world war 2 events

  • Hitler Becomes Chancellor

    Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany.
  • Mussolini Invades Ethiopia

    Italy, under the leadership of Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, invades Ethiopia.
  • Neutrality Act

    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.
  • Japan Defeats China

    The Japanese defeat Chinese forces in a clash near Peking, taking control of North China.
  • Roosevelt Limits Ships to Asia

    President Franklin D. Roosevelt forbids U.S. ships from carrying arms to China or Japan.
  • Roosevelt Quarantines War

    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.
  • Attack on the Panay

    Japanese warplanes dive-bomb the American gunboat Panay in the Yangtze River in China. Japan apologizes and pays reparations for the lives lost.
  • U.S. Against Japan

    In the United States, popular support for American action against Japan far exceeds support for action against Nazi Germany.
  • March of Time

    Time, Inc. releases an anti-Nazi propaganda newsreel entitled March of Time in Nazi Germany.
  • Hitler Supports Japan

    German Chancellor Adolf Hitler announces support for Japan.