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Stalin becomes dictator of USSR
Stalin assumed leadership over the country following Lenin's death in 1924. Joseph Stalin implemented the first Five-Year-Plan, which developed heavy industry and collectivizing agriculture, at the cost of a drastic fall in consumer goods. -
Mussolini’s March on Rome
Mussolini would demand the resignation of the government and that a new Fascist government be allowed to take over. The March marked the beginning of fascist rule and meant the doom of the preceding government of socialists and liberals. -
Hitler writes Mein Kampf
Adolf Hitler's first and only book was published, Mein Kampf. The book promoted the key components of Nazism. Mein Kampf singled out Jews as the source of many of Germany's ills and a threat to Aryan dominance. -
1st “five year plan” in USSR
The plan was created in order to initiate rapid and large-scale Industrialization across the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The Soviet Union's achievements were tremendous during this plan, which yielded a fifty-percent increase in industrial output. -
Japan invades Manchuria
Japan turned to Manchuria for oil, rubber and lumber in order to make up for the lack of resources in Japan. Japan had a highly developed industry, but the land was scarce of natural resources. -
Holodomor
It was a famine in Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians. This was caused when a dictator wanted both to replace Ukraine's small farms with state-run collectives and punish independence-minded Ukrainians who posed a threat to his totalitarian authority. -
Hitler appointed chancellor of Germany
President Paul von Hindenburg names Adolf Hitler, leader of Nazi Party, as chancellor of Germany. The Nazis were now in power. -
“Night of the Long Knives” in Germany
The SS assassinate many of the SA's leadership, including its leader Ernst Röhm. This wipes out opposition to Hitler within the Nazi Party. It also gives more power to the SS. It established Hitler as "the supreme leader of the German people". -
Nuremburg Laws enacted
They were antisemitic and racist laws that were enacted in Nazi Germany. Nazis wanted to put their ideas into laws because they believed in the false theory that the world is divided into distinct races that are not equally strong and valuable. -
Italian invasion of Ethiopia
The aim of invading Ethiopia was to boost Italian national prestige. A border incident between Ethiopia and Italian Somaliland that December gave Benito Mussolini an excuse to intervene. Italians won but were unable to colonize successfully. -
The Great Purge and gulags
Joseph Stalin began implementing sweeping policy changes in the Soviet Union. Prisoners could be required to work up to 14 hours a day, often in extreme weather. Many died of starvation, disease or exhaustion—others were simply executed. At least 750,000 people were executed during the Great Purge. -
Spanish civil war
It was a military revolt against the Republican government of Spain, supported by conservative elements within the country. The main cause of the Spanish Civil War, was the failure of Spanish democracy. On March 28, 1939, the Republicans finally surrendered Madrid, bringing the Spanish Civil War to an end. -
The Rape of Nanjing
This was the mass murder of Chinese civilians in Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China, immediately after the Battle of Nanjing in the Second Sino-Japanese War. They also committed other atrocities such as mass rape, looting and arson. The massacre was one of the worst acts of brutality committed during World War 2. -
Kristallnacht
Nazi leaders unleashed a series of pogroms against the Jewish population.The reason for the pogroms was the shooting in Paris on November 7 of the German diplomat Ernst vom Rath by a Polish-Jewish student, Herschel Grynszpan. Nazis in Germany torched synagogues, vandalized Jewish homes, schools and businesses and killed close to 100 Jews, around 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to Nazi concentration camps. -
Nazi Germany invades Poland
Germany invaded Poland to regain lost territory and ultimately rule their neighbor to the east. To justify the action, Nazi propagandists accused Poland of persecuting ethnic Germans living in Poland. This was the start to World War II. -
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Japanese Navy Air Service. Japan decided to attack hoping that the U.S would negotiate peace. The attack was an hour and fifteen minutes long. Japan destroyed nearly 20 American ships, more than 300 airplanes, and 2,403 Americans died.