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The Hoover administration, trying to stay isolationist, passes the Hawley-Smoot Tarriff. It left little room for negotiation in foreign trade.
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Japan breaks the Nine Powers Treaty by invading Chinese Mancuria. The Hoover administration passes the Stimson Doctrine in response, stating that the U.S. will not recognize illegally owned territories of Japan.
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The London Conference was to discuss international economic cooperation. Its atendees were Britain, America, and other leaders from European natinos. The U.S. did not cooperate because it wanted to stay isolated from the oncoming war.
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A part of isolationism, FDR removed troops stationed in Latin-America in an attempt to avoid any sort of conflicts.
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Congress authorized the President to negotiate tarrif rates with other nations. This was acknowledging that the Hawly-Smoot Tarrif was hurting their economic situation.
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The U.S. passed an act stating that arms could not be traded to nations at war, even if said nation was a victim of aggression.
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The first act of European aggression was when Mussolini ordered Italian troops to invade Ethiopia. Ethiopia's leader pleaded with the League of Nations for help, but was given the cold shoulder.
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No loans could be made to nations at war. Americans could not travel on the ships of nations at war.
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Italy's Mussolini and Germany's Hitler formed the Axis Powers in 1936.
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Nations at war that wanted to trade for non-munitions had to come to America to receive said goods.
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A brawl between Japanese and Chinese soldiers escalates into a full scale Japanese invasion of China. Villages were raided and ransacked, Nanking being the worst. This lasted until January 1938.
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Nazi troops march into Austria and annex it.
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Hitler and Stalin sign a ten year nonaggression pact, only for Hitler to betray him a year later.
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Nazi troops march into Poland and the invasion starts. Two days later, Britain and France declare war on Germany.
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Roosevelt presses Congress to repeal the arms embargo. Belligerentes could now buy munitions from the U.S., provided it was still on a cash and carry basis.
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Nazi troops spread out over Europe into Denmark and Norway, and weeks later the Netherlands, Belgium, and Northern France.
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Hitler ordered a large-scale invasion on Great Britain, pitting his Luftwaffe against the British Royal Air Force. The exact day is unbeknownst to us.
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US stopped trading scrap metal, oil, and steel to Japan. Exact date of this embargo could not be found, but we know it was in late 1940.
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After the military embargo, the U.S. starts to send military hardware to the leader of the Chinese resistance, Chiang Kai-shek. The exact day cannot be found over the internet.
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Congress approves the Lend-Lease Act, allowing Roosevelt to lend war materials to countries he supported. After a deal where the U.S. gave Britain 50 old destroyer planes in late 1940, America could no longer hide behind a mask of neutrality, but lend-lease was the icing in the cake. America was now involved in the war. Hitler saw this as a form of declaring war and ordered his troops to attack American ships.
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Before Hitler invades the Soviet Union, Japan signs a nonaggression pact with Stalin.
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As tensions rose between the U.S. and Japan, FDR froze all Japanese assets in the America. Japan responded by doing the same thing in theirs. This only hurt their negotiations further.
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Roosevelt and Churchill met and formed a statement that highlighted the ambitions of America in the war. At this point, the U.S. was willing to commit anything but troops to the war.
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In the summer of 1941 the U.S. broke the Japanese code. This is important and relevant to the timeline because they falsely anticipated an attack on November 25th, and were therefore unprepared for an attack on Pearl Harbor.
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Japan launches a surprise air raid on an American naval base in Hawaii. The U.S. declares war the next day, and soon after Hitler declares war on the U.S.