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Adolf Hitler becomes the leader of the Nazi Party
Hitler replaced Drexler as NSDAP chairman. Hitler's speeches were starting to attract audience. Nazi paramilitary organization the Sturmabteilung (SA), which protected meetings and frequently attacked political opponents. -
Benito Mussolini appointed Prime Minister of Italy
was an Italian politician, journalist, and leader of the National Fascist Party Partito Nazionale Fascista; PNF, ruling the country as Prime Minister from 1922 to 1943. -
Josef Stalin sole dictator of the Soviet Union (USSR)
Was the dictator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Under Stalin, the Soviet Union was transformed from a peasant society into an industrial and military superpower. -
Japan’s Army seizes Manchuria, China
Japanese armed forces had occupied several strategic points in South Manchuria. Meanwhile, the League of Nations was deliberating on the Manchuria situation. -
Hitler is named Chancellor of Germany
President Paul von Hindenburg names Adolf Hitler, leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party as chancellor of Germany. A charismatic speaker, Hitler channeled popular discontent with the post-war Weimar government into support for his fledgling Nazi party. -
Neutrality Acts passed by US Congress
prohibiting the export of arms, ammunition, and implements of war. To 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
An armed conflict that resulted in Ethiopia’s subjection to Italian rule. Often seen as one of the episodes that prepared the way for World War II, the war demonstrated the ineffectiveness of the League of Nations when League decisions were not supported by the great powers. -
Militarist take control of Japanese Government
The notion that expansion through military conquest would solve Japan’s economic problems gained currency during the Great Depression of the 1930s. It was argued that the rapid growth of Japan’s population—which stood at close to 65 million in 1930—necessitated large food imports. -
Hitler sends troops into Rhineland of Germany in violation of the Versailles Treaty
In May 1935 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. -
Japan’s army pillages Nanjing, China; massacre a quarter of a million people.
Imperial Japanese Army forces brutally murdered hundreds of thousands of people–including both soldiers and civilians–in the Chinese city of Nanking (or Nanjing). The horrific events are known as the Nanking Massacre or the Rape of Nanking, as between 20,000 and 80,000 women were sexually assaulted. -
Munich Pact signed giving the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia to Germany
British and French prime ministers Neville Chamberlain and Edouard Daladier sign the Munich Pact with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. The agreement averted the outbreak of war but gave Czechoslovakia away to German conquest. -
Nazis begin rounding up Jews for labor camps
One of the most horrific terms in history was used by Nazi Germany to designate human beings whose lives were unimportant, or those who should be killed outright: Lebensunwertes Leben, or "life unworthy of life". From very early in the war, part of Nazi policy was to murder civilians en masse, especially targeting Jews. Later in the war, this policy grew into Hitler's "final solution", the complete extermination of the Jews. -
Nazi-Soviet Pact signed by Hitler and Stalin
Shortly before World War II (1939-45) broke out in Europe–enemies Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union surprised the world by signing the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, in which the two countries agreed to take no military action against each other for the next 10 years. -
Nazis invade Poland; Britain and France declare war on Germany
In response to Hitler’s invasion of Poland, Britain and France, both allies of the overrun nation declare war on Germany. France would begin an offensive against Germany’s western border two weeks later. -
Nazis invade Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium – take control
Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway and Sweden) was economically important to Germany. Germany relied on iron ore from Sweden (shipped through Norway) to its industries. Britain and France viewed the relationship dangerous because of potential war
Britain and France discussed sending troops to occupy Denmark and Norway. Hitler viewed it as a direct threat to Germany’s economy and decided to act -
Battle of Britain begins – Royal Air Force defeats German Air Force to prevent invasion of their island
Seeing the turn of events in Europe, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said to the House of Commons that "the Battle of France is over, I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin." He was right. Germany was planning on blockading Britain so that no food and supplies could get through, while pounding the British people into submission by aerial attacks. -
Germany invades France and forces it to surrender
The collapse of France, just six weeks after Hitler's initial assault, ripped up the balance of power in Europe. Dr Gary Sheffield considers the dramatic and unexpected defeat of the Allied forces in France. -
First time Peacetime Draft in US
The Burke-Wadsworth Act is passed by Congress, by wide margins in both houses, and the first peacetime draft in the history of the United States is imposed. Selective Service was born.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 - USSR which now joins England in fighting the Germans
