-
Mussolini’s March on Rome
March on Rome, the insurrection by which Benito Mussolini came to power in Italy in late October 1922. The March marked the beginning of fascist rule and meant the doom of the preceding parliamentary regimes of socialists and liberals. -
Hitler writes Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf, (German: “My Struggle”) political manifesto written by Adolf Hitler. It was his only complete book, and the work became the bible of National Socialism (Nazism) in Germany's Third Reich. -
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 (USSR). -
Stalin becomes dictator of USSR
He held power as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1922–1952) and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (1941–1953). Initially governing the country as part of a collective leadership, he consolidated power to become dictator by the 1930s. -
Japan invades Manchuria
The Japanese invasion of Manchuria began on 18 September 1931, when the Kwantung Army of the Empire of Japan invaded Manchuria immediately following the Mukden Incident. They were seeking raw materials to fuel its growing industries. -
Holodomor
Holodomor, man-made famine that convulsed the Soviet republic of Ukraine from 1932 to 1933, peaking in the late spring of 1933. It was part of a broader Soviet famine (1931–34) that also caused mass starvation in the grain-growing regions of Soviet Russia and Kazakhstan. -
Hitler appointed chancellor of Germany
Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany in 1933 following a series of electoral victories by the Nazi Party. -
“Night of the Long Knives” in Germany
A purge that took place in Nazi Germany from June 30 to July 2, 1934. It provided a legal grounding for the Nazis, as the German courts and cabinet quickly swept aside centuries of legal prohibition against extrajudicial killings to demonstrate their loyalty to the regime. -
Nuremburg Laws enacted
The Nuremberg Laws were antisemitic and racist laws that were enacted in Nazi Germany at a special meeting of the Reichstag convened during the annual Nuremberg Rally of the Nazi Party. -
Italian invasion of Ethiopia
Italian troops invaded Ethiopia – then also known as Abyssinia – forcing the country's Emperor, Haile Selassie, into exile. -
The Great Purge and gulags
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. -
Spanish civil war
A military revolt against the Republican government of Spain, supported by conservative elements within the country -
The Rape of Nanking
The Nanjing Massacre, also called Rape of Nanjing, was the mass killing and the ravaging of Chinese citizens and capitulated soldiers by soldiers of the Japanese Imperial Army after its seizure of Nanjing, China, on December 13, 1937, during the Sino-Japanese War that preceded World War II. -
Kristallnacht
Nazis in Germany torched synagogues, vandalized Jewish homes, schools and businesses and killed close to 100 Jews. -
Nazi Germany invades Poland
An attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. -
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, just before 08:00 a.m., on Sunday, December 7, 1941.