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Adolf Hitler becomes the leader of the Nazi Party
Adolf Hitler was introduced as Führer of the Nazi Party, marking the first time that title was publicly used to address him. He would later be pronounced chancelor of Germany. -
Benito Mussolini appointed Prime Minister of Italy
threatned to overthrow Italy's elected government, so he king appointed Mussonlini as prime minister of Italy. -
Josef Stalin sole dictator of the Soviet Union (USSR)
he turned USSR into a totalitarian state -
Japan’s Army seizes Manchuria, China
Japan makes a suprise attack for Manchuria because they beilieve it is rightfully thiers. -
Hitler is named Chancellor of Germany
using many false statement hitler rose to power, he also had the nazi background support. -
Neutrality Acts passed by US Congress
To ensure that the US would not become entangled again in foreign conflicts -
Italian Army invades Ethiopia in Africa
Under Generals Rodolfo Graziani and Pietro Badoglio, the invading forces steadily pushed back the ill-armed and poorly trained Ethiopian army, winning a major victory near Lake Ascianghi -
Militarist take control of Japanese Government
they were in a depression and wanted a promise of better life. the military then took over the Japanese government rule. -
Japan’s army pillages Nanjing, China; massacre a quarter of a million people
The Nanking Massacre, also known as the Rape of Nanking, was an episode of mass murder and mass rape committed by Japanese troops against Nanking during the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. The massacre occurred during a six-week period starting December 13, 1937, the day that the Japanese captured Nanking, which was then the Chinese capital. -
Nazis begin rounding up Jews for labor camps
The nazis beileved that getting rid of all jews would help the economy and their life. They forced families from their homes and work to go to camps. -
Munich Pact signed
The pact signed by Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy on Sept. 29, 1938, to settle the crisis over Czechoslovakia, by which the Sudetenland was ceded to Germany -
Nazi-Soviet Pact signed by Hitler and Stalin
Guaranteed that the two countries would not attack each other. By signing this pact, the Soviet Union was awarded land, including parts of Poland and the Baltic States. -
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 Germancontrolled territory. Simultaneously, the German Luftwaffe bombed Polish airfields, and German warships and U-boats attacked Polish naval forces in the Baltic Sea. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler claimed the massive invasion was a defensive action, but Britain and France were not convinced. On September 3, they declared war on Germany, causing World War II. -
The Battle of Britain
On this day in 1940, the Germans begin the first in a long series of bombing raids against Great Britain, as the Battle of Britain, which will last three and a half months, begins. In the end Britain would win the battle. -
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. -
Nazis invade Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium
The bombing of Rotterdam results in the Netherlands capitulating on 15 May. On 28 May the Belgian army capitulates after a battle lasting 18 days. Now German troops can surround the Maginot Line. In the south east fascist Italy attacks France. By 22 June sixty percent of France has been occupied and a truce is signed. -
Germany invades France and forces it to surrender
German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes to cut off and surround the Allied units that had advanced into Belgium. When British and French forces were pushed back to the sea by the highly mobile and well organised German operation. -
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 following a meeting of the two heads of state in Newfoundland. The Atlantic Charter provided a statement of U.S. and British war aims. -
Hitler breaks Pact with Stalin’s Russia
Germany broke the Nazi-Soviet pact and invaded the USSR, making significant early inroads. Stalin had ignored warnings from the Americans and the British, as well as his own intelligence agents, about a potential invasion, and the Soviets were not prepared for war. -
Japanese invade French Indochina
Once the French had surrendered to the Germans in France in 1940, and U.S. military aid was refused, the French colonial forces in Indochina were in no position to defend themselves against the Japanese. The Japanese landed in Haiphong and overran the forts at the border of Tonkin and China. The French colonial administration was allowed to maintain internal order, but the Japanese had taken control of Tonkin, and in June 1941, the rest of southern Indochina. It was from these bases that the Ja -
Pearl Harbor
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor began at 7:55 am. Japanese naval forces compiled for the raid included 4 heavy aircraft carriers, 2 heavy cruisers, 35 submarines, 2 light cruisers, 9 oilers, 2 battleships and 11 destroyers. The attacking forces came in two waves, the first consisting of 183 aircraft which included 40 torpedo planes, 49 level bombers, 51 dive bombers and 43 fighters. The second wave included 170 planes, 54 of them level bombers, 80 dive-bombers and 36 fighters Over 2,000 died -
