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Adolf Hitler becomes the leader of the Nazi Party
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Benito Mussolini appointed Prime Minister of Italy
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Josef Stalin sole dictator of the Soviet Union (USSR
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Japan’s Army seizes Manchuria, China
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Hitler is named Chancellor of Germany
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Neutrality Acts passed by US Congress
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Italian Army invades Ethiopia in Africa
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Militarist take control of Japanese Government
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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.
The Nanking Massacre was an episode of mass murder and mass rape committed by Japanese troops against the residents of Nanjing (then spelled Nanking), then the capital of the Republic of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The massacre occurred over a period of six weeks starting on December 13, 1937, the day that the Japanese captured Nanjing. During this period, soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army murdered Chinese civilians and disarmed combatants who numbered an estimated -
Munich Pact signed giving the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia to Germany
"Treaty of Munich" redirects here. For the Austro-Bavarian agreement after the Napoleonic Wars, see Treaty of Munich (1816).
For the annual global security meeting held in Munich, -
Nazis begin rounding up Jews for labor camps
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Nazi-Soviet Pact signed by Hitler and Stalin
On August 23, 1939–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, -
Sept 1st - Nazis invade Poland; Britain and France declare war on Germany
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Nazis invade Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium – take control
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1940 July 10 Battle of Britain begins – Royal Air Force defeats German Air Force to prevent invasion of their island
The Battle of Britain was a combat of the Second World War, when the Royal Air Force (RAF) defended the United Kingdom (UK) against the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) attacks from the end of June 1940. ... In July 1940, the air and sea blockade began with th -
Germany invades France and forces it to surrender
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First time Peacetime Draft in US
The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, also known as the Burke-Wadsworth Act, Pub.L. 76–783, 54 Stat. 885, enacted September 16, 1940, was the first peacetime conscription in United States history. -
Churchill and FDR issue the Atlantic Charter
The Atlantic Charter was a joint declaration released by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on August 14, 1941 ... -
Hitler breaks Pact with Stalin’s Russia and invades - USSR which now joins England in fighting the Germans
German–Soviet Union relations date to the aftermath of the First World War. The Treaty of ... Cooperation ended in 1933, as Adolf Hitler came to power and created Nazi .... which ended before the German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, .... However, Stalin secured the precious foreign -
Japanese invade French Indochina (Viet. Laos, Cambodia)
In 1940, France was swiftly defeated by Nazi Germany, and colonial administration of French Indochina, modern-day Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, passed to the Vichy French government, a Puppet state of Nazi Germany. The Vichy government ceded control of Hanoi and Saigon in 1940 to Japan, .... During the Japanese occupation, even during French administration, the Viet . -
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
The attack on Pearl Harbor, also known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor, the Hawaii Operation or Operation AI by the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, and Operation Z during planning, was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii ... The following day, December 8, the United States declared war on Japan. -
Philippines fall to Japanese – Bataan Death March
After the April 9, 1942, 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. -
Japanese Americans interned in isolated camps
The internment of Japanese Americans 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[4] people of Japanese ancestry who lived on the Pacific coast. Sixty-two percent of the internees were United States citizens.[5][6] These actions were ordered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt shortly after Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor.[7] -
Battle of Midway, turning point of war in the Pacific
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Russians stop Nazi advance at Stalingrad save Moscow
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Zoot Suit Riots – Los Angeles, CA
Conflict between American servicemen stationed in Southern California and Mexican-American youths -
British and US forces defeat German and Italian armies in North Africa
During Operation Compass, the Italian 10th Army was destroyed and the German Afrika Korps—commanded by Erwin Rommel, who later became known as "The Desert Fox"—was dispatched to North Africa in February 1941 during Operation Sonnenblume to reinforce Italian forces in order to prevent a complete Axis defeat. -
Italy surrenders, Mussolini dismissed as Prime Min
Alternative Titles: Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini, Il Duce ..... After the Italian surrender in North Africa in 1943, the Germans began to take ... majority passed a resolution that in effect dismissed Mussolini from office. -
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. -
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
The Philippines campaign, the Battle of the Philippines or the Liberation of the Philippines ... United States and Philippine Commonwealth military forces were ..... Retaking The Philippines: America's Return to Corregidor & Bataan, 1944–1945. -
US forces return to recapture the Philippines
The Philippines campaign, the Battle of the Philippines or the Liberation of the Philippines ... United States and Philippine Commonwealth military forces were ..... Retaking The Philippines: America's Return to Corregidor & Bataan, 1944–1945. -
FDR dies, Harry S. Truman becomes President
On this day in 1945, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt passes away after four momentous terms in office, leaving Vice President Harry S. Truman in charge of a country still fighting the Second World War and in possession of a weapon of unprecedented and terrifying power. -
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. -
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. -
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. -
War Crimes Trials held in Nuremberg, Germany; Manila, Philippines and Tokyo, Japan.
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), also known as the Tokyo Trials or the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, was convened on April 29, 1946, to try the leaders of the Empire of Japan for three types of war crimes. .... The trials were held in the War Ministry office in Tokyo. On May 3 the prosecution opened its ... -
D-Day invasion of France at Normandy by Allies
The Western Allies of World War II launched the largest amphibious invasion in history when they assaulted Normandy, located on the northern coast of France, on 6 June 1944. The invaders were able to establish a beachhead as part of Operation Overlord after a successful "D-Day," the first day of the invasion. -
Paris retaken by Allies Forces
The Liberation of Paris was a military action that took place during World War II from 19 August ... Although the Allied strategy emphasized destroying German forces retreating towards the Rhine, the French Resistance (French Forces of the ..
