardennes Forest in France. -
Germany invades Poland
Within days of the Nazi-Soviet agreement, Hitler was ready to launch his next attack by invading Poland. To provide an excuse for the attack, Hitler had a German criminal dressed in a Polish military uniform. The man was taken to the German-Polish border and shot. The next morning Germany claimed it had been attacked by Poland. German troops immediately launched a massive invasion of Poland. -
Miracle at Dunkirk
The Belgian, British, and French forces were unable to stop the German assault onto Belgium. By early June, the Germans had trapped thousands of Allied soldiers at the French port of Dunkirk. In a heroic rescue, Allied ships and hundreds of civilian boats plucked 340,000 troops from the coast and carried them to Great Britain. -
Churchill is Elected Prime Minister in England
Churchill was a previous war veteran, and was very popular among British people. He replaced Neville Chamberlain for British Prime Minister. -
France Surrenders
Germany broke through the Ardennes Forest and easily overwhelmed the French waiting there. The Maginot Line had simply been bypassed. After Germany had shattered France’s defensive plan, Hitler’s troops now raced towards Paris. By the end of June, France had surrendered to Germany and Italy. -
Battle of Britain
The first stage of the German plan was to destroy the RAF. The Germans failed soon began bombing London. By late 1940, the Battle of Britain was over. The British had stopped the Luftwaffe. Hitler was forced to call off the attempted invasion. -
Lend-Lease Act
This allowed the United States to send weapons to send weapons to Great Britain regardless of its ability to pay. -
Japan seizes French Indo-China
With the agreement of the French Vichy government, Japanese forces invaded the French colony in Southeast Asia, Indochina. Japan’s takeover threatened British and American interests in the region and it signaled Japan’s intention to seek oil and other resources. -
Atlantic Charter
Roosevelt and Winston Churchill agreed to proclaim the shared goals of the United States and Britain in opposing Hitler and his allies. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
For months, Japanese military leaders had been developing plans for a surprise attack on the American naval based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Even after knowing an attack was a possibility; forces at the base of the Navy’s Pacific Fleet were unready to defend it. This was due to a majority of reasons. The raid was a complete surprise to the Americans. It was a complete defeat for the United States.
