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Japan invades Manchuria, a portion of China, for natural resources to fuel their Empire and forces during the war.
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Adolf Hitler was named Chancellor of Germany by Paul von Hindenburg in 1933, fueled by Germany's economic crisis and problems still left from WWI, causing a need for a new, passioniate leader.
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Italy invades Ethiopia in 1935. The Ethiopian King will ask for assistance from the League of Nations, who has no actual power to enforce penalties.
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Hitler goes against the Treaty of Versailles by remilitarizing the Rhineland.
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Hitler's goal is to bring all German speaking people into the Third Reich (German State). Because he needs space, he goes against the Treaty of Versailles.
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Austria, a German-speaking nation, had been split from Germany after WWI; still a part of German culture, it favored reuniting with Germany before WWII.
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The leaders of Britain, Germany, France, and Italy held a meeting to discuss the Sudetenland situation and reach a compromise, of which would later be broken.
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Hitler invades Poland, causing Britain and France to declare war on Germany: World War II begins.
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Nearly a year into the Second World War, Germany begins its invasion into France, as well as Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
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France surrenders to Hitler's advances after a month of invasion; Allied forces are forced to retreat into the English Channel.
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Hitler launched an invasion of the Soviet Union, Germany's previous ally, on a 2,000 mile front; the action called Operation Barbarossa. Russia would later beat back German forces, ultimately forcing them into surrender.
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Japan launches a surprise attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, USA., causing over 2,000 casualties. The U.S. declares war on Japan shortly after.
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The fall of Benito Mussolini and the Italian surrender mark a major point in the turn of WWII, as one of the three major Axis powers had fallen.
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British, Canadian, and American soldiers arrive on the shores of German-occupied France.
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The U.S. enters the Battle of Iwo Jima, the first advancement into Japanese island territory. The famous photograph depicting a group of American soldiers raising the U.S. flag originated from the victory at the battle.
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt died from a massive stroke, leaving Harry S. Truman to presidency and finish WWII; Truman was also left to face the decision of whether or not to drop the atomic bomb the U.S. was developing.
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After his dreams of a "1,000 year Reich" failed, Adolf Hitler ended his own life in a bunker beneath his headquarters in Berlin, Germany.
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Germany surrenders unconditionally, ending the war in Europe.
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The United States drops the world's first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, one of two bombs that would force Japan to surrender.
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After atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, by the U.S., Japan surrendered, ending WWII.
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