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The Armenian Genocide
On April 24, 1915, Ottoman officials arrest 240 Armenian leaders in Constantinople and transfer them to Asia Minor in anticipation of feared Allied landings on the strategically crucial Gallipoli peninsula. According to the Ottomans, Armenian revolutionaries had made touch with the enemy and were prepared to aid a Franco-British landing, from which the Entente forces would march on Constantinople. -
Battle of the Somme
One of the most catastrophic wars in recent history was World War I. Nearly 10 million soldiers perished as a result of hostilities, greatly exceeding the total number of soldiers killed in all of the previous one hundred years' wars combined. Although precise casualty figures are difficult to come by, it is estimated that 21 million men were wounded in battle. -
Treaty of Versailles Presented to German Delegation
The Treaty of Versailles compelled Germany to hand away enormous swaths of European land and overseas possessions. Article 231, also known as the "War Guilt Clause," which obliged Germany to take full responsibility for starting World War I, was perhaps the most humiliating part of the treaty for defeated Germany. Germany was forced to pay a colossal amount in reparations. In addition, the German military's strength and armaments were to be severely restricted -
Adolf Hitler Issues Comment on the “Jewish Question”
In the declaration, Hitler defined Jews as a race rather than a religious community, described the impact of their existence as a "race-tuberculosis of the peoples," and stated that discriminatory legislation against Jews was the German government's initial purpose. -
Nazi Party Platform
Members of the Nazi Party officially announced their goal to separate Jews from "Aryan" society and to abrogate Jews' political, legal, and civil rights in the 25-point program. "Only a national comrade can be a citizen," according to point 4 of the program. A citizen must be of German ancestry, regardless of faith. As a result, no Jew can become a citizen. -
Beer Hall Putsch
Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party led a coalition group in an attempted coup d'état known as the Beer Hall Putsch on November 8–9, 1923. They started at the Bürgerbräu Keller in Munich, with the goal of seizing control of the state government, marching to Berlin, and overthrowing the German federal government. -
Adolf Hitler Becomes Leader of the Reestablished Nazi Party
Hitler announces the reorganization of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) under his leadership (Führer). He delivers the declaration at Munich's Bürgerbräukeller, the same beer hall where he attempted but failed to overthrow the democratically elected government in 1923. -
Anne Frank Born
Anne spent her first five years of life in an apartment on the outskirts of Frankfurt with her parents and older sister, Margot. Anne's father, Otto Frank, moved to Amsterdam in the Netherlands, where he had business connections, after the Nazis seized control in 1933.