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Bentito Mussolini's fascist government in Italy
Fascism stressed nationalism and placed the interests of the state above those of individuals. Fascists argued, power must rest with a single strong leader and a small group of devoted party members. the middle and upper classes demanded stronger leadership. He played on the fears of economic collapse and communism. In this way, he won the support of many discontented Italians. -
Japanese invasion of Manchuria
These leaders shared in common with Hitler a belief in the need for more living space for a growing population. The militarists launched a surprise attack and seized control of the Chinese province of Manchuria in 1931. Within several months, Japanese troops controlled the entire province that was rich in natural resources. -
Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany
Hitler proved to be such a powerful public speaker and organizer that he quickly became the party’s leader. He promised to bring Germany out of chaos. Nazism, the German brand of fascism, was based on extreme nationalism. Hitler believed that for Germany to thrive, it needed more living space. Many men who were out of work joined Hitler’s private army, the storm troopers -
Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf, was “to secure for the German people the land and soil to which they are entitled on this earth,” even if this could be accomplished only by “the might of a victorious sword.” -
Storm Troopers
By 1932, some 6 million Germans were unemployed. Many men who were out of work joined Hitler’s private army, the storm troopers (or Brown Shirts). -
Third Reich
Hitler quickly dismantled Germany’s democratic Weimar Republic. In its place he established the Third Reich, or Third German Empire. According to Hitler, the Third Reich would be a “Thousand-Year Reich”—it would last for a thousand years. -
Hitlers military build-up in Germany
the success of the Manchurian invasion put the militarists firmly in control of Japan’s government. -
Hitler invades the Rhineland
In 1933, Hitler pulled Germany out of the League. In 1935, he began a military buildup in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. A year later, he sent troops into the Rhineland, a German region bordering France and Belgium that was demili- tarized as a result of the Treaty of Versailles. -
Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia
His first target was Ethiopia. The League of Nations reacted with brave talk of “collective resistance to all acts of unprovoked aggression.” When the invasion began, however, the League’s response was an ineffective economic boycott. By May 1936, Ethiopia had fallen. In desperation, Haile Selassie, the ousted Ethiopian emperor, appealed to the League for assistance. Nothing was done. -
Hitler's Anschluss
Austria was Hitler’s first target. The Paris Peace Conference following World War I had created the small nation of Austria out of what was left of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The majority of Austria’s 6 million people were Germans who favored unification with Germany. On March 12, 1938, German troops marched into Austria unopposed. A day later, Germany announced that its Anschluss, or “union,” with Austria was complete. The United States and the rest of the world did nothing. -
Munich Agreement
Hitler invited French premier Édouard Daladier and British prime minister Neville Chamberlain to meet with him in Munich. When they arrived, the führer declared that the annexation of the Sudetenland would be his “last territorial demand.” In their eagerness to avoid war, Daladier and Chamberlain chose to believe him. On September 30, 1938, they signed the Munich Agreement, which turned the Sudetenland over to Germany without a single shot being fired -
Joseph Stalin's totalitarian government in the Soviet Union
1939-Stalin established a totalitarian government that tried to exert complete control over its citizens. In a totalitarian state, individuals have no rights, and the government suppresses all opposition. All economic activity was placed under state management. By 1937, the Soviet Union had become the world’s second-largest industrial power, surpassed in overall production only by the United
States. transform the Soviet Union from a backward rural nation into a great industrial power. -
Francisco Franco
General Francisco Franco, rebelled against the Spanish republic. Revolts broke out all over Spain, and the Spanish Civil War began.About 3,000 Americans formed the Abraham Lincoln Battalion and traveled to Spain to fight against Franco. Soviet Union sent equipment and advisers, Hitler and Mussolini-troops, weapons, tanks, and fighter planes. German and Italian dictators, signed an alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis. Franco’s victory established him as Spain’s fascist dictator. -
Rome-Berlin Axis
The war forged a close relationship between the German and Italian dictators, who signed a formal alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis. -
Nonaggression pact
As tensions rose over Poland, Stalin signed a nonaggression pact with Hitler. Once bitter enemies, on August 23, 1939 fascist Germany and communist Russia now committed never to attack each other. Germany and the Soviet Union also signed a second, secret pact, agreeing to divide Poland between them. -
Britain and France declare war on Germany
On September 3, two days following the terror in Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany. -
Blitzkrieg
German air force went over Poland, bombs on military bases, airfields, railroads, and cities. At the same time, German tanks went across the Polish countryside. This invasion was the first test of Germany’s newest military strategy, the blitzkrieg, or lightning war. Advances- fast tanks and more powerful aircraft to take the enemy by surprise and then quickly crush all opposition with overwhelming force. Two days following the terror in Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany. -
Phony War
Hitler launched a surprise invasion of Denmark and Norway in order “to protect [those countries’] freedom and independence.” But in truth, Hitler planned to build bases along the coasts to strike at Great Britain. Next, Hitler turned against the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, which were overrun by the end of May. The phony war ended -
