Rise of Dictators and WWII Events

Russian Revolution

Mar 8, 1917

The Russian Revolution is the collective erm for a pair of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which dismantled the Tsarist autocracy and led to the eventual rise of the Soviet Union.

Vladimir Lenin

Oct 21, 1917

Lenin played a leading role in the October Revolution of 1917, which overthrew the Provisional Government and established a Bolshevik administration, the Council of People's Commissars.

Benito Mussolini

Jul 18, 1922

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician, journalist, and leader of the National Fascist Party, ruling the country as Prime Minister from 1922 until his ousting in 1943.

Joseph Stalin

Dec 18, 1929

Under Stalin, the Soviet Union was transformed from a peasant society into an industrial and military superpower. However, he ruled by terror, and millions of his own citizens died during his brutal reign.

Japanese Invasion of Manchuria

Sep 18, 1931

Japan felt they had the right to start an overseas empire, just as European countries such as Britain and France had. It was seized for its valuable coal.

Adolf Hitler

Aug 2, 1934

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician who was the leader of the Nazi Party, Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and Führer of Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1945.

Germany moves troops into the Rhineland

Mar 7, 1936

German troops move into the Rhineland bordering France and Belgium. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler violates the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Pact by sending German military forces into the Rhineland, a demilitarized zone along the Rhine River in western Germany.

Neville Chamberlain

May 1, 1937

Arthur Neville Chamberlain FRS was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940

Germany Annexation of Austria

Mar 12, 1938

In early 1938, Austrian Nazis conspired for the second time in four years to seize the Austrian government by force and unite their nation with Nazi Germany. Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg, learning of the conspiracy, met with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in the hopes of reasserting his country’s independence but was instead bullied into naming several top Austrian Nazis to his cabinet.

The Munich Conference (Appeasement)

Sep 30, 1938

On this day in 1938, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, French Premier Edouard Daladier, and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sign the Munich Pact, which seals the fate of Czechoslovakia, virtually handing it over to Germany in the name of peace. Upon return to Britain, Chamberlain would declare that the meeting had achieved “peace in our time.”

Germany claimed the Sudenland

Oct 10, 1938

Germany claimed a part of Czechoslovakia

Germany Invasion of Czechoslovakia

Mar 15, 1939

On this day, Hitler’s forces invade and occupy Czechoslovakia–a nation sacrificed on the altar of the Munich Pact, which was a vain attempt to prevent Germany’s imperial aims.

German Invasian of Poland to start WWII

Sep 1, 1939

At 4:45 a.m., some 1.5 million German troops invade Poland all along its 1,750-mile border with German-controlled territory. Simultaneously, the German Luftwaffe bombed Polish airfields, and German warships and U-boats attacked Polish naval forces in the Baltic Sea. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler claimed the massive invasion was a defensive action, but Britain and France were not convinced. On September 3, they declared war on Germany, initiating World War II.

Franklin Roosevelt

Sep 1, 1941

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, commonly known as FDR, was an American statesman and political leader who served as the President of the United States 1933-1945.

Pearl Harbor Attack

Dec 7, 1941

Japan plotted a attack over a year. Japan attacked Airforce. Army, and Hawaii bases in Oahu. It was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, in the United States Territory of Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941. The attack led to the United States' entry into World War II.

The United States entrance into WWII

Dec 7, 1941

The most immediate reason for the US's actual entry into WWII was the Japanese attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in what was then the Territory of Hawaii. The Japanese attack led to the US declaring war on Japan. From there, Germany declared war on the US and the US was fully involved.

Whinston Churchill

Oct 26, 1951

Winston Churchill (1874-1965) served as the prime minister of Great Britain from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. He led Britain's fight against Nazi Germany in World War II. Churchill was a talented orator, giving many stirring speeches to boost national morale during the war.