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1921 Adolf Hitler becomes the leader of the Nazi Party
HItler became leader of the party very easily. He only had one vote against him in his election. Hitler was much needed in the Nazi party. -
1922 Benito Mussolini appointed Prime Minister of Italy
Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) started his political life as a socialist and in 1912, was appointed editor of Avanti, a leading socialist newspaper. During the Great War, Mussolini was expelled from the Socialist Party for advocating Italy’s entrance into battle. He organized the Fascist Party immediately following the war. -
1929 Josef Stalin sole dictator of the Soviet Union (USSR)
Josef Stalin was sole dictator of the Soviet Union and was very important to the future of his country. -
1931 Japan’s Army seizes Manchuria, China
In 1931, the Japanese Kwangtung Army attacked Chinese troops in Manchuria in an event commonly known as the Manchurian Incident. Essentially, this was an attempt by the Japanese Empire to gain control over the whole province, in order to eventually encompass all of East Asia. This proved to be one of the causes of World War IIs(1). -
1933, March 21 - Hitler is named Chancellor of Germany
March 21st hitler is named chancellor of germany putting an end to the german democracy. -
1935 Neutrality Acts passed by US Congress
The Neutrality Acts were passed by the United States Congress in the 1930s, in response to the growing turmoil in Europe and Asia that eventually led to World War II. They were spurred by the growth in isolationism and non-interventionism in the US following its costly involvement in World War I, and sought to ensure that the US would not become entangled again in foreign conflicts. -
1935 Italian Army invades Ethiopia in Africa
In 1935, the League of Nations was faced with another crucial test. Benito Mussolini, the Fascist leader of Italy, had adopted Adolf Hitler's plans to expand German territories by acquiring all territories it considered German. Mussolini followed this policy when he invaded Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) the African country situated on the horn of Africa. Mussolini claimed that his policies of expansion were not different from that of other colonial powers in Africa. -
1936 Militarist take control of Japanese Government
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1936 Hitler sends troops into Rhineland of Germany in violation of the Versailles Treaty
In March 1936, Hitler took what for him was a huge gamble - he ordered that his troops should openly re-enter the Rhineland thus breaking the terms of Versailles once again. He did order his generals that the military should retreat out of the Rhineland if the French showed the slightest hint of making a military stand against him. This did not occur. Over 32,000 soldiers and armed policemen crossed into the Rhineland -
1937 Japan’s army pillages Nanjing, China; massacre a quarter of a million people.
Japan’s army pillages Nanjing, China; massacre a quarter of a million people. -
1938 Munich Pact signed giving the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia to Germany
The Munich Agreement was a settlement permitting Nazi Germany's annexation of Czechoslovakia's areas along the country's borders mainly inhabited by ethnic Germans for which a new territorial designation "Sudetenland" was coined. -
1938 Nazis begin rounding up Jews for labor camps
HItler took thousthands and thousthands of Jew and sent them to be extirmenated in Concentration Camps. -
1939 Nazi-Soviet Pact signed by Hitler and Stalin
German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop contacted the Soviets to arrange a deal. Ribbentrop met with the Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov in Moscow and together they arranged two pacts - the economic agreement and the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact. -
1939 Sept 1st - Nazis invade Poland; Britain and France declare war on Germany
On Sept. 1, 1939, Nazi Germany launched an invasion of Poland. Two days later, Polish allies Britain and France declared war on Germany, marking the start of World War II. -
1940 Germany invades France and forces it to surrender
In the Second World War, the Battle of France, also known as the Fall of France, was the successful German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, defeating primarily French forces. -
1940 Battle of Britain – Royal Air Force defeats German Air Force to prevent invasion of their island
The Battle of Britain (German: Luftschlacht um England or Luftschlacht um Großbritannien, literally "Air battle for England" or "Air battle for Great Britain") is the name given to the Second World War air campaign waged by the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940. -
1940 Nazis invade Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium – take control
During World War II, Germany overran much of Europe using a new tactic called the "Blitzkrieg" (lightning war). Blitzkrieg involved the massing of planes, tanks, and artillery. These forces would break through enemy defenses along a narrow front. Air power prevented the enemy from closing the breach. German forces encircled opposing troops, forcing them to surrender. -
1940 First time Peacetime Draft in US
Introduced into Congress two days before the fall of France and signed into law three months later as Luftwaffe bombs set London afire, the Selective Training and Service Act began the process by which fifteen million Americans were inducted into the armed services during the Second World War. -
