-
The Treaty of Versailles formally ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers when it was signed on June 28, 1919, though it went into effect on January 10, 1920. -
Japan invaded Manchuria starting on September 18, 1931, after a staged bombing on a Japanese-owned railway known as the Madden Incident served as a pretext. -
On October 3, 1935, Fascist Italy under Benito Mussolini invaded Ethiopia, also known as the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, to expand colonial territory and boost national pride. The invasion began after a border incident at Wal Wal in late 1934, but Mussolini used it to justify a full-scale war using modern weapons and chemical agents like mustard gas. -
Germany remilitarized the Rhineland on March 7, 1936, when Adolf Hitler sent German troops into the demilitarized zone along the Rhine River, violating the Treaty of Versailles. -
The Greek tragedian Aeschylus is the philosopher (and playwright) rumored to have been killed by a falling tortoise, which was dropped by an eagle that mistook his bald head for a rock on which to break the shell. This legendary account, recorded by Roman author Pliny the Elder. -
The Evian Conference was an international meeting held in Evian, France, from July 6 to July 15, 1938, in response to the growing Jewish refugee crisis precipitated by escalating Antisemitism in Nazi Germany. -
World War II began on September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland. This invasion prompted France and the United Kingdom to declare war on Germany on September 3, 1939, officially starting the global conflict. -
Germany, Italy, Great Britain, and France sign the Munich agreement, by which Czechoslovakia must surrender its border regions and defenses (the so-called Sudden region) to Nazi Germany. -
Blitzkrieg tactics were first effectively used by Germany in the invasion of Poland in September 1939 -
The Wagner-Rogers Bill was introduced in Congress on February 9, 1939, to allow 20,000 German refugee children to come to the United States over two years, outside of existing immigration quotas. The bill, sponsored by Senator Robert F. Wagner and Congresswoman Edith Nurse Rogers, ultimately failed to pass and was withdrawn without a vote in July 1939 due to opposition -
The MS St. Louis departed from Germany on May 13, 1939, carrying Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution, and was forced to turn back to Europe on June 6, 1939, after being denied entry to Cuba and the United States. The ship finally returned to Europe, docking in Antwerp, Belgium, on June 17, 1939
-
The Battle of Britain, 10 July – 31 October 1940. The Battle of Britain was fought above the skies of Britain, between the RAF and the German Luftwaffe. Had British and Allied aircrew not defeated the Luftwaffe, it is likely that Germany would have invaded Britain. -
The Battle of the Atlantic started on September 3, 1939, the same day Britain and France declared war on Germany in World War II. The initial attack that marked the beginning of the campaign was the sinking of the British passenger liner SS Athena by a German U-boat, with the loss of 112 lives. The conflict lasted until Germany's surrender in May 1945 -
The Nazi-Soviet Pact, officially the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, signed in August 1939, paved the way for the joint invasion of Poland in September 1939 -
The "cash and carry" policy was formalized as part of the Neutrality Act of 1939, which Congress passed on November 4, 1939. This policy allowed nations at war to purchase U.S. goods, including arms, provided they paid in cash and transported the goods using their own ships, shifting from earlier neutrality laws to aid the Allies without direct American military involvement. -
On September 2, 1940, the U.S. agreed to provide Britain with fifty old naval destroyers in exchange for the rights to establish American military bases in eight British territories across the Atlantic and the Caribbean. -
The Lend-Lease Act was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on March 11, 1941, allowing the U.S. to provide military aid and supplies to Allied nations without immediate payment. -
The Atlantic Charter was a joint declaration issued on August 14, 1941, by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill, outlining their post-World War II aims before the US entered the war -
On Dec. 7, 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The assault killed or wounded more than 3,500 American troops and civilians; severely damaged the fleet; and shocked the nation. -
The Battle of the Coral Sea took place from May 4 to May 8, 1942. This major naval battle of World War II occurred in the Pacific Theater between Japanese and Allied (United States and Australia) forces and was the first naval engagement fought entirely by aircraft carriers, with the opposing fleets never directly sighting each other. -
The Battle of Midway started on June 4, 1942, and concluded on June 7, 1942. This decisive World War II naval battle turned the tide of the Pacific War in favor of the Americans, as U.S. forces sank four Japanese aircraft carriers, crippling the Japanese fleet. -
The Nuremberg Trials began on November 20, 1945, in Nuremberg, Germany. This date marks the start of the International Military Tribunal (INT), which put 22 leading Nazi war criminals on trial for crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. -
On January 22, 1944, facing public and Congressional pressure and inter-administration fights, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the War Refugee Board, a government agency tasked with rescuing victims of the ongoing Holocaust. -
Operation Overlord started on June 6, 1944, the day known as D-Day, with the Allied forces launching the amphibious invasion of Normandy, France. This marked the beginning of the Battle of Normandy, which aimed to liberate Western Europe from Nazi occupation. -
The Battle of the Bulge began on December 16, 1944, with a surprise German offensive through the Dearness forest. This marked the last major German push on the Western Front during World War II. -
The Battle of Okinawa started on April 1, 1945, when U.S. ground forces landed on the island. It was the last major battle of World War II and is considered the bloodiest of the Pacific War, lasting for nearly three months. -
The "Little Boy" atomic bomb started when it detonated over Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, at 8:15 a.m. local time. It detonated 43 seconds after being released from the B-29 bomber Ebola Gay, initiating a nuclear chain reaction after falling approximately 1,968 feet -
The "Fat Man" atomic bomb was detonated over Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, at 11:02 a.m. local time. The B-29 bomber, Bock-scar, dropped the bomb, which had an explosive yield of approximately (21) kilotons and resulted in tens of thousands of immediate casualties. -
Victory over Japan Day (also known as V-J Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, or V-P Day) is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end. -
On 24 October 1945, this condition was fulfilled and the UN officially came into existence. Four years of planning and the hope of many years had materialized in an international organization designed to end war and promote peace, justice, and better living for all humankind. -
The Truman Doctrine started on March 12, 1947, when President Harry S. Truman announced the policy in a speech before a joint session of Congress. The doctrine was a formal request for Congress to provide economic and military aid to Greece and Turkey, which had previously relied on British support, and to establish a policy of supporting free peoples resisting subjugation. -
The Marshall Plan officially started on April 3, 1948, when President Truman signed the Economic Cooperation Act into law. This followed George Marshall's proposal in June 1947 for European nations to create a plan for economic reconstruction, which the U.S. would support with economic assistance. -
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (RUHR) was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948. This milestone document was drafted in response to the atrocities of World War II to establish a universal standard for human rights. -
Formed in 1949 with the signing of the Washington Treaty, NATO is a security alliance of 32 countries from North America and Europe. NATO's fundamental goal is to safeguard the Allies' freedom and security by political and military means.