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Mussolini take power in Italy
Mussolini had taken advantage of Italy’s economic and political turmoil. He pushed his fascist political party into parliament and when 35 seats were taken up by his men, he wanted more. His group, the Blackshirts caused mayhem so that Mussolini could make convincing speeches to the people about how he could make the violence stop. Eventually he threatened to march the Blackshirts through Rome if they did not elect him. In order to keep him under control the king made him Prime Minister. -
U.S. Stock Market Crashes
this was an important event because it changed the course of history and is also one of the reasons for Hitler’s rise to power and Germany’s demise. The Stock Market Crash led to the great depression that raged through America and affected Europe. Germany was already struggling because of the treaty of Versailles, so when the depression reached them, inflation began. -
Japan seizes Manchuria
After Japan had blown up part of the railroad they owned in Manchuria, and they blamed the Chinese and began their take over. They killed thousands of Chinese while capturing Manchuria. There were no signs of this invasion being accidental or due to irresponsible officials. Japan was in clear violation of the Kellogg-Briand. -
FDR is elected president
Frederick D. Roosevelt is considered on of the best presidents the United States has ever had. He helped the nation out of the depression and was amazingly popular with the people. Frederick passed more legislation through congress in his first hundred days than most presidents do by their first complete term -
Hitler is named Chancellor of Germany
President Paul von Hindenburg named Adolf Hitler chancellor. Hitler used the nation’s anger towards the treaty of Versailles and the defeat in the Great War to convince the people that his Nazi party was better than the Weimar government. He used his charm as a charismatic speaker to get 230 governmental seats in 1932. -
Hitler defies the Treaty of Versailles
In Hitler’s book; he pledged to undo the treaty of Versailles. He starts to do so by establishing an army in Germany. He used a military draft and then starts expanding and invading several nearby countries. -
Italy invades Ethiopia
the fascist leader Mussolini invaded Ethiopia because he wanted to expand just as Hitler was doing with German territories. Invading Ethiopia was supposed to make the nation of Italy seem more powerful, it was also because back in 1986 Ethiopia had defeated Italian troops when they had come to colonialize the country. -
U.S. Neutrality Act
since the invasion of Ethiopia, congress in the United States felt that they needed to pass additional neutrality legislations in order to insure security. The second Neutrality act was signed into a law that forced the president to declare that a state of war existed. He could no longer ignore it. It also outlawed the provision of loans for belligerents. -
France militarizes the Rhineland
Hitler moved his army into the Rhineland, violating the treaty of Versailles. Britain and France didn’t do anything to stop him. Because they did not stand against him this time, he later grew stronger and was able to do much more damage later on. -
Civil War erupts in Spain
Francisco Franco wanted to overthrow Spain’s republican government. Several cities were captured. There were several revolts across Spain by Spanish garrisons. Even though the navy’s revolt failed Franco still kept trying. He eventually became dictator of Spain until he died in 1975. -
Japan invades China
the invasion of China started the Second Sino-Japanese War. Once again the Japanese used a small incident and blew it up in order to get a motive that allowed them such hostility. This was the most brutal attack japan has ever done. It was called the rape of Nanjing, it has gone done in history as one of the worst atrocities of WWII -
Anschluss
is a political or economic union of one government or territory with another. Hitler invaded Austria and annexed it immediately -
Munich Conference
this was a conference between France, Italy and Great Britain held in Munich. Hitler had demanded that he have part of Czechoslovakia. The conference was supposed to stop Hitler from gaining that territory and to drop his claim to it. -
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht was known as the house of glass. On this night, Nazis would desecrate and destroy Jewish homes, schools and businesses and synagogues. All night you would see fires scattered across the country of Germany. More than 30,000 Jewish men were captured and deported to concentration camps. About 91 Jews were killed this night. -
Nazi-Soviet Pact
this was a nonaggression pact that soviet Russia had signed with Hitler that guaranteed that the two countries would be at a truce and not attack each other anymore. The Soviet Union would be gaining land in this truce that included parts of Poland and the Baltic States. Hitler broke this truce though, less than two years later. -
Germany invades Poland
Hitler had used a nonaggression pact with Poland in order to allow him time to rearm his military so that he may attack Poland later. No one was prepared for Hitler’s attacks. In September, Hitler invaded Poland and beat their army within weeks of entering the country. After this, Britain and France declared war on Germany. -
Churchill is Elected Prime Minister in England
after Chamberlain failed to prevent German invasion or Norway, he had lost support of most of his member s in the conservative party. After he had lost confidence from too many Hitler invasions Churchill was appointed British Prime Minister. He was known for his military leadership abilities. He promised that Britain would never surrender. He kept that promise. -
The Phoney War
The Phoney war was a term used to describe the blitzkrieg attack on Poland. Nothing really happened. There was so few fighting going on that the children who were evacuated were returned to their parents. The public wasn’t aware of what was really going on. -
Miracle at Dunkirk
Britain and French armies were completely trapped and were just like sitting ducks to Germany’s army. They had lost all hope until they were able to escape through little boast out into the sea. Hitler had never ordered his army to do a full scale attack. It was his first mistake. -
France Surrenders
Germany had taken full control over Paris. France was weakening and it was only a matter of time until the French surrendered to Germany. Some men tried to keep spirits up and motivate people to keep fighting Germany but were sentenced to death. -
Battle of Britain
this involved the largest bombing campaigns of that time. German and Britain air forces were clashing in the air. The turning point was when The Germans commander had failed to become superior in the air. The British had one with a decisive victory. They saved the country from a ground invasion by Germany. This was a major battle. -
Lend-Lease Act
the lend lease act provided U.S. military aid to foreign nations during WWII. It allowed the president to transfer arms and other things need across seas to help other countries defend themselves including the Soviet Union, Britain, China, and Brazil. -
Japan seizes French Indochina
Since the French defeat in Europe in June of 1940, the Japanese knew that they would be week so they used this time to present an ultimatum that stated that if they didn’t sign an agreement that recognized japans special position and interests in the far east that they would force it at midnight. The agreement was signed though the Japanese invaded and destroyed most of the country anyways. -
Atlantic Charter
the Atlantic Charter was a joint declaration between the president of the United States and the Prime Minister Churchill. The document wasn’t a treaty but it was a formal expression of peace aims. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
Japanese fighter pilots had attacked Pearl Harbor, bombing it for 2 hours. 2,000 American soldiers and sailors had dies and over 1,000 were wounded. This is what caused the United States to declare war on Japan. Congress had approved this declaration and soon after Germany and Italy had declared war in the U.S. This was 2 years after WWII had begun.