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Hitler becomes the leader of the Nazi Party
On January 30, 1933, marked a crucial turning point for Germany and, ultimately, for the world. His plan, embraced by much of the German population, was to do away with politics and make Germany a powerful, unified one-party state. Aldolf Hitler becomes the leader of the Nazi Party. -
Benito Mussolini
He was appointed Prime Minister of Italy. He also promised to restore order through strong leadership. -
Josef Stalin sole dictator of the Soviet Union (USSR).
Also he was dictator of the soviet Union. -
Japan's Army seizes Manchuria, China.
The Japanese established a puppet state called Manchukuo, and their occupation lasted until the end of World War II. -
1933
Hitler is named Chancellor of Germany and kept on starting war with other countries. He became leader of a small group known as the national socialists, or nazi, party. -
Hitler is named Chancellor of Germany
Hitler's emergence as chancellor, marked a crucial turning point for Germany and, ultimately, for the world. -
Neutrality Acts passed by US Congress
Prohibiting the export of arms, ammunition, and implements of war from the United States to foreign nations at war and requiring arms manufacturers in the United States to apply for an export license. -
Italian Army invades Ethiopia in Africa.
Italy attacked Ethiopia without a declaration of war.The League of Nations declared Italy an aggressor, but took no action against the country. Italian troops held back for that year, when a border incident in the city of Wal Wal gave Italy its much needed excuse to attack Ethiopia. -
Militarist take control of Japanese Government
The Great Depression struck, causing the government to be blamed. Soon the militarists gained control through gained support. Their plan was to restore traditional control of the government to the military. -
Hitler sends troops into Rhineland
France signed a treaty of friendship and mutual support with the USSR. Germany claimed the treaty was hostile to them and Hitler used this as an excuse to send German troops into the Rhineland in March 1936, contrary to the terms of the treaties of Versailles and Locarno. -
Nazis begin rounding up Jews for labor camps
In 1938, SS authorities had begun to exploit the labor of concentration camp prisoners for economic profit. In September 1939, the war provided a convenient excuse to ban releases from the camps, thus providing the SS with a readily available labor force. -
Munich Pact signed
Hitler demanded the immediate cession of the Sudetenland to Germany and the evacuation of the Czechoslovak population by the end of the month. The next day, Czechoslovakia ordered troop mobilization. -
Nazi-Soviet Pact signed by Hitler and Stalin
Hitler believed that Britain would never take him on alone, so he decided to swallow his fear and loathing of communism and cozy up to the Soviet dictator, thereby pulling the rug out from the British initiative. Both sides were extremely suspicious of the other, trying to discern ulterior motives. But Hitler was in a hurry; he knew if he was to invade Poland it had to be done quickly, before the West could create a unified front. -
Nazis invade Poland; Britain and France declare war on Germany
1.5 million German troops invade Poland all along its 1,750-mile border with German-controlled territory.Hitler claimed the massive invasion was a defensive action, but Britain and France were not convinced. On September 3, they declared war on Germany, initiating World War II. -
Nazis take control
Hitler sent his troops into Belgium and the Netherlands without forewarning – although he had promised to respect their neutrality. His excuse was that the Belgians and Dutch had been conducting military talks with the Western powers and that Germany had to take power in these countries to protect their neutral status and to protect Germany's region. -
Battle of Britain begins
Royal Air Force defeats German Air Force to prevent invasion of their island,the Battle of Britain ended when Germany’s Luftwaffe failed to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force despite months of targeting Britain’s air bases, military posts and, ultimately, its civilian population. -
22Germany invades France & forces it to surrender
The Allies continued the attack into Germany. Allied forces crossed the Rhine, advancing into the heart of Germany. -
First time Peacetime Draft in US
The registration of men between the ages of 21 and 36 began exactly one month later, as Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, who had been a key player in moving the Roosevelt administration away from a foreign policy of strict neutrality, began drawing draft numbers out of a glass bowl. -
Hitler breaks Pact with Stalin’s Russia and invades
German Chancellor Adolf Hitler reached out to a bitter foe with a desperate plea. Time was running short on preparations for his planned invasion of Poland on September 1, and Hitler needed the Soviet Union to stay out of his war. -
Churchill and FDR issue the Atlantic Charter
As the "Prince of Wales" dropped anchor, one of Churchill’s aides remarked that his meeting with Roosevelt would make history. “Yes,” replied Churchill, “and more so if I get what I want from him.” What Churchill wanted was a U.S. declaration of war against Germany and a firm warning to Japan against taking aggressive action in the Pacific. -
