World War 2

  • 1921

    1921

    Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the Nazi party
  • 1922

    1922

    Benito Mussolini appointed Prime Minister of Italy
  • 1929

    1929

    Josef Stalin sole dictator of the Soviet Union (USSR)
  • 1931

    1931

    Japan’s Army seizes Manchuria, China
  • 1933

    1933

    Hitler is named Chancellor of Germany
  • 1935

    Neutrality Acts passed by US Congress
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAs5EeZ0o_M
  • 1935

    1935

    Italian Army invades Ethiopia in Africa
  • 1936

    1936

    Militarist take control of Japanese Government
  • 1936

    1936

    Hitler sends troops into Rhineland of Germany in violation of the Versailles Treaty
  • 1937

    1937

    Japan’s army pillages Nanjing, China; massacre a quarter of a million people
  • 1938

    Munich Pact signed giving the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia to Germany https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0v1NtYBKAE
  • 1938

    1938

    Nazis begin rounding up Jews for labor camps
  • 1939

    1939

    Nazi-Soviet Pact signed by Hitler and Stalin
  • 1939

    1939

    Nazis invade Poland; Britain and France declare war on Germany
  • 1940

    1940

    Nazis invade Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium – take control
  • 1940

    1940

    Battle of Britain begins – Royal Air Force defeats German Air Force to prevent invasion of their island
  • 1940

    1940

    Germany invades France and forces it to surrender
  • 1940

    1940

    First time Peacetime Draft in US
  • 1941

    1941

    Hitler breaks Pact with Stalin’s Russia and invades - USSR which now joins England in fighting the Germans
  • 1941

    1941

    Churchill and FDR issue the Atlantic Charter
  • 1941

    1941

    Japanese invade French Indochina (Viet. Laos, Cambodia)
  • 1941

    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 -  Dec. 9
  • 1942

    1942

    Russians stop Nazi advance at Stalingrad save Moscow
  • 1942

    1942

    Philippines fall to Japanese – Bataan Death March
  • 1942

    1942

    Japanese Americans interned in isolated camps
  • 1942

    1942

    Battle of Midway, turning point of war in the Pacific
  • 1943

    1943

    Zoot Suit Riots – Los Angeles, CA
  • 1943

    1943

    Italy surrenders, Mussolini dismissed as Prime Min.
  • 1944

    1944

    D-Day invasion of France at Normandy by Allies
  • 1944

    1944

    Paris retaken by Allies Forces
  • 1944

    1944

    Battle of the Bulge – last offensive of German Forces
  • 1945

    1945

    US forces return to recapture the Philippines
  • 1945

    1945

    FDR dies, Harry S. Truman becomes President
  • 1945

    1945

    V-E Day, war ends in Europe
  • 1945

    1945

    V-J Day, Japan surrenders to Allied Forces
  • 1945

    1945

    First Atomic Bombs dropped
  • 1946

    1946

    War Crimes Trials held in Nuremburg, Germany; Manila, Philippines and Tokyo, Japan.