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Mein Kampf
Hitler began composing his tome while sitting in Landsberg prison, convicted of treason for his role in the infamous Beer Hall Putsch in which he and his minions attempted to stage a coup and grasp control of the government in Bavaria. It ended in disaster, with some allies deserting and others falling into the hands of the authorities. Hitler was sentenced to five years' imprisonment (he would serve only nine months). His time in the old fortress at Landsberg was hardly brutal; he was allowed g -
Benito Mussolini's fascist government in Italy
Benito Mussolini, an Italian World War I veteran and publisher of Socialist newspapers, breaks with the Italian Socialists and establishes the nationalist Fasci di Combattimento, named after the Italian peasant revolutionaries, or "Fighting Bands," from the 19th century. Commonly known as the Fascist Party, Mussolini's new right-wing organization advocated Italian nationalism, had black shirts for uniforms, and launched a program of terrorism and intimidation against its leftist opponents. -
Joseph Stalin's totalitarian government in the Soviet Union
After V.I. Lenin died in 1924, Joseph Stalin took control of the country. Stalin focused on creating a model of communist state. Stalin abolished all privately owned farms and replaced them with collectives large governemnt owned farms. -
Japanese invasion of Manchuria
the Soviet Union officially declares war on Japan, pouring more than 1 million Soviet soldiers into Japanese-occupied Manchuria, northeastern China, to take on the 700,000-strong Japanese army. -
Storm troopers
Hitler Private army the storm troppers or Brown shirts. -
Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany
The year 1932 had seen Hitler's meteoric rise to prominence in Germany, spurred largely by the German people's frustration with dismal economic conditions and the still-festering wounds inflicted by defeat in the Great War and the harsh peace terms of the Versailles treaty. A charismatic speaker, Hitler channeled popular discontent with the post-war Weimar government into support for his fledgling Nazi party. In an election held in July 1932, the Nazis won 230 governmental seats; together with t -
Third Reich
Germany's democratic government were dismantled to make way for Hitler's the Third Reich or Third German Empire. Germany's -
Hitler's military build-up in Germany
Hitler began a military buildup in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. -
Hitler invades the Rhineland
Nazi leader Adolf Hitler violates the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Pact by sending German military forces into the Rhineland, a demilitarized zone along the Rhine River in western Germany. -
Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia
Ethiopia had fallen, the ousted Ethiopian emeror, appealed to the League for assistance -
Francisco Franco
A goup of Spanish army offiuceres led by General Francisco Franco rebelled against the Spanish Civil War began. -
Hitler's Anschluss
German troopes marched into Austria unopposed. Aday layer Germany announced that its Anschluss with Austria was complete. -
Munich Agreement
Daladier and Chamberlain signed the Munich Agreement, which turned the Sudetenland over to Germany without a single shot being fired -
Rome-Berlin Axis
The war forged a close relationship between the German and italian dictators, who signed a formal alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis. -
Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg means "lightning war". Blitzkrieg was first used by the Germans in World War Two and was a tactic based on speed and surprise and needed a military force to be based around light tank units supported by planes and infantry (foot soldiers). The tactic was developed in Germany by an army officer called Heinz Guderian. -
Nonaggression pact
On August 23, 1939, representatives from Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union met and signed the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, which guaranteed that the two countries would not attack each other. By signing this pact, Germany had protected itself from having to fight a two-front war in the soon-to-begin World War II -
Phony war
During the subsequent seven months, some observers accused Britain and France of waging a "phony war," because, with the exception of a few dramatic British-German clashes at sea, no major military action was taken. -
Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic, which lasted from September 1939 until the defeat of Germany in 1945, was the war’s longest continuous military campaign. During six years of naval warfare, German U-boats and warships – and later Italian submarines – were pitted against Allied convoys transporting military equipment and supplies across the Atlantic to Great Britain and the Soviet Union. This battle to control the Atlantic shipping lanes involved thousands of ships and stretched across thousands of pe -
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. -
U.S. convoy system
There were three types of convoy – fast, medium and slow. The fast convoys were exclusively large ocean liners, a dozen or so in a batch, and mainly British. They carried American troops, from 20,000 to 30,000 men at each crossing, and the cruising speed was 13 knots. They also carried cargo. -