Japanese Americans interned in isolated camps
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order that moved nearly 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans into 10 isolated relocation centers in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. -
Bataan Death March
75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make a 65 mile march to prison camps. The marchers made the trek in intense heat and were subjected to harsh treatment by Japanese guards. Thousands died in what became known as the Bataan Death March. -
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Battle of Midway
The Japanese planned an invasion of Midway Island which would provide a base for attacking Hawaii. Using Japanese radio intercepts, Admiral Chester Nimitz was able to counter this offensive. On June 4, 1942, US aircraft flying from USS Enterprise, USS Hornet, and USS Yorktown attacked and sunk four Japanese carriers, forcing the Japanese to back off. -
Stalingrad
Russians consider it to be the greatest battle of their Great Patriotic War, and most historians consider it to be the greatest battle of the entire conflict. It stopped the German advance into the Soviet Union and marked the turning of the tide of war in favor of the Allies. The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the bloodiest battles in history, with combined military and civilian casualties of nearly 2 million. -
North Africa
Under the coordination of US General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the combined British and American forces pressed the remaining German and Italian troops, while Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham ensured that they could not escape by sea. Following the fall of Tunis, the Axis forces in North Africa surrendered on May 13, 1943, and 275,000 German and Italian soldiers were taken prisoner. -
Zoot Suit Riots
sailors from the Los Angeles Naval Reserve Armory attacked Hispanic youths as revenge for the assault of an American sailor, sparking a week-long ethnic conflict known as the “zoot suit riots.” -
Italy surrenders & Mussolini dismissed as Prime Minister
With Mussolini deposed from power and the earlier collapse of the fascist government in July, Gen. Pietro Badoglio, the man who had assumed power in Mussolini's stead by request of King Victor Emanuel, began negotiating with Gen. Eisenhower for weeks. Weeks later, Badoglio finally approved a conditional surrender, allowing the Allies to land in southern Italy and begin beating the Germans back up the peninsula. -
D-Day invasion
Allies poured men and materiel into France. By late July these reinforcements, and constant combat, made possible a break out from the Normandy perimeter. Another landing, in southern France in August, facilitated that nation's liberation. With the Soviets advancing from the east, Hitler's armies were shoved, sometimes haltingly and always bloodily, back toward their homeland. The Second World War had entered its climactic phase. -
Paris is retaken by Allies Forces
There was an allied invasion of Normandy that started on 6th June 1944. US, Canadian and British troops landed and recaptured Paris in August 1944, they were also supported by French and Polish troops. After the fall of Paris the Germans retreated from France so that by the end of the month the allies had advanced into Belgium. -
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive campaign launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium, France and Luxembourg on the Western Front toward the end of World War II in Europe. -
US forces return to recapture the Philippines
An estimated 16,000 Japanese soldiers were killed before it was taken on 4th March 1945. General Robert Eichelberger and the US 8th Army landed on Mindanao on 10th March and began advancing through the southern Philippines. This included the capture of Panay, Cebu and Bohol. Yamashita and his remaining men continued to fight from isolated mountain positions on Luzon. -
FDR dies
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
German General Jodl signed the unconditional surrender document that formally ended war in Europe. Winston Churchill was informed of this event at 07.00. While no public announcements had been made, large crowds gathered outside of Buckingham Palace. -
First Atomic Bombs dropped
American B-29 bomber, 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
On August 14, 1945, it was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War II. Since then, both August 14 and August 15 have been known as "Victory over Japan Day," or simply "V-J Day." The term has also been used for September 2, 1945, when Japan's formal surrender took place aboard the U.S.S. Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay. Coming several months after the surrender of Nazi Germany. -
War Crimes Trials
The law is one way to seek justice after genocide. After World War II, both international and domestic courts conducted trials of accused war criminals. Beginning in the winter of 1942, the governments of the Allied powers announced their determination to punish Axis war criminals.