Officially called the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact but also known as the Hitler-Stalin Pact, the nonaggression agreement was simple and straightforward. Both countries pledged for 10 years “to desist from any act of violence, any aggressive action and any attack on each other, either individually or jointly with other powers.” -
Churchill and FDR issue the Atlantic Charter
The United States and Great Britain issued a joint declaration in August 1941 that set out a vision for the postwar world. In January 1942, a group of 26 Allied nations pledged their support for this declaration, known as the Atlantic Charter. The document is considered one of the first key steps toward the establishment of the United Nations in 1945. -
Japanese invade French Indochina (Viet. Laos, Cambodia)
the French gained control of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Vietnam, which was the most heavily populated of the three colonies (about 19 million persons), was further subdivided into Tonkin in the north, Annam in the center, and Cochin China in the south. However, all three regions share a common language and culture, which is closely related to that of southern China. -
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
America’s Pacific fleet lay in ruins at Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt requests, and receives, a declaration of war against Japan. “Yesterday,” the president proclaimed, “December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. -
Philippines fall to Japanese – Bataan Death March
U.S. surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on the main Philippine island of Luzon to the Japanese during World War II (1939-45), the approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make an arduous 65-mile march to prison camps. -
Russians stop Nazi advance at Stalingrad save Moscow
Germany's defeat at Stalingrad not only lead to catastrophic German losses, but put the Nazi war machine was on the defensive for he rest of the war. Why were the Germans defeated at the Battle of Stalingrad and what lead to the Soviet victory? The German was hobbled by Hitler's micromanaging and tactics, his personal intransigence, and poor German battlefield leadership. The Soviet's benefitted from superior Soviet leadership, numbers, and tactics. -
Japanese Americans interned in isolated camps
The camps were very dirty and they were barely feed enough. They had to sleep on mats. Also the prisoners that were alive had to live with the dead prisoners. The prisoners were treated brutally. 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. -
Battle of Midway, turning point of war in the Pacific
Between 4 and 7 June 1942, only six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea, the United States Navy under Admirals Chester Nimitz, Frank Jack Fletcher, and Raymond A. -
British and US forces defeat German and Italian armies in North Africa
The North African campaign and the naval campaign for the Mediterranean were extensions of each other in a very real sense.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 – Los Angeles, CA
Conflict between American servicemen stationed in Southern California and Mexican-American youths. -
Italy surrenders, Mussolini dismissed as Prime Min.
Hitler’s refusal and the Sicilian invasion convinced the king and high command to overthrow Mussolini in July 1943. Hitler rescued him, installing Mussolini as puppet dictator of northern Italy in September. Mussolini facilitated significant war production for the Germans and the creation of large, ruthless Fascist counterinsurgency forces. The April 1945 German surrender in Italy forced Mussolini to flee. Insurgents captured and shot him. -
D-Day invasion of France at Normandy by Allies
The Normandy landings (codenamed Operation Neptune) were the landing operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 (termed D-Day) of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. -
Paris retaken by Allies Forces
The Liberation of Paris (also known as the Battle for Paris) was a military action that took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the German garrison surrendered the French capital on 25 August 1944. -
Battle of the Bulge – last offensive of German Forces
The Battle of the Bulge (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) 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
On this day, the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines is occupied by American troops, almost three years after the devastating and infamous Bataan Death March. -
FDR dies, Harry S. Truman becomes President
While on a vacation in Warm Springs, Georgia, 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
Victory in Europe Day, generally known as V-E Day, VE Day or simply V Day 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
President Harry S. Truman, warned by some of his advisers that any attempt to invade Japan would result in horrific American casualties, ordered that the new weapon be used to bring the war to a speedy end. On August 6, 1945, the American bomber Enola Gay dropped a five-ton bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. -
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 (IJN) was incapable of conducting major operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent. -
War Crimes Trials held in Nuremberg, Germany; Manila, Philippines and Tokyo, Japan.
In Tokyo, Japan, the International Military Tribunals for the Far East begins hearing the case against 28 Japanese military and government officials accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during World War II.
