-
Mussolini becomes Prime Minister of Italy
Italian dictator Benito Mussolini rose to power in the wake of World War I as a leader proponent of Fascism. Originally a revolutionary Socialist, he forged the paramilitary Fascist movement in 1919 and became Prime Minister in 1922. -
Stalin comes to power
Joseph Stalin was the dictator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from 1929 to 1953. Under Stalin, the Soviet Union was transformed from a peasant society into an industrial and military superpower. -
Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany
On this day in 1933, President Paul von Hindenburg names Adolf Hitler, leader or fÜhrer of the National Socialist German Workers Party, as chancellor of Germany. -
Holocaust
The Holocaust was the systematic persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. Led by Adolf Hitler. -
Non-agression Pact
Shortly before World War II broke out in Europe. Enemies, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union surprised the world by signing the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, in which the two countries agreed to take no military action against each other for the next 10 years. -
Invasion of Poland and start of WWII
On this day about 1.5 million German troops invaded Poland all along its 1,750-mile border with German-controlled territory. Simultaneously, the German Luftwaffe bombed Polish airfields, and German warships and U-boats attacked Polish naval forces in the Baltic Sea. -
Battle of the Atlantic
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. -
Phony War "Sitzkreig"
This is the name given to this period of time in World War Two. After the blitzkrieg attack on Poland in September 1939, seemingly this attack did nothing. Many in Great Britain expected a major calamity, but nothing happened. -
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain was a combat of the Second World War, when the Royal Air Force defended the United Kingdom against the German Air Force attacks from the end of June 1940 -
Lend-lease Act passed in US
Proposed in late 1940 and passed in March 1941, the Lend-Lease Act was the principal means for providing U.S. military aid to foreign nations during World War II. -
Hitler invades Soviet Union
Under the code name Operation "Barbarossa," Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, in the largest German military operation of World War II. -
Pearl Harbor attack
Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. Lasted for two hours. They managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, eight enormous battleships, and more than 300 airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died in the attack, and another 1,000 were wounded. -
America declares war on Japan and enters WWII
About two years into the war, the United States Congress declared war on the Empire of Japan in response to that country's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor the prior day. -
War Production Board created
The War Production Board was an agency of the United States government that supervised war production during World War II. -
Executive Order 9066
This order authorized the Secretary of War to prescribe certain areas as military zones, clearing the way for the internment of Japanese Americans, German Americans, and Italian-Americans to concentration camps in the United States. -
Battle of Coral Sea
Major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of WW2 between the Imperial Japanese Navy and naval and air forces from the United States and Australia. -
Battle of Midway
The United States Navy decisively defeated an attacking fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy, inflicting damage on the Japanese fleet that proved irreparable. -
Battle of Stalingrad
A major battle between German and Soviet troops in World War II. Stalingrad is considered a major turning point in the war. -
Operation Torch (North Africa)
British-American invasion of French North Africa during the North African Campaign. -
Office of war mobilization created
This was an independent agency of the United States government formed during World War II to coordinate all government agencies involved in the war effort. -
Invasion of Sicily/Italy
The Allies took the island of Sicily from the Axis powers (Italy and Nazi Germany). -
D-Day
Allied forces invaded northern France by means of beach landings in Normandy. -
Iwo Jima
Major battle in which the United States Marine Corps landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Imperial Japanese Army. -
Okinawa
Series of battles fought in Japanese islands. Largest amphibious landing in the Pacific Theater of WW2. -
Battle of Berlin
The last major battle in Europe during World War II. It resulted in the surrender of the German army and an end to Adolf Hitler's rule. -
Hitler commits suicide
Adolf Hitler, burrowed away in a refurbished air-raid shelter, consumed a cyanide capsule, then shot himself with a pistol. -
V-E Day
The day that marked the Allied victory in Europe in 1945. -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
this was when the American bomber Enola Gay dropped a five-ton bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. A blast equivalent to the power of 15,000 tons of TNT reduced four square miles of the city to ruins and immediately killed 80,000 people. -
End of WW2
World War 2 ended with the unconditional surrender of the Axis powers.