Hitlers invasion of Denmark and Norway
Hitler launched a surprise invasion of Denmark and Norway in order “to protect [those countries’] freedom and independence.” -
Hitler's invasion of the Netherlands
Hitler turned against the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, which were overrun by the end of May -
Germany and Italy's Invasion of France
The German offensive trapped almost 400,000 British and French soldiers as they fled to the beaches of Dunkirk on the French side of the English Channel. A few days later, Italy entered the war on the side of Germany and invaded France from the south as the Germans closed in on Paris from the north. -
Marshal Philippee Petain
Nazi-controlled puppet government-set up at Vichy, in southern France. -
The Battle of Britain
goal was to gain total control of the skies by destroying Britain’s Royal Air Force. The Battle of Britain raged on through the summer and fall. Night after night, German planes pounded British targets. At first the Luftwaffe concentrated on airfields and aircraft. Next it targeted cities. Londoner Len Jones was just 18 years old when bombs fell on his East End neighborhood. -
Pearl Harbor Attack
the Japanese had killed 2,403 Americans and wounded 1,178 more. The surprise raid had sunk or damaged 21 ships, including 8 battleships—nearly the whole U.S. Pacific fleet -
Lend-Lease Act
Roosevelt compared his plan to lending a garden hose to a neighbor whose house was on fire. He asserted that this was the only sensible thing to do to pre- vent the fire from spreading to your own property. Isolationists argued bitterly against the plan, but most Americans favored it, and Congress passed the Lend- Lease Act in March 1941. -
Manhattan Project
Roosevelt responded by creating an Advisory Committee on Uranium to study the new discovery. In 1941, the committee reported that it would take from three to five years to build an atomic bomb. Hoping to shorten that time, the OSRD set up an intensive program in 1942 to develop a bomb as quickly as possible. Because much of the early research was performed at Columbia University in Manhattan, the Manhattan Project became the code name for research work that extended across the country. -
Internment
Department called for the mass evacuation of all Japanese Americans from Hawaii. Eventually forced to order the internment, or confinement, of 1,444 Japanese Americans, 1 per- cent of Hawaii’s Japanese-American population. -
Battle of Stalingrad
For weeks the Germans pressed in on Stalingrad, conquering it house by house in brutal hand-to-hand combat. By the end of September, they controlled nine-tenths of the city—or what was left of it. Despite the death toll, the Soviet victory marked a turning point in the war. From that point on, the Soviet army began to move westward toward Germany. -
Operation Torch
Anglo-American invasion of French Morocco and Algeria during the North African Campaign of World War II -
Unconditional surrender
An unconditional surrender is a surrender in which no guarantees are given to the surrendering party. In modern times, unconditional surrenders most often include guarantees provided by international law. -
Women's Auxiliary Army Corps
Under this bill, women volunteers would serve in noncombat positions. -
Office of Price Administration
The OPA fought inflation by freezing prices on most goods. Congress also raised income tax rates and extended the tax to millions of people who had never paid it before. The higher taxes reduced con- sumer demand on scarce goods by leaving workers with less to spend -
War Productions Board
The WPB decided which companies would convert from peacetime to wartime production and allocated raw materi- als to key industries. The WPB also organized drives to col- lect scrap iron, tin cans, paper, rags, and cooking fat for recycling into war goods. Across America, children scoured attics, cellars, garages, vacant lots, and back alleys, looking for useful junk. -
battle of the Atlantic
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hitler ordered submarine raids against ships along America’s east coast. The German aim in the Battle of the Atlantic was to prevent food and war materials from reaching Great Britain and the Soviet Union. -
US convoy system
The Allies responded by organizing their cargo ships into convoys. Convoys were groups of ships traveling together for mutual protection, as they had done in the First World War. The convoys were escorted across the Atlantic by destroy- ers equipped with sonar for detecting submarines underwater. -
Korematsu v U.S
Japanese Americans fought for justice, both in the courts and in Congress. The initial results were discouraging. In 1944, the Supreme Court decided, in Korematsu v. United States, that the government’s policy of evacuating Japanese Americans to camps was justified on the basis of “military necessity.” -
Bloody Anzio
In 1944, the Allies needed to attack Germany and Italy in Europe once they had successfully ended their African campaigns. The Allies wanted to take Italy and also attack France to pressure the Axis and to press the advantage afforded by Hitler's costly war with the Soviet Union in the east. -
The Battle of the Bulge
On December 16,Hitler hoped that a victory would split American and British forces and break up Allied supply lines. The battle raged for a month. When it was over, the Germans had been pushed back, and little seemed to have changed. But, in fact, events had taken a decisive turn. The Germans had lost 120,000 troops, 600 tanks and assault guns, and 1,600 planes in the Battle of the Bulge— soldiers and weapons they could not replace. From that point on, the Nazis could do little but retreat. -
D-Day
Banking on a forecast for clearing skies, Eisenhower gave the go-ahead for D-Day—June 6, 1944, the first day of the invasion. Shortly after midnight, three divisions parachuted down behind German lines. They were fol- lowed in the early morning hours by thousands upon thousands of seaborne soldiers—the largest land-sea-air operation in army history. -
Death of Hitler
Hitler shot himself while his new wife swallowed poison. In accordance with Hitler’s orders, the two bodies were carried outside, soaked with gasoline, and burned. -
V-E Day
On May 8, 1945, the Allies celebrated V-E Day—Victory in Europe Day. The war in Europe was finally over. -
Harry S Truman
That night, Vice President Harry S. Truman became the nation’s 33rd president