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Japan conquers Manchuria in northern China
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Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany
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Italy invades Ethiopia
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Franklin D Roosevelt signs Neutrality Act which bans belligerent ships, forbids the arming of American merchant ships trading with belligerents, and issues an arms embargo with warring nations.
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The Japanese defeat Chinese forces in a clash near Peking, taking control of North China.
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt forbids U.S. ships from carrying arms to China or Japan.
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Time Inc. releases an anti-Nazi propaganda newsreel entitled March of Time in Nazi Germany.
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German Chancellor Adolf Hitler announces support for Japan.
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In the United States, popular support for American action against Japan far exceeds support for action against Nazi Germany.
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Time magazine prints its 1938 Man of the Year edition choosing Adolf Hitler for the title, but does not show the Nazi leader's face on the cover of the publication.
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Adolf Hitler reneges on the promise made in September of 1938 and takes all of Czechoslovakia.
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Passenger ship St. Louis, containing 907 Jewish refugees, begins its journey back to Europe after the United States refuses to grant it permission to dock.
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Adolf Hitler takes neutral Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg.
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German fighter planes and ground troops pummel France.
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In a speech to Congress, President Franklin D. Roosevelt requests new defense spending, an enlarged army, and an expanded air fleet. Public opinion favors the new defense program.
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Before the U.S. Congress, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposes a "lend-lease" program, which would deliver arms to Great Britain to be paid for following the war's end. Congress approves the bill.
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the United States Coast Guard to seize German ships that sail into American ports. 65 Axis ships are held in "protective custody."
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In the South Atlantic the American merchant ship Robin Moor is sunk by a German torpedo. President Franklin D. Roosevelt responds to the German attack by declaring a national emergency.
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers his State of the Union address in which he proposes a massive government spending budget, the largest in American history.
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In the first major Allied offensive, British and U.S. armies attack Germany's Africa Korps on the Mediterranean chasing forces back toward Libya.
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Under the leadership of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. troops land in Algiers, Oran, and Casablanca in North Africa.
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Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin D. Roosevelt meet in Casablanca in North Africa to plan attacks on all fronts, to invade Sicily and Italy, to send forces to the Pacific, and to better aid the Soviet Union.
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The Russian Red Army traps and captures German armies that had invaded the Soviet Union.
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The Italian government officially surrenders to the Allied powers; still, German forces occupy much of Italy.
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In England, the Allied powers assemble 2.9 million men, 2.5 million tons of supplies, 11,000 airplanes, and hundreds of ships in preparation for D-Day.
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Rome falls to Allied forces.
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D-Day: The first of nearly 3 million Allied soldiers arrive in Normandy, on the northern shores of France.
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The Allied powers meet in Yalta to negotiate Soviet dominance in Eastern Europe. The Yalta Conference would result in the dual administrations in Berlin, the break up of Germany, and the prosecution of war criminals.
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Georgia.
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Adolf Hitler commits suicide in Berlin.
