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Mussolini's March on Rome
Mussolini threatened to march to Rome in order to take control over the entire government. The government of Rome was very slow to act because when they sent out troops, fascists had already taken control of local governments. King Victor Emmanuel III watched his city fall, eventually leading to Mussolini becoming dictator after giving a speech. -
Hitler Writes Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf is a 400 page book written by Adolf Hitler on the problems that Germany was facing at the time. Volume 2 of the book was released 2 years after volume 1, and once Hitler became Chancellor, the sales skyrocketed to over 1 million copies. -
1st "Five Year Plan" in USSR
A plan that was created by Joseph Stalin that consisted of developing industry and agriculture, but this eventually led to a rapid decline in consumer goods. -
Stalin Becomes Dictator of USSR
Joseph Stalin became the dictator of the Union Soviet Socialist Republic in 1929. His rule reigned terror on millions including his own citizens. Stalin believed in complete government control over the economy and any citizen who disagreed with him was either shot or exiled. -
Japan invades Manchuria
Due to Japan being low on natural resources, they decided to disrupt to rule of the League of Nations and attack Manchuria for resources. They took oil, rubber and lumber to restore the lack of resources back in Japan. -
Holodomor
Holodomor was a man-made famine created by Joseph Stalin that killed millions of Ukraine citizens. It is believed that the death toll reaches up to 3.9 million people, which was 13% of the population at the time. The causes of this famine included severe droughts, decreasing agricultural workforce and rapid industrialization. -
Hitler Appointed Chancellor of Germany
Hitler's success with the Nazi party eventually led to many victories during his run for Chancellor. This was just the first step in Hitler's plan to "improve" Germany as a country. He eventually ruled over Germany until his death in 1945. -
"Night of the Long Knives" in Germany
A night in Germany history where Hitler ordered SS members to assassinate SA member including their leader, Ernst Rohm. The murders eventually led to an agreement between the Nazis and the German Army. -
Nuremburg Laws Enacted
The Nuremburg Laws were measures taken to deprive Jewish people from their own rights as human beings and citizens. These were the first racist and extreme measures that Nazi Germany took torture Jewish people during the Holocaust. -
Italian Invasion of Ethiopia
Due to Ethiopian appeals, the Italian government decided to attack the country. Italy believed that this would boost the morale and national prestige of the country. Ultimately, Italy lost against Ethiopia in the Battle of Adwa. -
The Great Purge and gulags
The Great Purge was a plan set up by Joseph Stalin to eliminate members who argued against the communist party. Stalin felt as if they were a threat and eventually killed up to 750,000 people. Gulags were a form of forced labor camps that held people who opposed Stalin along with war prisoners. -
Spanish Civil War
Due to the failure of the Spanish democracy, many Spanish political parties decided to refuse all political norms unleashing a civil war. The two sides were the Republicans and the Nationalists, eventually leading to the Nationalists claiming victorious at the end of the war. -
The Rape of Nanking
An event in which the Japanese butchered around 150,000 war prisoners, killed another 50,000 male civilians, and raped around 20,000 women and girls of all ages. Many of the rape victims were left mutilated or killed during the process. -
Kristallnacht
On the night of Kristallnacht, Germans torched synagogues and vandalized Jewish homes along with killing around 100 Jews. During the aftermath, around 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and shipped off the concentration camps. -
Nazi Germany Invades Poland
On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland because of the belief that Poland was plotting with its allies such as France and Great Britain to take over/ dismember Germany as a whole. Many Germans also held the belief that Poland was persecuting Germans. -
Japan Bombs Pearl Harbor
The Bombing of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military attack enacted by the Japanese. This action was taken in order to prevent the U.S. Fleet from interacting with the Japanese plans against overseas territories in the UK and Netherlands. The casualties number up to just over 2,400 U.S. deaths including almost 70 civilians.