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Japan begin takeover of Manchuria, which is later renamed Manchukuo.
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) is elected president of the United States.
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Hindenburg appoints Hitler chancellor of Germany
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20th Amendment to the Constitution. Establishes the line of presidential succession in which the Vice-President becomes president if the President can no longer perform the duties of office.
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FDR makes his first "fireside chat" speaking to the United States population over the radio.
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Dachau, the first concentration camp, is established in Germany. By the 1945 over 1000 concentration camps will be established.
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: Adolph Hitler seizes power in Germany. Hindenburg is reduced to a figure head.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnbYnvLgf_M -
In Germany, Jew and non-Aryans are banned from practicing law and working in the civil services. Later they will be banned from a variety of professions including farming, art, literature, journalism, music and theater. Between 1933-1939 over 1400 anti-Jewish laws will be passed in Germany.
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Germany withdraws from the League of Nations.
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21st Amendment to the Constitution ends Prohibition.
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Several thousand Americans attend a pro-Nazi rally in Queens. New York.
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Germany passes law restricting college enrollment of Jews. Similar legal discrimination already exists in the United States.
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In Germany, legislation is passed making the Nazi party the only legal political party. The Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseases is also passed, providing for the serilization of unfit parents and the "euthanasia" of "the defective" and "useless eaters."
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In Germany, 30,000 are now interned.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr-pBTY_YpI -
: Hitler assumes the presidency of Germany when Hindenburg dies and thus gains full control of the government.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB6U9pZ4aAY -
In Germany, the first Nuremberg Laws are passed revoking citizenship from Jews and prohibiting them from marrying non-Jews.
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Italy invades Ethiopia. In the United States, the first Neutrality Acts are passed authorizing the president to deny American firms the right to sell or ship munitions to belligerent nations. The Neutrality Acts are later expanded in 1936. Beginning in 1935 and continuing until 1938, Poland begins to create a Jewish policy modeled after that of Nazi Germany. 1936
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Spanish Civil War begins
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Berlin Olympic Games. Nazis disguise outward signs of anti-Semitism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNKlxcqLKcM
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Formation of the Rome-Berlin Axis
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:FDR is elected for his second term.
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Japan and Germany sign Anti-Comiterm Pact.
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FDRs Quarantine Speech calls for international cooperation against aggression
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPwJIswbDk0 -
Germany signs military agreement with Japan
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The Rape of Nanjing. The systematic rape, torture, and murder of more than 300,00 Chinese civilians by Japanese soldiers.
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Romanian Jews are stripped of their citizenship.
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Jews eliminated from the economy in Germany. Their assets can be seized.
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International conference in France that FDR initiated to discuss the Jewish refugees. 32 of the nations decide not to admit large numbers of Jews. Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic want money in return for admitting the displaced
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France and Britain enact a policy of appeasement, agreeing to the German annexation of Sudenten, Czechoslovakia.
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Kristallnacht- the Night of the Broken Glass. Nazis violently attack Jews and destroy Jewish property, 91 Jews are killed and others are beaten.
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For the first time in his annual address to Congress, FDR proposes no domestic reforms but instead stresses the danger posed to democracy and international peace by the forces of aggression. Later in the month, the United States budget shows increased spending on national defense
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Germany annexes the rest of Czechoslovakia. British Government pledges to aid Poland "at once . . . with all the support in their power" in the event that Poland is attacked by Germany.
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The Jewish refugee ship the St. Louis arrives in Belgium after being denied access to Cuba and the United States. Most of the passengers are eventually murdered by the Nazis.
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Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact announced in Moscow.
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21: FDR calls for a special session of Congress to repeal the Neutrality Acts. He argues the United States could preserve neutrality and provide Great Britian and France with arms by adopting a cash and carry plan.
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The United States declares its neutrality
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The United States Congress amends the Neutrality Acts to favor Britain and France, lifting the embargo and authorizing cash & carry
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The deportations of German Gypsies to concentration camps in the east begins.
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Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourg are invaded by Germany. British troops enter Belgium. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigns; Winston Churchill becomes new Prime Minister.
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: France signs armistice with Germany.
: France signs armistice with Italy. -
Fair Employement Practice Committee (FEPC) is set up to reduce discrimination in government employment and in defense industries.
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: FDR elected to an unprecedented third term as president.
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14 Nazi leaders attend a short meeting to discuss the elimination of the remaining European Jews. The genocidal plan is dubbed "The Final Solution.
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FDR signs Lend-Lease Bill.
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Over 62,000 Jews are murdered in western Russia.
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Churchill and FDR form Atlantic Charter, establishing the war aims of both nations.
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Britain declares war on Finland, Hungary, and Rumania. Japanese bomb the United States fleet at Pearl Harbor.
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United States institutes extended military conscription for men ages 20-44.
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In the United States, the Emergency Price Control Act fixes price ceilings and controls rents in areas of defense production.
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By order of FDR, Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast are transferred to internment camps in the interior of the country.
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Germans occupy Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Russo-Japanese neutrality pact signed.
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Battle of Guadalcanal, heavy losses on both sides, eventual United States victory.
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Battle of Guadalcanal, heavy losses on both sides, eventual United States victory
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: War rationing books are issued in America with coupons for gasoline, which joins sugar and coffee. Later, during 1943, meat, fats and oils, butter, cheese and processed foods are also rationed.
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FDR and Churchill meet at Casablanca and decide upon a policy of "Unconditional Surrender."
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Due to the migration of many African-Americans from the rural South to the defense centers of the North and the pressure of labor and civil rights groups, an Executive order strengthens the Fair Employment Practice Committee (FEPC) calling for mandatory inclusion of nondiscrimination clauses in war contracts and subcontracts. Between 1940 and 1970, 5 million African-Americans took part in this migration, known as the "Second Great Migration."
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: Benito Mussolini is dismissed by King Victor Emmanuel in Italy and is arrested. He later attempts to escape to Switzerland with his mistress.
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The United States makes progress in the Pacific Theatre, making landings on the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, New Georgia and the Gilbert Islands.
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Teheran conference between the Big Three: Churchill, FDRand Joseph Stalin, of the Soviet Union.
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FDR is elected for his fourth term; Harry S Truman replaces Henry Wallace as his vice-president.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwJzt7NsC6g -
Soviet troops experience success against the Germans in the Crimea.
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Paris liberated by the Allies from the Germans. Rumania declares war on Germany.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT0VHYEHIJU -
Battle of the Bulge, the last German offensive in the west.
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Dresden raid. Allied firebombing kills 135,000 Germans, including civilians, and destroys 80% of the city.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGcO6zZ4MRM -
Americans find intact bridge across Rhine at Remagen, set up bridgehead on east bank.
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: FDR dies, Harry S Truman takes over the presidency of the United States.
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Hitler commits suicide.
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Potsdam conference ends. Meanwhile, the first atomic bomb is exploded in a test at Alamogordo, New Mexico.
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Atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Pxk4zy_SQw -
Atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima.
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V-J Day.
