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WWI Ends
Germany had formally surrendered on November 11, 1918, and all nations had agreed to stop fighting while the terms of peace were negotiated. On June 28, 1919, Germany and the Allied Nations signed the Treaty of Versailles, formally ending the war. -
Treaty of Versailles
The treaty imposed on Germany by France, Great Britain, the US, and other Allied Powers after World War I. It demanded that Germany dismantle its miliary and give up some lands to Poland. It was resented by many Germans. -
League of Nations Founded
International organization founded in 1919 to promote world peace and cooperation, the refusal of the US to join greatly weakened its effectiveness. -
US Stock Market Crash
The stock market crash of 1929 is a four-day collapse of stock prices that began on October 24, 1929. It was the worst decline in U.S. history. -
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. -
Hitler Becomes Chancellor of Germany
Hitler used his position adroitly to achieve a dictatorship, partly by building on reports of a supposed Communist conspiracy against the state. In March the Reichstag conferred dictatorial powers on him for four years. -
German Occupation of the Rhineland
Nazi leader Adolf Hitler violates the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Pact by sending German military forces into the Rhineland, a demilitarized zone along the Rhine River in western Germany. -
Rome-Berlin Axis
Coalition formed in 1936 between Italy and Germany. An agreement formulated by Italy's foreign minister Galeazzo Ciano informally linking the two fascist countries was reached on October 25, 1936. -
Rape of Nanking
In the late 1937, over a period of six weeks, Imperial Japanese Army forces brutally murdered hundreds of thousands of people,including both soldiers and civilians, in the Chinese city of Nankin. -
Munich Conference
Hitler met with representatives of the heads of state from France, the United Kingdom, and Italy. An agreement was reached that Hitler could annex the Sudetenland provided he promised not to invade anywhere else. -
Nazi-Soviet Pact
Stated that Poland was to be partitioned between the two powers of Poland and Germany. -
German Invasion of Poland
Germany invaded Poland. The Polish army was defeated within weeks of the invasion. -
Great Britain and France Declare War
In response to Hitler's invasion of Poland, Britain and France, both allies of the overrun nation declare war on Germany. -
Winter War
The Winter War was fought between Finland and Russia between November 1939 and March 1940. After the blitzkrieg attack on Poland by Germany. -
Atlantic Charter
The United States and Great Britain issued a joint declaration called the atlantic charter in August 1941 that set out a vision for the postwar world. In January 1942, a group of 26 Allied nations pledged their support for this declaration. -
Pearl Harbor Attack
Japanese airplanes made a surprise attack on the US Navy in Pearl Harbor. They destroyed many ships and killed many soldiers. -
Battle of the Midway
Involved the island but mainly occurred between opposing fleets at sea. Fought mostly with aircraft, it resulted in the destruction of four Japanese aircraft carriers, crippling the Japanese navy. -
Battle of Stalingrad
About 150,000 Germans had died in the fighting. The Soviet victory at Stalingrad was a great humiliation for Hitler, who had elevated the battle's importance in German opinion. -
Invasion of Sicily
It began with a large amphibious and airborne operation, followed by a six-week land campaign, and initiated the Italian Campaign. -
Tehran Conference
The Tehran meeting was the first time the so-called 'Big Three' met – Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union, WinstonChurchill of Great Britain and FD Roosevelt of America. -
Normandy Invasion
The Allied Forces of Britain, America, Canada, and France attacked German forces on the coast of Normandy. The Allies attacked and gained a victory that became the turning point for World War II in Europe. -
Battle of the Bulge
It was to be the US' biggest pitched battle in their history, involving 600,000 American troops. The Allied forces were advancing towards Germany, pushing the Germans back town by town. -
Yalta Conference
The second wartime meeting of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. -
Germany Surrenders
General Alfred Jodl, representing the German High Command, signed the unconditional surrender of both east and west forces in Reims, France. -
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The US dropped an atomic bomb (Little Boy) on Hiroshima in Japan. Three days later a second atomic bomb (Fat Man) was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. -
Japanese Surrender
Aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Japan formally surrenders to the Allies, bringing an end to World War II. Ten days later, the Allies issued the Potsdam Declaration, demanding the “unconditional surrender of all the Japanese armed forces.”
