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Mussolini Takes Power in Italy
Outraged by the Treaty of Versilles, Mussolini founded the National Fascist Party. He used his dynamic public speaking skill to win a seat in Italy's parliament. He encouraged the use of violence against Communists and Socialists, whom many people blamed for the disorder of post war in Italy. -
U.S Stock Market Crashes
Also known as "Black Tuesday", The Stock Market Crash was the beginning of the Great Depression and it had a rippling affect throughout the economy and the nation. It produced a downward spiral that negatively impacted every segment of the population. The stock market decline caused many banks to fail, which caused many businesses to fail, which caused unemployment to skyrocket, which caused consumers to have less purchasing power, which forced existing businesses to lower their prices. -
Japan seizes Manchuria
Many Japanese wanted to expand their territory and gain greater access to resources. The desire grew stronger as a result of the worldwide economic depression of the 1930s. A few Japanese generals decided it was time to act. In 1931 the army invaded Manchuria, without the approval of the Japanese government. The League of Nations was critical of them and as a result of that, Japan withdrew from the League of Nations. This demonstrated the weakness of the League to the rest of the world. -
Hitler named Chancellor of Germany
In 1933, Hitler became chancellor, a top position in the government of the most powerful party, the Nazis. He established himself as a dictator and used schemes to eliminate opponents. He also built up German armd forces for the war in his goal of expanding German territory. -
FDR is elected president
Roosevelt was inaugurated in March 1933, during the worsening of the economy. Roosevelt took action to strengthen banks, and help the American people by giving fireside chats. Although he tried many plans and ideas to fix the economy, the Great Depresion reamined a grim fact of life for millions of Americans. The Great Depression was a contributing factor to World War 2. -
U.S. Neutality Act
When discussing foreign affairs, this act was generally used to pass isoltionist measures. This act, passed in 1935 was a United States act aimed at helping prevent the nation from being drawn into a war. The end of this act occured once the Lend-Lease act was passed because it allowed them to trade weapons. The U.S. had to defend themselves after Pearl Harbor -
Italy Invades Ethiopia
After Mussolini came to power with grand plans to rebuild an Italian empire he brought the Italians to invade the East African nation of Ethiopia in 1935. Many american leaders spoke out against Italy's action but President Franklin Roosevelt was unwilling to take formal steps to punish Mussolini. -
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. In 1936, Hitler violated the treaty by sending 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
As soon as Hitler gained power in Germany, he scretly began to rebuild the German military. This was in direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles. As manipulative as he was, Hitler managed to convince Great Britian and France to tolerate his actions. in 1936, Hitler violated the treaty by sending German troops into the Rhineland. His excuse was a recent French military agreement with the Soviet Union threatened Germany. This only made Hitler grow bolder. -
Civil War Erupts in Spain
This Spanish Civil War attracted interest and involvement from many other countries in Europe and in North America. This battle was between the Communists and the Fascists and Nationalists. The fighting in the Spanish Civil War was bloody and brutal. Many hunreds of thousands of people died. Lasting 3 years, finally in 1939 Franco's Nationalists defeated the Repulicans. Spain came under the control of a Fascist dictator. -
Japan Invades China
This was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany, the Soviet Union and the United States -
Anschluss
Hitler had long reamed of uniting all ethnic Germans, including the Austrians. In 1938, He tried forcing the Austrian government to agree to Anschluss- union with Germany. When the Austrian government refused, Hitler sent troops into the country. This again was another violation of the Treaty of Versailles by Hitler, but they did nothing more to stop him. -
Munich Conference
The conference's goal was to give Hitler Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland under the condition that Germany would not invade any other countries. Czechoslovakia was not represented in the conference, and this was a failed attempt at peace. -
Kristallnacht
Kristallnact, a German word for broken glass; an event occurring on the nights of November 9th-10th during which Hitler's Nazis encouraged Germans to riot against Jews, and nearly 100 Jews died. The Nazis claimed the attacks were a spontaneous reaction to the assassination of a Nazi official by a Jewish teenager. This event was a warning to Jewish people, and many managed to leave Germany. -
Nazi- Soviet Pact
This was a non-aggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union that promised that the countries would remain neutral if either were attacked. It ended when Germany invaded the Soviet Union -
Phony War
The first six months of the war became known as the ‘Phoney War’ because there was almost no fighting and no bombs were dropped. By Spring 1940, many people had decided that war was never going to happen. They stopped carrying their gas-masks and some evacuees returned home until April 1940, Nazi forces attacked Denmark and Norway. -
Germany Invades Poland
By claiming they had been attacked by Poland, Germany launched a large invasion. Faced with blitzkrieg, Poland fell within a month. -
Miracle at Dunkirk
This was the evacuation of the Allied troops from Dunkirk because of the German army. This made the Britain army more confident, even though they lose some soldiers. -
Churchill is Elected Prime Minister in England
After the former Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigned, Churchill became Prime Minister. He was an excellent leader during a tough time for Britain. -
France Surrenders
Germany had entered France, and took over Paris. The French army was having a difficult time and had had many losses. Under the signed armistice, 2/3 of France was occupied by Germany. -
Battle of Britian
In July 1940, Hitler gave orders for the preparation of a seaborn invasion of Britain, called Operation Sealion. To make this easier, he sent the German air force to destroy Britain's Royal Air Force first. On 10 July, 1940, the Luftwaffe made their first bomber attack on British ships in the Channel. About 1,547 allied aircrafts were lost during the Battle of Britain. -
Japan seizes French Indo-China
Also known as the Vietnam Expedition, was a move by the Empire of Japan in September 1940, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, to prevent China from importing arms and fuel through French Indochina -
Lend-Lease Act
Roosevelt declared his goal of making the United States the "arsenal of democracy". Soon afterwards, Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act. This allowed the nation the powers to sell, transfer, exchange, lend equipment to any country to help it defend itself against the Axis powers. In the long run, this act ended up costing the country alot of money. -
Atlantic Charter
Roosevelt and Winston Churchill met secretly on a ship off the coast of Canada. There the two leaders agreed to the Atlantic Charter. This agreement proclaimed the shared goals of the United States and Britian in opposing Hitler and his allies. Isolationists reacted strongly to these developments. These steps were viewed as directly leading them to war. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
For months, Japanese military leaders had been developing plans for a surprise attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. American military planners had for months beleive that an attack on Peral Harbor was a possibility. In December of 1941, forces were unready to defend it. This was partly because no single commander was in charge of Pearl Harbor's defenses. On December 7th, 1941 the Japanese strike force went into action.
