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Benito Mussolini
Mussolini was a very powerful dictator of Italy. Under his control, Italy was introduced to the ideas of fascism. -
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Josef Stalin
Stalin was the dictator of the Soviet Union who controlled his country using only communism. He came to power right after Lenin died. -
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Tojo Hideki
He was the dictator of Japan during WWII. He was part of the Axis
powers with Germany(Hitler) and Italy (Mussolini). -
Japan Overruns Manchuria and Eastern China
Japan invaded and took over Manchuria in 1931 because they wanted an empire that was as big as the Western Empire. -
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Adolf Hitler
Hitler was one of the most well known dictators during WWII. He was the dictator of Germany and controlled this country using a brutal system of totalitarian rule. He was also the main cause of the Holocaust. -
Italy Invades Ethiopia
Mussolini led this invasion into Ethiopia. He wanted to annex this country into Italy's new colony of East Africa. Although the Italians did invade, the Ethiopians did not surrender. -
Occupation of the Rhineland
The occupation of the Rhineland was the first illegal thing he did (when it came to foreign relations) since he was in power. Occupying the Rhineland went directly against the Treaty of Versailles. This confused the Allies, especially France and Britain, a lot. -
Spanish Civil War
In the few years before the war, the Spanish government had become very divided between the monarchists and the socialists. When the socialists won the election in February, the monarchists became angry and reacted. -
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Francisco Franco
He was the dictator of Spain and used fascist governments much like Hitler and Mussolini. -
Air Raid on Guernica
This air raid on the town of Guernica occurred because Hitler wanted to stop people from the Spanish government from retreating. This soon became a target of propaganda against both Hitler and Mussolini. -
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Neville Chamberlain
Neville Chamberlain was the prime minister of Britain during WWII and is most known for his policy of appeasement. -
The Anschluss
This was the desired union of Germany and Austria. On March 13, the leader of the Austrian Nazi Party, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, asked the German Army to occupy Austria and the union of Germany and Austria was officially announced. -
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Munich Conference
The purpose of the Munich Conference was for Italy, Britain's prime minister, and France to convince Hitler not to take over Czechoslovakia and Sudetenland. The agreement they ended up coming to at this conference stated that Hitler could follow through on only taking over Sudetenland if he agreed to pledge his peace. They wanted him to pledge his peace because of their ideas of appeasement and their pacifist views WWI had left them with. -
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Holocaust
The Holocaust was a period of time when Hitler and all of the Nazis thought that all of the Jewish people should be completely exterminated. They were sent to work/concentration camps. The people who were the right age and in good shape worked. The rest were killed in either a gas chamber or the crematory. -
Formation of the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis
This alliance between Italy, Germany, and Japan established that these three countries would not interfere with eachother's business and they agreed to fight Soviet communism. -
Nazi Soviet Pact
Hitler made the Nazi Soviet Pact with Stalin. It stated that their two countries, Germany and the Soviet Union, would not go to war with eachother and promised to invade Poland and split it between them, -
Invasion of Poland
Germany invaded Poland by the battleship Schleswig-Holstein. This invasion was considered the first military battle of WWII. -
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Winston Churchill
He was a British prime minister who led his country through the rest of WWII after Chamberlain resigned in May. -
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Charles de Gaulle
He worked as the French's minister of war until he was sentenced to death two months later. -
Formation of the "Free French"
The "Free French" was an armed resistance group that was led by General Charles de Gaulle. Their purpose was to "free France" from being under German control. -
Fall of France
Italy declared war on France. They attacked from the south and were able to make France surrender. Knowing that France was weak, on June 22, 1940, Hitler made France sign documents saying that they surrendered. -
Vichy France
This was when France signed an armistice with Germany. It said that France would be divided into occupied and unoccupied zones and that Germany would control 3/5s of the country, directly. One of these parts was put under the controlled by the French government at Vichy uner Marshal Henri-Philippe. -
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Battle of Britain
This battle was between the Germans and the British. This battle was fought almost comletely in the air using both of the countries' air forces, so radar was very important. -
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of Russia by the Germans. It was the larget military attack in WWII. This attack was based on the attack on Blitzkreig. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The Japanese Navy attacked the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The purpose was to keep the United States Pacific Fleet from interfering with the Japanese's military actions and war plans. -
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Battle of Midway
This battle was between the US and Japan. The Japanese were mad because the United States had embarrassed them at their home islands during the Battle of Coral Sea. The Japanese wanted to do the same to the US in their "home" (Pacific base in Midway) -
El Alamein
This battle was fought between the German and the Allies. The Allies won and this led to the surrender of the Germans in North Africa (the next year-1943) -
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The Battle of Stalingrad
Hitler wanted control of Stalingrad because it was an indutrial city that was right on the Volga River and because it would make it easier for his armies to get to the Caucasus region, which was rich in oil. Their goal was to cut off any supply of fuel for "Stalin's war machine." -
D Day
This was the day when the Allies and Germany fought on the beaches of Normandy, France. The Allies defeated the Nazi Germans and started their march to overpower Hitler. -
Battle of the Bulge
This was a battle between the US and Germany. It was Hitler's last chance to undo what had been done on D Day. -
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Iwo Jima
This battle was part of the plan that the US had for trying to win the war in the Far East. The American airforce bombed the remaining industrial base. There was a lot of island hopping during this period of time. -
VE Day
(Victory over Europe Day) This is the day that marked the official end of Hitler's war. -
Decision to use atomic weapons
There were already many cases of kamikaze's who used their planes as explosives when trying to destroy. But, the US soon decided to bomb Hiroshima after they had given Japan a warning and Japan ignored it. This was the point when the US decided to continue using atomic weapons. They then bombed Japan again, this time on the city of Nagaski. -
VJ Day
(Victory over Japan Day) This is the day when Japan finally surrendered to the Allies and WWII officially ended.