WWII Ryan Porter By porterryan Period: Jan 1, 1920 to Dec 31, 1947 WWII Timeline Jan 1, 1921 Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the Nazi Party Sep 1, 1922 Benito Mussolini appointed Prime Minister of Italy Sep 1, 1929 Josef Stalin sole dictator of the Soviet Union (USSR) Sep 1, 1931 Japan’s Army seizes Manchuria, China Sep 1, 1933 Hitler is named Chancellor of Germany Sep 1, 1935 Neutrality Act passed by US Congress Sep 1, 1935 Italian Army invades Ethiopia in Africa Sep 1, 1936 Militarist take control of Japanese Government Sep 1, 1936 Hitler sends troops into Rhineland of Germany in violation of the Versailles Treaty Sep 1, 1937 Japan’s army pillages Nanjing, China; massacre a quarter of a million people. Sep 1, 1938 Munich Pact signed giving the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia to Germany Sep 1, 1938 Nazis begin rounding up Jews for labor camps Sep 1, 1939 Nazi-Soviet Pact signed by Hitler and Stalin Sep 1, 1939 Nazis invade Poland; Britain and France declare war on Germany Sep 1, 1940 Battle of Britain – Royal Air Force defeats German Air Force to prevent invasion of their island Sep 1, 1940 Nazis invade Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium – take control Sep 1, 1940 Germany invades France and forces it to surrender Sep 1, 1940 First time Peacetime Draft in US Sep 1, 1941 Hitler breaks Pact with Stalin’s Russia and invades -USSR now joins England in fighting the Germans Sep 1, 1941 Churchill and FDR issue the Atlantic Charter Sep 1, 1941 Japanese invade French Indochina (Viet. Laos, Cambodia) Sep 1, 1941 Pearl Harbor in Hawaii attacked by Japanese Naval and Air forces, US declares war on Japan, Germany and Italy declare war on the US Sep 1, 1942 Philippines fall to Japanese – Bataan Death March Sep 1, 1942 Japanese Americans interned in isolated camps Sep 1, 1942 Russians stop Nazi advance at Stalingrad save Moscow Sep 1, 1942 Zoot Suit Riots – Los Angeles, CA Jul 1, 1943 Italy surrenders, Mussolini dismissed as Prime Min. Sep 1, 1943 Battle of Midway, turning point of war in the Pacific Sep 1, 1943 British and US forces defeat German and Italian armies in North Africa Jun 1, 1944 D-Day invasion of France at Normandy by Allies Aug 1, 1944 Paris retaken by Allies Forces Dec 1, 1944 Battle of the Bulge – last offensive of German Forces Jan 1, 1945 US forces return to recapture the Philippines Apr 16, 1945 FDR dies, Harry S. Truman becomes President May 8, 1945 V-E Day, war ends in Europe Aug 1, 1945 First Atomic Bombs dropped Aug 14, 1945 V-J Day, Japan surrenders to Allied Forces Sep 1, 1946 War Crimes Trials held in Nuremburg Germany; Manila, Philippines and Tokyo, Japan.