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Archduke Franz Ferdinand Is murdered
This is usually what is considered to be the event that started world war 1. Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, is assassinated via gunshot. -
Paris Peace Conference
The Paris Peace Conference involved 32 countries. Its main decisions were the making of the league of nations and the five peace treaties with the defeated states. This is where the United States of America proposed the 14 point treaty. Due to France's and Britain's frustration, however, a more harsh treaty was made. -
Mussolini's March on Rome
Italy's small gains from the peace settlement after World War 1 created a situation favorable for Mussolini's rise to power. The fascist party leaders directed and planned a march on Rome by using the Black shirts and using them to capture local, strategic points throughout Italy. Mussolini however, was in Mulan at the time, and awaited the results of his subordinates. -
The Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was caused by people getting tired of being involved in the war. Brothers, husbands, and sons were all being sent out to fight in the war, and due to Russia's tactics of just sending out more troops anytime the majority of them were mowed down by modern weapons like the machine gun, they were dying very fast. Many people were starving and had to wait upwards of 40 hours in line to get bread. On this date, Vladimir Lenin Seizes control and forms the USSR. -
Adolf HItler's Beer Hall putsch
The Beer Hall putsch was a failed coup d'etat by the Nazi Party. Adolf Hitler was then sentenced to prison for five years, but during that time, he wrote "Mein Kampf", or "My Struggle."
In the picture you can see Nazis during the Beer Hall putsch. -
Stalin's First Five Year Plan
The first five year plan focused on the industrialization of Russia/USSR, since it was so far behind the rest of the other countries. It also began a collectivization of citizen owned farms. This caused a fall in consumer goods because the citizens were no longer in control of their own farms. Because of this, famines became inevitable and did occur. -
Second Italo-Ethiopian war
This was Italy's conquest of Ethiopia. They wanted to attack Ethiopia because they had failed to take it over in 1895. It is often seen as an attack so that Italy could expand and a show of how ineffective the league of nations really was in preventing it. They were able to win because Ethiopia's army was not well trained, nor well armed. In the picture you can see Italian soldiers being transported. -
Hitler takes back the Rhineland
Hitler sent out 20,000 soldiers to the Rhineland, so that he could take it back. It gave him the resources to support his military. Britain soldiers occupied the Rhineland at the time, but they did not want to fight back due to Britain not wanting to start another war. Hence, they let Germany take the Rhineland, and prevented conflict. This, unfortunately, was their first mistake. -
The Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War started with a revolt against the republican government of Spain by the generals Emilo Mola and Franciso Franco. They revolted against the democratically elected republic. After the initial Coup failed, aggressive and spontaneous fighting began between the two sides. On March 28th 1939, Franco and the revolting officers won. Franco served as Spain's Dictator until his death in 1975. -
Rape of Nanking/Nanjing
The rape of Nanking was a massacre and mass raping of the Chinese residents of Nanking. Japanese Imperial soldiers arrived there, and once the Chinese surrendered, they did not care, and still killed 50,000 to 300,000 people. Nanking, at the time was the Chinese capital. -
Germany's Blitzkrieg on Poland
The German forces start a Blitzkrieg on Poland. A blitzkrieg is an all out attack made to over take the enemy as quick as possible, preferably without any organized resistance. Germany used propaganda to tell its citizens that the polish government was persecuting Ethnic Germans and were trying to "encircle and dismember" Germany. -
France surrenders to the Axis powers
France surrendered to the Axis powers as their most heavily armed forces had been defeated by the Germans. The Germans took advantage of the French army's weakness in that they were not secure from the back and had all of their best troops and munitions in one area. The results of the fighting was over 90,000 dead for France and over 200,000 wounded, while Germany had only 27,000 dead, and 111,000 wounded. Hitler had the negotiations set at the Compiegne Wagon. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
The attack on pearl harbor was an attack caused by the Japanese forces. The reason for the attack is because the U.S. prevented Japan from buying any more oil from them as a result of siding with the Axis powers. The attack took place on pearl harbor, a military harbor in Hawaii. Because of this, The U.S. officially joined World War 2, instead of just helping their allies from the sidelines. -
Battle of GuadalCanal
The Battle of Guadalcanal was led by the allied forces. It was an attack meant to surprise the Japanese soldiers. It was a good example of an Amphibious battle, which means that the attack was by both sea and land. Japanese Cruisers and Destroyers attempted to fight back the allied forces. The allied were defeated in this short event, but in the end it was a turning point in favor of the allies in the war. -
Battle of stalingrad
The battle of Stalingrad is the story of the success of the defense of the Russian city of Stalingrad from the German forces. It was another event which helped the allies in their fight. -
Battle of El Alamein
The second battle of Alamein took place near the Egyptian Railway Halt of Alamein. It resulted in an Allied victory, and it prevented the Axis powers from advancing further into Egypt. -
D-Day
On D-Day, Allied forces launched a combined attack using land, sea, and air assault on Germany-Occupied France. The fight was gruesome, as the land troops were being fought by Germans armed with advanced weaponry, such as machine guns. Obviously, assaulting a position where an enemy has the immediate advantage is a difficult task. -
The Potsdam Conference
The discussions of the Potsdam conference were of what to do with Germany. The allied leaders wanted to avoid situation like with what happened with the treaty of Versailles. They agreed upon having reparations only from the section of Germany in which each power controlled. All industries that can be used for remilitarization were dismantled. -
Bombing Of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The United states, after Pearl harbor, declared war on Japan. Thus, they went on the attack. After a long war, they finally were in range to use nuclear weapons against Japan. They used bombs Fat Man and Little Boy on august 6 and 9th. The cities bombed were Hiroshima and Nagasaki. -
MacArthur's Plan for Japan
MacArthur's plan was disarming Japan and removing any form of resistance. Government and military leaders were put on trial for their actions. Many acts were also implemented, such as the trade union act, and the labor standards act. -
The United Nations is formed
After the failure of the league of nations, a new organization to keep the peace, and to for sure keep the peace, was created.
The league of nations only started with about 51 nations. Today, there are 193 nations in it. These countries were committed to maintaining national peace and security, and to make sure Weapons of Mass Destruction, or WMDs, were never used. The group promoted social progress, and the improvement of human rights. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall plan was a U.S. sponsored program designed to rebuild and restart the economies of 17 western and southern European countries in order to create stable conditions in which countries can survive. -
NATO is formed
NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The purpose of the group is to safeguard the freedom and security of all of its members. Collective defense is the main focus of the group. It creates a common goal for the members of the group, and thus, keeps them together. -
The Warsaw pact is created
The Warsaw pact was a pact signed by Stalin and the countries in the Eastern Bloc. A bloc is a group of countries that share a common purpose. In this case, just like NATO, it is defense. It was a group of countries consisting of socialistic countries. The point of the Warsaw pact is that if the security of one country is threatened, it should be treated as the security of all countries being threatened. It was named the Warsaw pact because it was signed in Warsaw.