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Bolshevik Revolution
The Russian Revolution of 1917 marked the end of the Romanov dynasty and centuries of Russian Imperial rule. As a reaction to the food shortages and Russia’s heavy army loss in WW1, the Bolsheviks, led by leftist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, who was supported by the soviets, peasants and soldiers, seized power and destroyed the tradition of csarist rule. The Bolsheviks would later become the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. -
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Treaty signed by Russia in the city of Brest-Litovsk (Belarus) with the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria) ending its participation in World War I (1914-18). Lenin realized that the new Soviet Union was too weak to survive a continuation of the war, so it signed this treat which cost Russia the loss of Ukraine, its Polish and Baltic territories, and Finland . -
Paris Peace Conference
The Allies met after the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers. The conference involved diplomats from 32 countries and nationalities, and its major decisions were the creation of the League of Nations and the five peace treaties with the defeated states; the awarding of German and Ottoman overseas possessions as "mandates," chiefly to Britain and France; the imposition of reparations upon Germany; and the drawing of new national boundaries. -
Mussolini rises to power
After Benito Mussolini had founded the National Fascist Party in 1921 and had gained support from landowners, the Church, small bourgeoisie and King Victor Emmanuel II, the intervention of the Italian Combat Squad against the trade unions and worker’s strikes allowed Mussolini to claim power. To pressure the government he organized a March on Rome with the Blackshirts and was subsequently named prime minister by the king. -
Creation of the USSR
After a civil war ending in the Bolsheviks' victory, the USSR was formed by a treaty which united the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian and Byelorussian republics. Following Lenin's death in 1924 and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin formalized the Communist Party's ideology of Marxism–Leninism and replaced the market economy with a command economy which led to a period of rapid industrialization. -
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The Roaring Twenties
Period of economic prosperity that benefited Europe and in which the US experienced the greatest prosperity, having become the world’s top economic power based on the industrial development, an increase in consumption and stock market investments. The wealth of this period led people to trust the capitalist system, which had allowed them to enjoy a high standard of living. -
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The Great Depression
The biggest of global economic crises that orginated in the US, when the stock market crash sparked a widespread depression which persisted until 1932, and that spread to Europe and countries like Asia and Latin America. This crisis affected all aspects of life: industrial and agricultural production dropped as well as foreign trade; population slowed considerably; unemployment and inequality increased; and democracy was discredited, so new ideologies appeared, like totaliarism and communism. -
Black Thursday
The fear of an even further drop in prices after the losses that companies suffered at the end of World War I, caused many investors to sell stocks at an extremely fast pace, some stock actually having no buyers. As a result, on this day, prices plummeted and Wall Street crashed, driving many companies out of business and causing great fortunes to vanish -
Japan invaded Manchuria
In violation of all its treaty obligations, Japan occupied Manchuria, in northeast China. It was the first step on the path to World War II. The Japanese planted a small explosive device next to the tracks owned by Japan's South Manchuria Railroad near Mukden, without authorization of the Japanese government. The explosion that followed became known as the Mukden incident and provided an excuse for the Japanese to seize all of the cities along the railroad. -
New Deal
A series of economic and social programs enacted by the US presiden Franklin D. Roosevelt, which included regulations for banks, forcing them to grant loans at low interest rates, subsidies for landowners and businesses to limit production, a reduction in the maximum number of weekly working hours, minimum wages, unemployment insurance, public works, etc. These measures were inspired on the ideas of John Maynard Keynes, who argued for state intervention to stimulate the economy. -
Hitler is named Chancellor of Germany
Hitler was named chancellor of Germany when the Nazi Party had received 13.8 million votes in the elections of 1932. Nazism, advocated by ex-soldier Adolf Hitler, arose from the discontent during the Weimar Republic and the humiliation of the Treaty of Versailles. Once in power, Hitler founded the Third Reich, through which he established a fierce dictatorship, eliminated fundamental rights and took control of the economy and education, spreading the idea of superiority of the Arian race. -
Germany annexed the Czech region of Sudetenland
The German occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–1945) began with the German annexation of Sudetenland as outlined by the Munich Agreement. Adolf Hitler justified the invasion by the purported suffering of the ethnic Germans living in these regions. The incorporation of the Sudetenland into Germany left the rest of Czechoslovakia weak, and it became powerless to resist subsequent occupation. -
Italy annexed Albania
After Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia without notifying Mussolini in advance, the Italian dictator decided to proceed with his own annexation of Albania. Albania’s royal family fled away of the country (King Zog and his family) the Albanian parliament voted to unite the country with Italy. Victor Emmanuel III took the Albanian crown, and the Italians set up a fascist government under Shefqet Verlaci and soon absorbed Albania's military and diplomatic service into Italy's. -
Germany invades Poland
German forces bombarded Poland on land and from air without a formal declaration of war after signing a non-aggression pact with the USSR, marking the beginning of WW2. The invasion of Poland was done using a method known as "blitzkrieg" or lightning war, based on quick strikes by motorized units supported by the air force. Three days later, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany.
