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Great Depression
The largest economic crash shook the world, with so many jobs lost and businesses destroyed. People were vulnerable and needed leaders to guide them out of this tough time, so any leader that promised change could take over. Dictatorship became more prevalent as the people were more dependent on the government. -
Japan conuers Manchria in Northern China
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Roosevelt first elected president
Roosevelt was elected president during the Great Depression because the nation was unhappy with how little President Hoover had done. He quickly won the support of the public with his Fireside Chats and promises for a New Deal, and followed through with those promises to lead the US out of the Great Depression and into WWII. -
Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany
Hitler was voted in by a large margin as Chancellor of Germany after he promised huge economic change. Germans had lost so much in the Great Depression and WWI, and welcomed his rule which promised good things for their future. -
Nuremberg Laws
The Nuremberg Laws were laws in Germany that slowly took away the rights of Jewish people, such as taking away their Reich citizenship and not allowing them to marry Germans. -
Hitler & Mussolini form the Rome-Berlin Axis
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Japan invades China
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Britain’s appeasement of Germany
Britain and France used the policy of appeasement, which means to meet the demands of another country (Germany) to avoid war. As we now know, this appeasement did not work. -
Germany invades Austria
In 1938, Germany overtook its first country: Austria, where many German-speakers lived. Many people in Austria were supportive, while others weren’t. Germany decided to take other countries by force, other countries started picking sides, and this became a main cause of the war. -
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht was an anti-Jewish riot/pogrom throughout Germany, literally meaning night of broken glass. Synagogues were burned, Jewish stores were vandalized, and any Jewish property was destroyed, with the government not preventing any of it. It was the start of the Holocaust. -
Germany invades Poland - blitzkrieg (start of WWII)
German forces used a new type of warfare called blitzkrieg. This was a ‘lightning war,’ which focuses on speed and surprise to take down the enemy. -
Germany & Soviet Union have a nonaggression pact
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Japan joins the Axis Powers
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o Germany invades Denmark, Norway, Belgium, and France (Vichy France)
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o German air force (Luftwaffe) bombs London and other civilian targets in the Battle of Britain
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Lend-Lease Act
This was an act allowing the US to lend equipment to the Allies. The US sent the Allies about $50 billion in goods. -
Germany invades the Soviet Union
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"Final Solution"
Nazis attempted to kill every single Jew or ‘unworthy’ person under their rule by putting them in concentration camps. They killed an estimated 15 million people, but we are still discovering more. -
Pearl Harbor
Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, which was a base for our military. They were hoping to keep the US out of the war, but instead it angered the US so that we entered the war, siding with the Allies. -
Tuskegee Airmen
They were a unit of African American pilots that flew during WWII and fought for our country. They were segregated, but served with honor for the US. -
Rosie the Riveter
Rosie the Riveter was a fictional character that represented strong women working in factories and other ‘man’s jobs’. She was part of propaganda to encourage women to work during WWII. -
Japanese-American incarceration
Japanese Americans were feared and hated after Pearl Harbor. Other Americans weren’t sure if they were loyal, and were afraid that they were communicating with Japan and planning to attack our coasts. -
Bataan Death March
After Filipino and American surrender on the Bataan Peninsula in the Phillippines, over 70,000 troops were forced to walk over 65 miles to a prison camp. On the way, about 10,000 prisoners died. -
British forces stop the German advance at El Alamein
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Battle of Midway
the turning point in the war in the Pacific, when the US beat the Japanese off of Midway Island. -
Guadalcanal
Americans win their first major land battle in the war in the Pacific. After 6 months of fighting, US soldiers finally won the battle at Guadalcanal. -
Manhattan Project
A top-secret US program to create the atomic bomb. It took 3 years and was lead by American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer. -
German forces surrender at Stalingrad
The Germans attacked this Russian city, and for the first time in history, lost. The Russians fiercely defended their city of Stalingrad, and Germans had to surrender. -
D-day
The Allies invaded France (occupied by Nazis). Over 850,000 Allied troops came, and won, but it was very costly. -
Battle of the Bulge
It was the final battle against the Germans. The Nazis attacked and hugely outnumbered the Allies, but the Allies regrouped and finally won, which was the final major battle in Europe. -
Iwo Jima
It was one of two bases that the US set up near the end of the war close to Japan so that they would be able to drop the atomic bombs on them to end the war. February 1945, US marines attacked Iwo Jima, and won the battle later that month. -
Yalta Conference
the meeting of the “Big Three” (Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin) got together to discuss life after the war, and what Europe would do in the future. They discussed peacekeeping and government post-war. -
Okinawa
It was one of two bases that the US set up near the end of the war close to Japan so that they would be able to drop the atomic bombs on them to end the war. After several months, US soldiers took both islands. -
Roosevelt dies, Truman becomes president
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Formation of the United Nations
50 nations are meeting in San Francisco to rethink the United Nations and get more countries on board to truly prevent additional world wars. All 50 nations created a new United Nations that would hopefully work, unlike the League of Nations. -
Allied forces advance on Berlin, Germany surrenders
May 2, 1945, Germany surrendered after the Axis advance on Berlin. This was the day that WWII was over in Europe. -
Allies decided put Nazi war criminals on trial at the Potsdam Conference (planning end and post-war life)
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Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki
August 6, 1945, the US dropped the first atomic bomb on citizens ever. We dropped the bomb in the town of Hiroshima, killing over 75,000 people and turning 5 square miles of previous city into a wasteland. Nagasaki killed another 40,000 after the Japanese refused to surrender. After this, the Japanese surrendered, September 2, 1945. -
o Japanese officials sign an official letter of surrender on the U.S.S. Missouri, ending World War II
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Nuremberg Trials (November 20, 1945 – October 1, 1946)
the trials of Hitler’s top Nazis. There were 24 defendants, including Hermann Goring, who created and head of the Gestapo (secret police). They were charged with crimes against humanity. 19 were found guilty: 12 were sentenced to death, and 5 were innocent. -
Marshall Plan
Congress approves the plan of George Marshall to help European nations and their economies to help them. We gave Europe over $13 billion.
