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Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the Nazi Party
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Benito Mussolini appointed Prime Minister of Italy
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Josef Stalin sole dictator of the Soviet Union (USSR)
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Japan’s Army seizes Manchuria, China
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Hitler is named Chancellor of Germany
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1935 Neutrality Act passed by US Congress
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1936 Hitler sends troops into Rhineland of Germany in violation of the Versailles Treaty
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1937 Japan’s army pillages Nanjing, China; massacre a quarter of a million people.
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1938 Nazis begin rounding up Jews for labor camps
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1939 Nazi-Soviet Pact signed by Hitler and Stalin
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1939 Sept 1st - Nazis invade Poland; Britain and France declare war on Germany
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1940 Germany invades France and forces it to surrender
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1940 Nazis invade Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium – take control
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1941 Hitler breaks Pact with Stalin’s Russia and invades -USSR now joins England in fighting the Germans
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1941 Pearl Harbor in Hawaii attacked by Japanese Naval and Air forces, US declares war on Japan, Germany and Italy declare war on the US
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1942 Battle of Midway, turning point of war in the Pacific
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1943 British and US forces defeat German and Italian armies in North Africa
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1943 July - Italy surrenders, Mussolini dismissed as Prime Min.
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1945 Aug. - First Atomic Bombs dropped
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1945 Aug. 14th – V-J Day, Japan surrenders to Allied Forces
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1946 War Crimes Trials held in Nuremburg Germany; Manila, Philippines and Tokyo, Japan.