1941 Churchill and FDR issue the Atlantic Charter
The Atlantic Charter was a pivotal policy statement first issued in August 1941 that early in World War II defined the Allied goals for the post-war world. -
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
The japanese had a suprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, the Americans offically started war with Japan after. -
1941 Hitler breaks Pact with Stalin’s Russia and invades -USSR which now joins England in fighting the Germans
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1941 Japanese invade French Indochina (Viet. Laos, Cambodia)
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1942 Russians stop Nazi advance at Stalingrad save Moscow
Russians stop Nazi advance at Stalingrad save Moscow -
1942, June 4-7 Battle of Midway, turning point of war in the Pacific
Battle of Midway (June 4-7, 1942) was an important turning point in World War II. -
1942, June 4-7 Battle of Midway, turning point of war in the Pacific
On 7 December 1941, the Japanese Imperial Navy launched a surprise attack on the US Pacific Fleet based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. In little more than an hour, the Pacific Fleet was decimated and the Japanese fleet sailed home victorious. -
1942 Japanese Americans interned in isolated camps
It is an often overlooked episode of American history. After the start of World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing the forced relocation and incarceration of Japanese Americans to internment camps. In 1942, a total of 120,000 Japanese were interned in 10 different camps located in isolated areas of the west and mountain west—the single largest forced relocation in U.S. history. -
1942 Japanese Americans interned in isolated camps
Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of about 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. -
1943 British and US forces defeat German and Italian armies in North Africa
The North African Campaign, or Desert War, took place in the North African desert during World War II between 1940 and 1943. -
1942 Philippines fall to Japanese – Bataan Death March
All told, approximately 2,500–10,000 Filipino and 100–650 American prisoners of war died before they could reach Camp O'Donnell.[4] Death tolls vary, especially amongst Filipino POWs, because historians cannot determine how many prisoners blended in with the civilian population and escaped. -
1943 Zoot Suit Riots – Los Angeles, CA
The Zoot Suit Riots were fights between zoot suiters and sailors and marines in Los Angeles, California (Meier & Rivera, 193). Sailors and marines were constantly beating up Mexican American teenagers -
1943 July - Italy surrenders, Mussolini dismissed as Prime Min.
1943 July - Italy surrenders, Mussolini dismissed as Prime Min. -
1944 June 6 - D-Day invasion of France at Normandy by Allies
June 6, 1944, 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end on June 6, the Allies gained a foot- hold in Normandy. The D-Day cost was high -more than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wou -
1944 Aug. - Paris retaken by Allies Forces
1944 Aug. - Paris retaken by Allies Forces -
1944 Dec. Battle of the Bulge – last offensive of German Forces
On this day, the Germans launch the last major offensive of the war, Operation Mist, also known as the Ardennes Offensive and the Battle of the Bulge, an attempt to push the Allied front line west from northern France to northwestern Belgium. -
1945 Jan. – US forces return to recapture the Philippines
On this day, the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines is occupied by American troops, almost three years after the devastating and infamous Bataan Death March. -
1945 April 16th - FDR dies, Harry S. Truman becomes President
At 7:09 P.M. on April 12, 1945, Harry S. Truman, the Vice President of the United States, was elevated by the sudden death of Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Presidency of the United States. He lacked a month of being 61 years old, and he had been Vice President for only 83 days when Chief Justice Harlan F. Stone administered the oath in the White House Cabinet Room. -
1945 May 8th - V-E Day, war ends in Europe
Tuesday 8 May 1945 was 'Victory in Europe' (VE) Day, and it marked the formal end of Hitler's war. With it came the end of six years of misery, suffering, courage and endurance across the world. -
1945 Aug. - First Atomic Bombs dropped
The first atomic bomb has been dropped by a United States aircraft on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. -
1945 Aug. 14th – V-J Day, Japan surrenders to Allied Forces
Washington, Aug. 14 -- Japan today unconditionally surrendered the hemispheric empire taken by force and held almost intact for more than two years against the rising power of the United States and its Allies in the Pacific war. -
1946 War Crimes Trials held in Nuremburg, Germany; Manila, Philippines and Tokyo, Japan.
General Tomoyuki Yamashita was hanged in Manila on February 23, 1946. The fate of this officer, a first-class fighting man,affirmed something new in the annals of war. For Yamashita did not die for murder, or for directing other men to do murder in his name. Yamashita lost his life not because he was a bad or evil commander, but simply because he was a commander, and the men he commanded had done unspeakably evil things.
