Timeline: World War II Kieran Laursen

Period: Mar 20, 1920 to Apr 20, 1947

World War II

World War II Time Line

Jul 29, 1921

Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the Nazi Party

Hitler elected by majority receiving 543 votes for, and only one against

Oct 20, 1922

Benito Mussolini appointed Prime Minister of Italy

Marched into Rome with his Fascist Blackshirts and took over the govenment and turned it into the worlds first fascitst state.

Apr 3, 1929

Josef Stalin becoms sole leader of the Soviet Union (USSR)

Brought the Soviet Union into a totalitarian state

Sep 18, 1931

Japanese forces seize Manchuria, China

Japan attacks Manchuria, China. With friendly countries in distress, the United States and the Soviet Union fought with China to defeat the Japanese in Manchuria.

Jan 30, 1933

Hitler is named Chancellor of Germany

Appointed by Paul von Hindenburg

Aug 31, 1935

Neutrality Act passed by US Congress

Created to ensure neutrality during WW2 but revoked after Pearl Harbor. Neutrality Acts were passed in '36, '37, and '39 to reaffirm and adjust the original Act

Oct 3, 1935

Italian army invades Ethiopia

Mar 7, 1936

Hitler sends troops into Rhineland

This action violated the Treaty of Versilles.

Aug 14, 1937

Japan’s army pillages Nanjing, China

Japanese army ordered to take Nanjing at all costs

Mar 30, 1938

Nazis begin rounding up Jews for labor camps

Aug 30, 1938

Non-Aggression Pact Signed by Hitler and Stalin

Wishing to take Poland and protect itself from a two-front war, Nazi Germany signed a non-aggression pact with Soviet Russia

Sep 30, 1938

Munich Pact signed

Permitted Nazi Germany the annexation of Sudentenland in an attempt to appease Hitler and Germany

Sep 1, 1939

Nazis invade Poland

Sep 1, 1939

Britain and France declare war on Germany

Mar 30, 1940

Nazis invade Neighboring countries

Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium

Mar 30, 1940

Germany invades France and forces it to surrender

Mar 30, 1940

Battle of Britain

Royal Air Force defeats German Air Force to prevent invasion of their island

Mar 30, 1940

First time Peacetime Draft in US

Began building Military up before the war began to be prepared for the large war they knew already existed

Mar 30, 1941

Japanese invade French Indochina

Mar 30, 1941

Hitler breaks Pact and invades Stalin's Russian Poland

USSR now teams Allies in fighting the Germans

Mar 30, 1941

Churchill and FDR issue the Atlantic Charter

This Charter Defined the Allies goal for WWII

Mar 30, 1941

Pearl Harbor in Hawaii attacked by Japanese

Pearl Harbor sabotaged by the bombing of Japanese airforce in a surprise attack. US declares war on Japan, Germany and Italy declare war on the US

Mar 30, 1942

Philippines fall to Japanese – Bataan Death March

Mar 30, 1942

Japanese Americans interned in isolated camps

Treated inhumanly and put to work building a railroad with less than 1000 calories a day

Mar 30, 1942

Battle of Midway

turning point of war in the Pacific

Mar 30, 1942

Russians stop Nazi advance at Stalingrad

Saves Moscow

Mar 30, 1943

British and US forces defeat Axis Powers in North Africa

Mar 30, 1943

Zoot Suit Riots

In Los Angeles, California US Navy sailors beat young mexicans or any one wearing a "Zoot Suit" due to the use of too much fabric and material. They believed it was wasteful of that material and they called it un patriotic and disloyal.