-
Mussolini’s March on Rome
The March on Rome, which took place in 1922, came about as part of a drive to establish Mussolini and his Fascist Party as the key political party in Italy. Aggravated by middle-class fear of a socialist revolution, disappointment over Italy's meagre gains from the peace settlement after World War I. -
Hitler writes Mein Kampf
Hitler began writing Mein Kampf in 1924 in Landsberg prison, following his conviction for high treason for attempting to overthrow the German republic in November 1923. Although his coup failed, Hitler used his trial as a platform to spread Nazi propaganda. Largely unknown before this event, he gained immediate notoriety in the German and international press. -
1st “five year plan” in USSR
The first five year plan was created in order to initiate rapid and large-scale industrialization across the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Set forth by responsible officials at Moscow, are the creation of a more adequate industrial development in an industrially backward country and the introduction of more efficient methods of agriculture, including large-scale, highly mechanized farming on cooperative lines. -
Stalin becomes dictator of USSR
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 a industrial and military superpower. -
Japan invades Manchuria
Japan invaded all Manchuria to protect its interests. Seeking raw materials to fuel its growing industries, Japan invaded the Chinese province of Manchuria in 1931. By 1937, Japan controlled large sections of China, and war crimes against the Chinese became commonplace. -
Holodomor
Holodomor is а genocide of the Ukrainian nation committed in 1932–1933. Feeling threatened by Ukraine's strength cultural autonomy, Stalin took measures to destroy the Ukrainian peasantry and the Ukrainian intellectual and cultural elites to prevent them from seeking independence for Ukraine. -
Hitler appointed chancellor of Germany
Following several backroom negotiations which included industrialists, Hindenburg's son, the former chancellor Franz von Papen, and Hitler. Hindenburg acquiesced on 30 January 1933, he formally appointed Adolf Hitler as Germany's new chancellor. -
“Night of the Long Knives” in Germany
The Night of the Long Knives represented a triumph for Hitler, and a turning point for the German government. In Germany, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler orders a bloody purge of his own political party, assassinating hundreds of Nazis whom he believed had the potential to become political enemies in the future. -
Nuremburg Laws enacted
The Nuremberg Laws were antisemitic and racist laws that were enacted in Nazi Germany on September 15 1935, at a special meeting of the Reichstag convened during the annual Nuremberg Rally of the Nazi Party. -
Italian invasion of Ethiopia
Italy invaded Ethiopia in October 1935, launching a war that would drive Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie into exile, to pave the way for Italian occupation, and test the capacity and will of the League of Nations to check the aggression of states. -
The Great Purge and gulags
The Great Terror of 1937, also known as the Great Purge, was a brutal political campaign led by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin to eliminate dissenting members of the Communist Party and anyone else he considered a threat. Upon Stalin’s rise to power, some members of the former Bolshevik party began to question his authority. By the mid-1930s, Stalin believed anyone with ties to the Bolsheviks or Lenin’s government was a threat to his leadership and needed to go. -
Spanish civil war
The Spanish Civil War began on July 17, 1936, when generals Emilio Mola and Francisco Franco launched an uprising aimed at overthrowing of the country's democratically elected republic.The left side, known as the Republicans, was formed by the Spanish government. On the other side were the Nationalists, the rebel part of the army. The Nationalists won the war, which ended in early 1939. -
The Rape of Nanking
During the Sino-Japanese War, Nanking, the capital of China, falls to Japanese forces. To break the spirit of Chinese resistance, Japanese General Matsui Iwane ordered that the city of Nanking to be destroyed. -
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht, also called Night of Broken Glass or November Pogroms, when German Nazis attacked Jewish people and their properties. The name Kristallnacht refers ironically to the litter of broken glass left in the streets after these pogroms. The violence continued during the day o fNovember 10, and in some places acts of violence continued for several more days. -
Nazi Germany invades Poland
At 4:45 a.m. on September 1, 1939, the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire on a Polish fortress on the Westerplatte Peninsula as assault troops hidden aboard the vessel stormed the shoreline. -
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is a U.S. naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii, that was the scene of a devastating surprise attack by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941.The day after the assault, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan. The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise, but Japan and the United States had been edging toward war for decades.