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Bolshevik Revolution
was a seizure of state power instrumental in the larger Russian Revolution of 1917. It took place with an armed insurrection in Petrograd. -
Paris Peace Conference
The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors, following the end of World War I to set the peace terms -
Treaty of Versailles Signed
was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers -
Washington Naval Conference
the first arms control conference in history -
Rapallo Treaty
between Germany and Russia under which each renounced all territorial and financial claims against the other -
Benito Mussolini comes to power in Italy
ruled as a dictator from 1922 to 1943 -
England refuses to renew its alliance with Japan
Political breakthrough that saw an end to Britain's seclusion, the alliance was renewed and expanded twice, in 1905 and 1911, before its demise in 1923. -
Beer Hall Putsch
Afailed attempt by the Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler to seize power in Munich, Bavaria -
Stalin comes to power in Russia
He managed to gain power following the 1924 death of Vladimir Lenin -
Dawes Plan
formulated to take Weimar Germany out of hyperinflation and to return Weimar’s economy to some form of stability -
Mein Kemph Published
An autobiographical manifesto by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, in which he outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germany -
Stock Market Crash
The values dropped in the stocks, people took their money out of the banks, and it hit rock bottom -
French begin constructing the Maginot line
Work on the Maginot Line proper started in 1930 when the French government gave a grant of 3 billion dollars. The work continued until 1940 -
Japan invades Manchuria
Japanese Kwangtung Army attacked Chinese troops in Manchuria in an event commonly known as the Manchurian Incident. -
Ukrainian Famine
affected the major grain-producing areas of the Soviet Union, leading to the deaths of millions in those areas and severe food insecurity throughout the USSR. -
Hitler declares himself Vice Chancellor and Fuhrer of Germany
Adolf Hitler was appointed as the chancellor of Germany by President Paul Von Hindenburg. -
Hitler made chancellor of Germany
President Paul von Hindenburg named Adolf Hitler leader, as chancellor of Germany. -
First concentration camps established
The first concentration camps in Germany were established soon after Hitler's appointment as chancellor -
Night of Long Knives
purge that took place in Nazi Germany between June 30 and July 2, 1934, when the Nazi regime carried out a series of political murders. -
US Neutrality Acts
Intended to prevent the U.S. from being drawn into a war in the 1930’s -
Stalin begins military purges and The Great Terror
campaign of political repression in the Soviet Union -
Berlin Olympics
An international multi-sport event that was held in 1936 in Berlin, Germany. -
Rape of Nanking
Mass murder and mass rape committed by Japanese troops against Nanking during the Second Sino-Japanese War -
Hitler Invades Sudetenland
Hitler turned his attention to the Sudeten area of Czechoslovakia -
Hitler Invades Austria
German troops march into Austria to annex the German-speaking nation for the Third Reich. -
Munich Conference
representatives of France, Britain, Italy and Germany met at Munich to discuss the Sudetenland problem. Hitler traded the promise of peace in Europe for the Sudetenland. The Czechs had to either accept or face the might of the German army alone. They accepted. -
Krystallnacht
A pogrom against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria -
Hitler conquers the rest of Czechoslovakia
German Wehrmacht moved into the remainder of Czechoslovakia -
Enigma machine used in Britain
The Poles managed to reconstruct an Enigma machine, complete with internal wiring, to read the German forces’ messages between 1933 and 1938 -
Einstein writes a letter to FDR on the possibility of Atomic Weapons
A warning to President Roosevelt of the possibility of constructing "extremely powerful bombs of a new type" with hints that the German government might be doing just that -
Nazi Soviet Anti -Aggression Pact
Hitler made the Nazi-Soviet pact with Stalin. This was a promise not to go to war with each other, and a secret promise to invade Poland. -
Hitler Invades Poland
Germany invaded Poland. The Polish army was defeated within weeks of the invasion. -
Manhattan Project Begins
A research and development project that produced the first atomic bombs during World War II -
Britain and France declare war on Germany
In response to Hitler's invasion of Poland, Britain and France, both allies of the overrun nation declare war on Germany -
Winter War between Finland and Russia
A military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland . It began with Soviet invasion of Finland and ended with the Moscow Peace Treaty. -
Desert Campaigns in Africa Begin
Campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts -
Nazi occupation of Norway
The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany started with the German invasion of Norway -
Scandinavian Wars
After planning for months, Germany invaded both Denmark and Norway the same day -
Defeat of French army by the Nazis
The successful German invasion of France and the Low Countries -
Winston Churchill Comes to power in England
In May 1940, Neville Chamberlain resigned as prime minister and Churchill took his place. -
Battle of Britain
"Air battle for England" is the name given to the Second World War air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom -
Hitler launches Operation Barbarossa
The code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II. -
Nazi Final Solution Developed
A solution that startedto "end" the Jews. -
Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan brought the United States into World War II -
FDR signs Executive order 9066, beginning Japanese internment
FDR singed an order that allowed local military commanders to designate "military areas" as "exclusion zones," from which "any or all persons may be excluded." -
Battle of Midway
American planes based on land and on carriers decisively defeated a Japanese fleet on its way to invade the Midway Islands. -
Nimitz and McArthur begin island hopping in the Pacific
General MacArthur and Admiral Chester W. Nimitz seized the initiative, launching an ‘Island Hopping’ campaign. -
D-Day
Allied forces invaded northern France by means of beach landings in Normandy. -
Operation Market Garden
An unsuccessful Allied military operation, fought in the Netherlands and Germany in the Second World War -
Battle of the Bulge
Von Rundstedt launched a powerful counteroffensive in the forest at Ardennes and caught the Allies by surprise -
US victory at Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima (19 February – 26 March 1945), or Operation Detachment, was a major battle in which the United States Armed Forces fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Empire. -
Death of FDR
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt passes away after four momentous terms in office, leaving Vice President Harry S. Truman in charge of a country still fighting the Second World War -
Hitler Commits Suicide
Der Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, dictator of Germany, burrowed away in a refurbished air-raid shelter, consumes a cyanide capsule, then shoots himself with a pistol -
Surrender of Germany
The first Instrument of Surrender was signed at Reims, at 02:41 Central European Time -
First successful test of atomic bomb
The United States conducts the first test of the atomic bomb at at the Trinity bomb site in central New Mexico. -
US drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The atomic bombings of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan were conducted by the United States during the final stages of World War II -
Surrender of Japan
The surrender of the Empire of Japan brought the hostilities of World War II to a close.