Hitler's invasion of Denmark and Norway
German warships enter major Norwegian ports, from Narvik to Oslo, deploying thousands of German troops and occupying Norway. At the same time, German forces occupy Copenhagen, among other Danish cities. -
Hitler's invasion of the Netherlands
itler begins his Western offensive with the radio code word "Danzig," sending his forces into Holland and Belgium. On this same day, having lost the support of the Labour Party, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigns; Winston Churchill accedes to the office, becoming defense minister as well. -
Germany and Italy's invasion of France
at the outbreak of World War II the Italian armed forces were completely unprepared for a long-lasting conflict, consequently after the ‘invasion of Poland by Germany, Italy had announced to the world their state of non-belligerency. But in June 1940, with the almost certain prospect of the fall of France and the idea that the war could not last much longer, Mussolini decided to enter the conflict. -
Marshal Philippe Petain
Marshal Henri-Philippe Petain, World War I hero, becomes prime minister of the Vichy government of France. As Germany began to overrun more French territory, the French Cabinet became desperate for a solution to this crisis. Premier Paul Reynaud continued to hold out hope, refusing to ask for an armistice, especially now that France had received assurance from Britain that the two would fight as one, and that Britain would continue to fight the Germans even if France were completely overtaken. -
The Battle of Britain
German and British air forces clashed in the skies over the United Kingdom, locked in the largest sustained bombing campaign to that date. A significant turning point of World War II, the Battle of Britain ended when Germany’s Luftwaffe failed to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force despite months of targeting Britain’s air bases, military posts and, ultimately, its civilian population. Britain’s decisive victory saved the country from a ground invasion and possible occupation by German -
Pearl Harbor attack
undreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The barrage lasted just two hours, but it was devastating: The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels -
Battle of Stalingrad
the successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in the U.S.S.R. during World War II. Russians consider it to be the greatest battle of their Great Patriotic War, and most historians consider it to be the greatest battle of the entire conflict. It stopped the German advance into the Soviet Union and marked the turning of the tide of war in favor of the Allies. The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the bloodiest battles in history, with combined military and civilian casualti -
Operation Torch
American Maj. Gen. Mark Clark meets in Algeria with French officials loyal to the Allied cause, as well as Resistance fighters, regarding the launch of Operation Torch, the first Allied amphibious landing of the war. -
Bloody Anzio
The 1944 Battle of Anzio stemmed from the Allied attempt to draw German troops off the Gustav Line during Operation Shingle. An expeditionary force commanded by U.S. Major General John P. Lucas secured a beachhead near Anzio and Nettuno on Italy’s west coast, but his divisions were quickly contained by German Field Marshall Albert Kesselring. A succession of attacks resulted in heavy casualties on both sides, though no budge in the stalemate for four months. The Allies finally broke out of the b -
D-Day
D-Day, when some 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region. The invasion was one of the largest amphibious military assaults in history and required extensive planning. Prior to D-Day, the Allies conducted a large-scale deception campaign designed to mislead the Germans about the intended invasion target. By late August 1944, all of northern France had been liberated, and by the followin -
The Battle of the Bulge
Adolph Hitler attempted to split the Allied armies in northwest Europe by means of a surprise blitzkrieg thrust through the Ardennes to Antwerp. Caught off-guard, American units fought desperate battles to stem the German advance at St.-Vith, Elsenborn Ridge, Houffalize and Bastogne. -
Death of Hitler
Hamburg Radio's claim that Hitler had died on May 1, 1945, while fighting with his troops. Later, it was revealed that Hitler, along with his wife Eva Braun, had committed suicide the previous night. -
V-E Day
both Great Britain and the United States celebrate Victory in Europe Day. Cities in both nations, as well as formerly occupied cities in Western Europe, put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of the Nazi war machine. -
Harry S. Truman
the 33rd U.S. president, assumed office following the death of President Franklin Roosevelt (1882-1945). In the White House from 1945 to 1953, Truman made the decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan, -
Unconditional surrender
On this day in 1945, just a day after the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan submits its acquiescence to the Potsdam Conference terms of unconditional surrender, as President Harry S. Truman orders a halt to atomic bombing.
