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Stalin becomes dictator of USSR
In the years following the death of Vladimir Lenin, he became the dictator of the Soviet Union. After growing up in Georgia, Stalin became a political activist, conducting discreet activities for the Bolshevik Party for twelve years before the Russian Revolution in 1917. -
Mussolini's March on Rome
March on Rome, the insurrection by which Benito Mussolini came to power in Italy in late October 1922. The March marked the beginning of fascist rule and meant the doom of the preceding parliamentary regimes of socialists and liberals. -
Hitler writes Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf, (German: “My Struggle”) political autobiography written by Adolf Hitler. It was his only complete book, and the work became the bible of National Socialism (Nazism) in Germany's Third Reich. It was published in two volumes in 1925 and 1927, and an abridged edition appeared in 1930. -
1st "First Year Plan" in USSR
The first five year plan was created in order to initiate rapid and large-scale industrialization across the USSR. Having begun on October 1st, 1928, the plan was already in its second year when Harry Byers first set foot in the Soviet Union. -
Japan invades Manchuria
The Japanese invasion of Manchuria began on 18 September 1931, when the Kwantung Army of the Empire of Japan invaded Manchuria immediately following the Mukden Incident. -
Holodomor
The Holodomor, also known as the Terror-Famine and sometimes referred to as the Great Famine, was a famine in Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians -
Hitler appointed chancellor of Germany
Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany in 1933 following a series of electoral victories by the Nazi Party. He ruled absolutely until his death by suicide. -
"Night of the Long Knives" in Germany
Also called operation Hummingbird, was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany initiated by Adolf Hitler. -
Nuremburg Laws enacted
The Nuremberg Race Laws consisted of two pieces of legislation the Reich Citizenship Law and the Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor. A special session of the Nazi-controlled Reich-stag passed both laws at the Party’s rally in Nuremberg, Germany. -
Italian invasion of Ethiopia
Mussolini followed this policy when he invaded the African country, Ethiopia,. Mussolini claimed that his policies of expansion were not different from that of other colonial powers in Africa. The aim of invading Ethiopia was to boost Italian national prestige and property. -
The Great Purge and Gulags
The Great Purge or the Great Terror, also known as the Yezhovschina, was Joseph Stalin's campaign of political repression in the Soviet Union that occurred from 1936 to 1938. -
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War was a civil war in Spain fought from 1936 to 1939. Republicans loyal to the left-leaning Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic, The failure of the Spanish democracy initiated it. -
The Rape of Nanking
The Nanjing Massacre or the Rape of Nanjing was an episode of mass murder and mass rape committed by Imperial Japanese troops against the residents of Nanjing, at that time the capital of China, during the Second Sino-Japanese War -
Kristallnacht
The sounds of breaking glass shattered the air in cities throughout Germany and parts of Austria while fires across the countries devoured synagogues and Jewish institutions. By the end of the rampage, gangs of Nazi storm troopers had destroyed 7,000 Jewish businesses, set fire to more than 900 synagogues, killed 91 Jews and deported some 30,000 Jewish men to concentration camps -
Nazi Germany invades Poland
Germany invades Poland, initiating World War II in Europe. German forces broke through Polish defenses along the border and quickly advanced on Warsaw, the Polish capital. -
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941