Japanese invade French Indochina
The Japanese invaded Vichy French Indochina to prevent the Republic of China from importing arms and fuel through French Indochina along the Sino-Vietnamese Railway, from the port of Haiphong through Hanoi to Kunming in Yunnan. -
Pearl Harbor
Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The barrage lasted just two hours, but it was devastating: The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships, and more than 300 airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died in the attack, and another 1,000 were wounded. -
Philippines fall to Japanese
When the Empire of Japan occupied the Commonwealth of the Philippines during World War II. The invasion of the Philippines started on 8 December 1941, ten hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. -
Japanese Americans interned in isolated camps
In the United States during World War II was the forced relocation and incarceration in camps in the interior of the country of between 110,000 and 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry who lived on the Pacific coast. Sixty-two percent of the internees were United States citizens. -
Russians stop Nazi advance at Stalingrad save Moscow
The German Army never fully recovered from the beating it took in Russia around Moscow and elsewhere during the winter of 1941-42 when it suffered over a million casualties. For a time, the entire Eastern Front had teetered on the verge of collapse as division upon division of well-equipped Russians materialized seemingly out of nowhere and attacked. -
Battle of Midway
The United States Navy defeated a Japanese attack against Midway Atoll, marking a turning point in the war in the Pacific theatre. -
British and US forces defeat German and Italian armies
The battle for North Africa was a struggle for control of the Suez Canal and access to oil from the Middle East and raw materials from Asia. Oil in particular had become a critical strategic commodity due to the increased mechanization of modern armies. -
Zoot Suit Riots
In the decades leading up to the rioting, Los Angeles experienced an unprecedented population explosion. Along with Midwesterners who flocked to Los Angeles, thousands of Mexican refugees fleeing the Mexican Revolution made their way there. So too did landless white laborers escaping the Dust Bowl of the drought-plagued Southern Plains, and African Americans seeking more opportunity than they'd found in the South. -
Italy surrenders
The surrender was signed five days ago in secret by a representative of Marshal Pietro Badoglio, Italy's prime minister since the downfall of Benito Mussolini. -
D-Day invasion of France at Normandy by Allies
Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the go-ahead for the largest amphibious military operation in history: Operation Overlord, code named D-Day, the Allied invasion of northern France. -
Paris retaken by Allies Forces
The division arrived at Normandy under the command of General Jacques-Philippe Leclerc and was attached to General George S. Patton’s 3rd U.S. Army. Allied forces were near Paris, and workers in the city went on strike as Resistance fighters emerged from hiding and began attacking German forces and fortifications. -
Battle of the Bulge
It was the last major German offensive campaign of World War II. It was launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium, France, and Luxembourg, on the Western Front, towards the end of World War II, in the European theatre. -
US forces return to recapture the Philippines
The prisoners, both Filipino and American, were at once led 55 miles from Mariveles. At least 600 Americans and 5,000 Filipinos died because of the extreme brutality of their captors, who starved, beat, kicked, and bayoneted those too weak to walk. Survivors were taken by rail from San Fernando to prisoner of war camps, where another 16,000 Filipinos and at least 1,000 Americans died from disease, mistreatment, and starvation. -
FDR dies, Harry S. Truman becomes President
President Roosevelt suffers a stroke and dies. His death marked a critical turning point in U.S. relations with the Soviet Union, as his successor, Harry S. Truman, decided to take a tougher stance with the Russians. On April 12, 1945, he suffered a massive stroke and died. -
V-E Day, war ends in Europe
This was the public holiday celebrated on 8 May 1945 to mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces. It thus marked the end of World War II in Europe. -
First Atomic Bombs dropped
The Enola Gay, drops the world’s first atom bomb, over the city of Hiroshima. Approximately 80,000 people are killed as a direct result of the blast, and another 35,000 are injured. At least another 60,000 would be dead by the end of the year from the effects of the fallout. -
V-J Day, Japan surrenders to Allied Forces
The surrender of Imperial Japan was announced on August 15 and formally signed on September 2, 1945, bringing the hostilities of World War II to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy was incapable of conducting major operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent. -
War Crimes Trials
It was held in Nuremberg, Germany; Manila, Philippines and Tokyo, Japan. The best-known of the Nuremberg trials was the Trial of Major War Criminals, held from November 20, 1945, to October 1, 1946.
