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Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany.
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Italy, under the leadership of Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, invades Ethiopia.
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the 1937 Neutrality Act, which bans travel on belligerent ships, forbids the arming of American merchant ships trading with belligerents, and issues an arms embargo with warring nations.
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The Japanese defeat Chinese forces in a clash near Peking, taking control of North China.
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt forbids U.S. ships from carrying arms to China or Japan.
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In response to Japanese action in China, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers a speech in which he calls for peace-loving nations to act together to "quarantine" aggressors to protect the world from the "disease" of war.
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Japanese warplanes dive-bomb the American gunboat Panay in the Yangtze River in China. Japan apologizes and pays reparations for the lives lost.
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Time Inc. releases an anti-Nazi propaganda newsreel entitled March of Time in Nazi Germany.
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In the United States, popular support for American action against Japan far exceeds support for action against Nazi Germany.
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German Chancellor Adolf Hitler announces support for Japan.
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German Chancellor Adolf Hitler declares Austria part of the Third Reich.
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Hermann Goering, marshal of the Third Reich and Hitler's second in charge, warns all Jews to leave Austria.
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The United States grants recognition to the new Austrian government.
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In a speech in Rome, Benito Mussolini, fascist leader of Italy, promises to fight the democracies alongside Adolf Hitler's should war break out.
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The U.S. Congress passes the Naval Expansion Act giving President Franklin D. Roosevelt one billion dollars to enlarge the navy.
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Adolf Hitler is poised to invade and conquer the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia.
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Leaders of France and Great Britain meet with representatives from Germany, including Adolf Hitler, to discuss Germany's demands, ultimately granting Hitler the Sudetenland in the hopes of gaining "peace with honor." The Czechs are not consulted.
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Adolf Hitler, in return for the Sudetenland, promises to leave the rest of Czechoslovakia alone.
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During the German Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass), 7500 Jewish businesses are looted, 191 synagogues are set afire, nearly 100 Jews are killed, and tens of thousands are sent to concentration camps.
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Time magazine prints its 1938 Man of the Year edition choosing Adolf Hitler for the title, but does not show the Nazi leader's face on the cover of the publication.
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt writes letters to both Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, requesting they promise not to attack a list of nations for at least ten years. Hitler would respond on behalf of the Italian leader and himself, assuring Roosevelt that he had nothing to fear.
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Adolf Hitler reneges on the promise made in September of 1938 and takes all of Czechoslovakia.