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Stalin comes to power
In 1912, Lenin, then in exile in Switzerland, appointed Joseph Stalin to serve on the first Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party. Three years later, in November 1917, the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia. The Soviet Union was founded in 1922, with Lenin as its first leader. -
Mussolini becomes Prime Minister of Italy
Italian dictator Benito Mussolini rose to power in the wake of World War I as a leading proponent of Fascism. A revolutionary Socialist, he forged the paramilitary Fascist movement in 1919 and became prime minister in 1922. -
Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany
In 1933, President Paul con Hindenburg names Adolf Hitler, leader or fuhrer of the National Socialist German Workers Party, as chancellor of Germany. -
Invasion of Poland and start of WWII
Germany invaded Poland. The Polish army was defeated within weeks of the invasion. -
Lend-lease Act passed in US
Passed on March 11, 1941, this act set up a system that would allow the United States to lend or lease war supplies to any nation deemed "vital to the defense of the United States." -
Pearl Harbor attack
The Attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise attack by Japan against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on the morning of December 7, 1941. It led the United States into World War II. -
America declares war on Japan and enters WWII
The United States Congress declared war on the Empire of Japan in response to that country's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor the prior day. It was formulated an hour after the Infamy Speech of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. -
Executive Order 9066
Executive Order 9066 was a United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. -
European Battle of D-Day
The Normandy landings were the landing operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 (termed D-Day) of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. -
Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima was a major battle in which the United States Marine Corps landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. -
European Battle of Berlin
The Battle of Berlin was the last major battle in Europe during World War II. It resulted in the surrender of the German army and an end to Adolf Hitler's rule. The battle began on April 16, 1945 and lasted until May 2, 1945. -
V-E Day
Victory in Europe Day, generally known as V-E Day, V-E Day or simply V Day was the public holiday celebrated on 8 May 1945 to mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces. -
Pacific Battle of Okinawa
The Pacific island battles of World War II, the Okinawa campaign involved the 287,000 troops of the U.S. Tenth Army against 130,000 soldiers of the Japanese Thirty-second Army. -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
During World War II, an American B-29 bomber dropped the world's first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people, tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. -
End of WWll
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier.
