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Mussolini and the Fascists come to power in Italy
His strategy of spreading chaos in the streets while posing as the champion of law and order who could save Italy started paying off. -
Japanese invasion of Manchuria
When the Kwantung Army of the Empire of Japan invaded Manchuria immediately following the Mukden Incident. -
Hitler and the Nazis come to power in Germany
The publicity of the long trial, gave Hitler a nationwide recognition. -
Neutraility Acts passed in the US
First one prohibited the export of armorer, ammunition, and implements of war. -
Munich Conference
Came as a result of a long series of negotiations. Adolf Hitler had demanded the Sudetendland in Czechoslovakia; British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain tried to talk him out of it -
Kristallnacht
Referred to as the "Night of Broken Glass"; Nazis in Germany torched synagogues, vandalized Jewish homes, schools and businesses and killed close to 100 Jews. -
Period: to
Kristallnacht
Referred to as the "Night of Broken Glass"; Nazis in Germany torched synagogues, vandalized Jewish homes, schools and businesses and killed close to 100 Jews. -
Germany and the USSR sign the Non-Aggression Pact
Between Germany and the Soviet Union that was concluded only a few days before the beginning of World War II. -
Germany invades Poland- Beginning of WWII
On this day, German forces bombard Poland on land and from air, as Hitler seeks to regain lost territory and ulimately rule Poland. -
France falls to Germany
Was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries during WWII. -
Rescue at Dunkirk
Code name Operation Dynamo; was the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, France. -
Formation of the Axis Powers
Formally took the name after the Tripartite Pact was signed by Germany, Italy, and Japan. -
Presidential election of 1940
Was fought in the shadow of World War II as the United States was emerging from the Great Depression. FDR ran for a third term. -
Congress passes the Lend Lease Act
This act set up a system that would allow the Unites States to lend or lease war supplies to any nation deemed "vital to the defense of the United States. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
It was a surprise attack by Japan on American facilities. It pushed the United States into WWII. -
Relocation of the Japanese Americans to camps
After the attack on Pearl Harbor approximately 120,000 american citizens were force to move to 10 internment camps across the country. -
Bataan Death March
Approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make an arduous 65-mile march to prison camps. -
Battle of Midway Island
Was a crucial and decisive naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II. Started six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. -
Rosie the Riverter campaign encourages women to get a job
While the men where at war the women where available to fill in their jobs. They had to take care of the children during the war. -
D-Day Invasion
Allies invaded Western Europe; more than 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily- fortified French coastline, to fight Nazi Germany on beaches of Normandy, France. -
Allied invasion/Victory in the Philippines
American and Filipino campaign to defeat and expel the Imperial Japanese forces occupying the Philippines, during WWII. -
Presidential Election of 1944
Took place while the United States was preoccupied with fighting World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) had been in office longer than any other president, but remained popular. Unlike 1940, there was little doubt that Roosevelt would run for another term as the Democratic candidate. His Republican opponent in 1944 was New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey. Dewey ran an energetic campaign, but there was little doubt, in the midst of a world war, that FDR would win a record fourth term -
Battle of the Bulge
A major German offensive campaign launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium, France.In December 1944, Adolph Hitler attempted to split the Allied armies in northwest Europe by means of a surprise blitzkrieg thrust through the Ardennes to Antwerp. Caught off-guard, American units fought desperate battles to stem the German advance at St.-Vith, Elsenborn Ridge, Houffalize and Bastogne. -
Yalta Conference
Was a meeting of British prime minister Winston Churchill, Soviet premier Joseph Stalin, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt early in February 1945 as WWII was winding down. -
V-E Day
It marks the formal acceptance by the Allies of WWII of Nazi Germany's uconditional surrender of its armed forces. -
Manhattan Project
Was a secret military project created in 1945 to produce the first US nuclear weapon. Fears that Nazi Germany would build and use a nuclear weapon during World War II triggered the start of the Manhattan Project, which was originally based in Manhattan, New York.The nuclear age began. -
Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
On August 6, 1945, during World War II (1939-45), an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. -
Surrender of Japan
The surrender of the Empire of Japan was announced by Imperial Japan 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 was incapable of conducting major operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent. -
Battle of Atlantic
Began immediately upon British declaration of war against Germany.The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, running from 1939 to the defeat of Germany in 1945. At its core was the Allied naval blockade of Germany, announced the day after the declaration of war, and Germany's subsequent counter-blockade. -
Formation of the United Nations
An intergovernmental organization to promote international co-operation. Replacement for the ineffective league of nations. -
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