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Great Depression begins
The stock market crashed and nationwide poverty and unemployment followed, and the crash was so widespread it even affected other countries. -
Japan invades China
Date not exact. -
Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany
German President Paul von Hindenburg pronounces Adolf Hitler as chancellor of Germany. Hindenburg had initially refused to give Hitler this rank because he was intimidated. -
o Roosevelt first elected president
(first inauguration date)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a democrat, had a landslide victory for President against republican Herbert Hoover. The new president gave a 20 minute-long speech for his inauguration ceremony. -
Nuremberg Laws
(Date not exact.) The Nazis announced these laws at the annual party rally in Nuremberg. They excluded all German Jews from having sexual relations to or marrying Germans. -
Hitler & Mussolini form the Rome-Berlin Axis
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Japan invades China
(Date not exact) -
Germany invades Austria
(Date not exact) Hitler invaded Austria which was home to most people who spoke German. Many Germans and Austrians welcomed the joining of Austria over Nazi rule. -
Kristallnacht
In Germany, Nazis traversed the land vandalizing Jewish property, torching synagogues, and killing close to 100 Jews. This event was also called the “Night of Broken Glass”. -
Manhattan Project
(Date not exact.) This project was formed in order to further study, create, and develop an atomic bomb. This weapon would be used to defend the United States and end the war quickly. -
Germany & Soviet Union have a nonaggression pact
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Germany invades Poland
In the early morning, Germany attacked Poland it was was known as a blitzkrieg. This was a war tactic used by the Nazis that effectively surprised and broke through enemy resistance. This was the start of WWII. -
o Germany invades Denmark, Norway, Belgium, and France (Vichy France)
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German air force (Luftwaffe) bombs London and other civilian targets in the Battle of Britain
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Japan joins the Axis Powers
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Germany invades the Soviet Union
(Date not exact) -
Tuskegee Airmen
African Americans have played a large role in United States military history. The Tuskegee Airmen was a squadron made up entirely of African-American troops. -
Lend-Lease Act
This act was made by the United States. It states that the United States will give aid to its allied nations during the war by giving/lending money and weapons. -
The Nazis implement the “Final Solution”
This was Nazi Germany’s plan during the war. The Holocaust had resulted in this plan to exterminate all peoples of Jewish descent. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
Japanese fighters on aircraft carriers arrive at Hawaii in the hundreds and surprise attack Pearl Harbor. The battle lasted just two hours, but the United States took severe damage here. The U.S. declared war on Japan the day after. -
Jpanese-American incarceration
(Date not exact.) Over 127,000 Japanese-Americans living in the U.S. were imprisoned for possibly being disloyal to the U.S. and connected to the Japan Empire. They were kept in internment camps until the war was over. -
Battle of Midway
Fought near the small military base (U.S.) at Midway atoll, the Japanese tried to surprise attack, but ended without a loss of 4 of their aircraft carriers. The U.S. had only lost one carrier. -
British forces stop the German advance at El Alamein
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Guadalcanal
(Date not exact.) The Allies had fought a brutal air-sea-land campaign against Japan for the obscure island of Guadalcanal. Both sides suffered heavy losses, but the United States losses were replaced unlike the Japanese. -
Bataan Death March
After the Pearl Harbor attack, American troops in the U.S. Philippines were cornered and captured on the Bataan Peninsula. They were marched by the Japanese soldiers for 63 miles. Out of the 72,000 troops captured, at least 7,000 died. -
Rosie the Riveter
Women have always worked, and it was new to them. Although, women were usually placed in a home environment instead of working in more masculine jobs. This all changed in WWII when the men in the military left jobs that needed to be filled. Women took these roles.Rosie the Riveter was a propaganda image portraying a hard-working female. -
D-Day
Its code name, “Operation Overlord”, this planned battle took place on 5 beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the coast of northern France. The 156,00 total troops included British, American, and Canadian forces. -
Battle of the Bulge
Almost a quarter-million German troops were ordered in a very desperate counteroffensive in northwest Europe. Its objective was to disrupt the Allies by use of blitzkrieg. This battle ended in somewhat of a draw. -
Yalta Conference
(Date not exact.) President Franklin Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet premier Joseph Stalin meet in order to discuss the conditions the Axis will have to face once they have lost. -
Iwo Jima
(Date not exact.) American forces overtook this island off the coast of Japan in order to house short-distance planes so that they could have easy access to the mainland of the Japan Empire. -
Okinawa
This was the last major battle of the Pacific feuds in WWII. It involved 287,000 American soldiers. Suicide planes for the Japanese, known as kamikaze, were being used at this time. -
Roosevelt dies, Truman becomes president
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Alied forces advance on Berlin, Germany surrenders
Approximately 1 million German soldiers lay down their weapons. Germany signs its unconditional surrender to the Allies, and WWII in Europe is over. -
German forces surrender at Stalingrad
Adolf Hitler commits suicide in his underground bunker within yards of Soviet Union troops, and Germany ultimately surrenders WWII. Adolf had previously appointed a successor to the throne. -
o Japanese officials sign an official letter of surrender on the U.S.S. Missouri, ending World War II
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Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki
The Hiroshima explosion wiped out 90% of the inhabitants, and the second killed more than 40,000 people, making a total death toll of 120,000 Japanese people. The Emperor of Japan signed unconditional surrender after the two bombs.