World War II By buchanantyl71 Jan 30, 1921 Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the Nazi Party Period: Jan 30, 1921 to Jan 1, 1946 World War II Jan 1, 1922 Benito Mussolini becomes Prime Minister of Italy Jan 1, 1929 Josef Stalin sole dictator of the Soviet Union Jan 1, 1931 Japan's army seizes Manchuria, China Mar 21, 1933 Hitler is named Chancellor of Germany Jan 1, 1935 Neutrality Acts pased by US congress Apr 5, 1935 Italian army invades Ethiopia in Africa Jan 1, 1936 Militarist take control of the Japanese government May 1, 1936 Hitler sends troops into Rhineland of Germany in violation of the Versailles Treaty Jan 1, 1937 Japan’s army pillages Nanjing, China; massacre a quarter of a million people Jan 1, 1938 Munich Pact signed giving the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia to Germany Apr 5, 1938 Nazis begin rounding up Jews for labor camps Jan 1, 1939 Nazi-Soviet Pact signed by Hitler and Stalin Sep 1, 1939 Nazis invade Poland; Britain and France declare war on Germany Jan 1, 1940 Nazis invade Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium – take control Mar 15, 1940 Germany invades France and forces it to surrender May 1, 1940 Battle of Britain – Royal Air Force defeats German Air Force to prevent invasion of their island Jun 15, 1940 First time Peacetime Draft in US Jan 1, 1941 1941 Hitler breaks Pact with Stalin’s Russia and invades -USSR which now joins England in fighting the Germans Mar 15, 1941 Churchill and FDR issue the Atlantic Charter May 1, 1941 Japanese invade French Indochina (Viet. Laos, Cambodia) Dec 7, 1941 Dec. 7 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 Jan 1, 1942 Philippines fall to Japanese – Bataan Death March Mar 15, 1942 Japanese Americans interned in isolated camps Jun 4, 1942 June 4-7 Battle of Midway, turning point of war in the Pacific Sep 18, 1942 Russians stop Nazi advance at Stalingrad save Moscow Jan 1, 1943 British and US forces defeat German and Italian armies in North Africa Jul 18, 1944 Italy surrenders, Mussolini dismissed as Prime Min.
