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Treaty of Versallies
Ended World War I.
Created league of Nations.
Germany was to take blame, lose land, and was not allowed to build up a military. -
Mussolini assumes power in the Soviet Union
Became Prime Minister in 1922.
He was a fascist ruler.
He created a secret police called the Black Shirts, who terrorized people who was oppose him. -
Hitler assumes power in Germany
Adolf Hitler told the people of Germany that he would save their economy, and get them out of depression.
With this he rose in power and became chancellor.
He was known as the Savior of the nation. -
Nuremberg Laws
The Nuremberg Laws were two laws which excluded the Jews from German life, as well as took away some of their natural rights. They were first declared at the annual Nazi rally held in Nuremberg in 1935. The Party rally in Nuremberg, laid the official grounds for the persecution of Jews. -
Rape of Nanking
To break the spirit of Chinese resistance, Japanese General Matsui Iwane ordered that the city of Nanking be destroyed. Much of the city was burned, and Japanese troops launched a campaign of atrocities against civilians. In what became known as the “Rape of Nanking,” the Japanese butchered an estimated 150,000 male “war prisoners,” massacred an additional 50,000 male civilians, and raped at least 20,000 women and girls of all ages, many of whom were mutilated or killed in the process. -
Munich Conference
Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany was involved.
Permits Nazi Germany annexation.
The purpose is to discuss the future of Czechoslovakia. -
Kristallnacht
Germans burnt down Jewish businesses.
Burnt down Synagogues.
Start of concentration camps. -
Hitler and Stalin sign a non-aggressive pact
Nazi-Soviet 10 year no aggression plan.
It eliminated a two war front for Hitler.
Poland was a target. -
WWII begins with the invasion of Poland
The German-Soviet Pact of August 1939, which stated that Poland was to be partitioned between the two powers, enabled Germany to attack Poland without the fear of Soviet intervention. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. The Polish army was defeated within weeks of the invasion -
France surrendered to Germany
France Surrenders to Nazi Germany. On June 22, 1940, the French government signed an armistice with Nazi Germany just six weeks after the Nazis launched their invasion of Western Europe. -
Tripartite Pact
On this day in 1940, the Axis powers are formed as Germany, Italy, and Japan become allies with the signing of the Tripartite Pact in Berlin. The Pact provided for mutual assistance should any of the signatories suffer attack by any nation not already involved in the war. This formalizing of the alliance was aimed directly at “neutral” America–designed to force the United States to think twice before venturing in on the side of the Allies. -
Lend Lease Act
The principal means for providing U.S. military aid to foreign nations during WWII. Authorized president to transfer arms & any other defense materials which Congress appropriated money to “the government of any country whose defense of President deems vital to the defense of the United States.” Allows transfer of supplies without compensation to Britain, China, the Soviet Union and other countries, it permitted the United States to support its war interests without being overextended in battle. -
Pearl Harbor Attack
Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships, and more than 300 airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died in the attack, and another 1,000 were wounded. Three days later, Japanese allies Germany and Italy also declared war on the United States. -
Executive Order #9066- Japanese Internment Camps
The President Authorizes Japanese Relocation. President Roosevelt, encouraged by officials at all levels of the federal government, authorized the internment of tens of thousands of American citizens of Japanese ancestry and resident aliens from Japan. -
Bataan Death March
U.S. surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on the main Philippine island of Luzon to the Japanese during World War II, the approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make an arduous 65-mile march to prison camps. The marchers made the trek in intense heat and were subjected to harsh treatment by Japanese guards. Thousands perished in what became known as the Bataan Death March. -
Battle of Midway
Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States defeated Japan in one of the most decisive naval battles of World War II. Thanks in part to major advances in code breaking, the United States was able to preempt and counter Japan’s planned ambush of its few remaining aircraft carriers, inflicting permanent damage on the Japanese Navy. An important turning point in the Pacific campaign, the victory allowed the United States and its allies to move into an offensive position. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the largest and deadliest battles in World War II. It was a turning point in the war. It stopped the German advance into the Soviet Union and marked the turning of the tide of war in favor of the Allies. After losing the battle, the German army lost so many soldiers and took such a defeat that they never quite recovered. One of the bloodies battles in history. General Paulus surrendered February 2, 1943. -
D-Day
The Allied Forces of Britain, America, Canada, and France attacked German forces on the coast of Normandy, France. With a huge force of over 156,000 soldiers, the Allies attacked and gained a victory that became the turning point for World War II in Europe. This famous battle is sometimes called D-Day or the Invasion of Normandy. -
Battle of Leyte Gulf
American and Allied forces preparing for the recapture of the Philippine island of Leyte were met by the massed forces of Imperial Japan. Despite significant losses, Allied ships and aircraft destroyed most of the Japanese fleet and ended its power as an effective fighting force. Ended on October 26 1944 and was the largest air-sea battle in history. -
Battle of the Bulge
Germany's final attempt to drive the Allies off of mainland Europe. Most of the troops involved on the Allied side were American troops. It is considered one of the greatest battles ever fought by the United States military. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima took place during World War II between the United States and Japan. It was the first major battle of World War II to take place on Japanese homeland. The island of Iwo Jima was a strategic location because the US needed a place for fighter planes and bombers to land and take off when attacking Japan. -
Battle of Okinawa
Last and biggest of the Pacific island battles of World War II.
(April 1—June 22, 1945) involved the 287,000 troops of the U.S. Tenth Army against 130,000 soldiers of the Japanese Thirty-second Army. At stake were air bases vital to the projected invasion of Japan. -
V-E Day
Defeat of Germany by the Allied forces in WWII. About 1 million Germans attempted a mass exodus to the West when the fighting in Czechoslovakia ended, but were stopped by the Russians and taken captive. The Russians took approximately 2 million prisoners in the period just before and after the German surrender. -
Manhattan Project
A research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. The mission was to create the atomic bomb It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. -
Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima
The United States becomes the first and only nation to use atomic weaponry during wartime when it drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Though the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan marked the end of World War II. -
Atomic Bomb dropped on Nagasaki
On this day in 1945, a second atom bomb is dropped on Japan by the United States, at Nagasaki, resulting finally in Japan’s unconditional surrender. The devastation wrought at Hiroshima was not sufficient to convince the Japanese War Council to accept the Potsdam Conference’s demand for unconditional surrender. -
V-J Day
Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War II. The term has also been used for September 2, 1945, when Japan’s formal surrender took place aboard the U.S.S. Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay. Coming several months after the surrender of Nazi Germany, Japan’s capitulation in the Pacific brought six years of hostilities to a final and highly anticipated close. -
Nuremberg Trials
Nazi leaders were put on trial for crimes against humanity.
12 death sentences out of 24 people.
"Just following orders" is not an excuse.
Ended in October 1 1946. -
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. July 10 1940- October 31 1940.
