-
Adolf Hitler becomes the leader of the Nazi Party
-
Benito Mussolini appointed prime minister of Italy
-
Josef Stalin sole dictator of the Soviet Union (USSR)
-
Japan’s Army seizes Manchuria, China
-
Hitler is named Chancellor of Germany
-
Neutrality Acts passed by US Congress
-
Italian Army invades Ethiopia in Africa
-
Militarist take control of Japanese Governmen
-
Hitler sends troops into Rhineland of Germany in violation of the Versailles Treaty
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. -
Japan’s army pillages Nanjing, China; massacre a quarter of a million people.
In 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 Nanking. The horrific events are known as the Nanking Massacre or the Rape of Nanking, as between 20,000 and 80,000 women were sexually assaulted. Nanking, then the capital of Nationalist China, was left in ruins, and it would take decades for the city and its citizens to recover from the savage attacks. -
Munich Pact signed giving the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia to Germany
Daladier abhorred the Munich Pact’s appeasement of the Nazis, but Chamberlain was elated and even stayed behind in Munich to sign a single-page document with Hitler that he believed assured the future of Anglo-German peace. -
Nazis begin rounding up Jews for labor camps
After Germany's annexation of Austria in March 1938, the Nazis arrested German and Austrian Jews and imprisoned them in the Dachau, Buchenwald, and Sachsenhausen concentration camps, all located in Germany. -
Nazi-Soviet Pact signed by Hitler and Stalin
On August 23, 1939–shortly before World War II (1939-45) broke out in Europe–enemies Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union surprised the world by signing the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, in which the two countries agreed to take no military action against each other for the next 10 years. -
Nazis invade Poland; Britain and France declare war on Germany
At 4:45 a.m., some 1.5 million German troops invade Poland all along its 1,750-mile border with German-controlled territory. -
Nazis invade Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium – take contro
In Denmark, King Christian X, convinced his army could not fight off a German invasion, surrendered almost immediately. Hitler now added a second and third conquered nation to his quarry, which began with Poland. -
Battle of Britain begins – Royal Air Force defeats German Air Force to prevent invasion of their island
On this day in 1940, the Germans begin the first in a long series of bombing raids against Great Britain, as the Battle of Britain, which will last three and a half months, begins. -
Germany invades France and forces it to surrender
As part of the armistice agreement France signed with Germany on June 22, Germany occupied northern France and all of France's Atlantic coastline down to the border with Spain. A new French government was established in the town of Vichy, which was in the unoccupied southern part of France. -
First time Peacetime Draft in US
On this day in 1940, the Burke-Wadsworth Act is passed by Congress, by wide margins in both houses, and the first peacetime draft in the history of the United States is imposed. Selective Service was born. -
Hitler breaks Pact with Stalin’s Russia and invades - USSR which now joins England in fighting the Germans
The pact also contained a secret agreement in which the Soviets and Germans agreed how they would later divide up Eastern Europe. The German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact fell apart in June 1941, when Nazi forces invaded the Soviet Union. -
Churchill and FDR issue the Atlantic Charter
June 1940. Britain and its new Prime Minister, Winston Churchill stood alone as the last bastion against the Nazis and their domination of Europe. As Britain stood alone, Churchill knew that the only hope for the nation’s survival and the rest of Europe lay in the hands of the President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR). The war in Europe ended in May of that year. The war with Japan concluded in August. -
Japanese invade French Indochina (Viet. Laos, Cambodia)
Japanese invaded Vichy French Indochina (仏印進駐 Futsu-in shinchū) to prevent the Republic of China from importing arms and fuel through French Indochina along the Sino-Vietnamese Railway, from the port of Haiphong through Hanoi to Kunming in Yunnan.[2] The fighting, which lasted several days before the French authorities reached an agreement with the Japanese, took place in the context of the ongoing Sino-Japanese War and World War II. -
Pearl Harbor in Hawaii attacked by Japanese Naval and Air forces, US declares war on Japan, Germany and Italy declare war on the US
(7th) A surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, on the morning of December 7, 1941. The attack led to the United States' entry into World War II. (9th) Adolf Hitler declares war on the United States, bringing America, which had been neutral, into the European conflict. -
Philippines fall to Japanese – Bataan Death March
After the April 9, 1942, U.S. surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on the main Philippine island of Luzon to the Japanese during World War II (1939-45), the approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make an arduous 65-mile march to prison camps. The marchers made the trek in intense heat and were subjected to harsh treatment by Japanese guards. Thousands perished in what became known as the Bataan Death March. -
Zoot Suit Riots – Los Angeles, CA
The Zoot Suit Riots were a series of racist attacks in June 1943 in Los Angeles, California, United States, between Mexican American youths and European American servicemen stationed in Southern California. -
Italy surrenders, Mussolini dismissed as Prime Min.
On 24 July 1943, soon after the start of the Allied invasion of Italy, the Grand Council of Fascism voted against him, and the King had him arrested the following day. -
D-Day invasion of France at Normandy by Allies
The largest seaborne invasion in history, the operation began the liberation of German-occupied northwestern Europe from Nazi control, and contributed to the Allied victory on the Western Front. -
Paris retaken by Allies Forces
The Liberation of Paris (also known as the Battle for Paris) was a military action that took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the German garrison surrendered the French capital on 25 August 1944. -
First Atomic Bombs dropped
The United States dropped nuclear weapons on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively, during the final stage of World War II. -
V-J Day, Japan surrenders to Allied Forces
The day on which Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect ending the war. -
War Crimes Trials held in Nuremberg, Germany; Manila, Philippines and Tokyo, Japan.
Between October 18, 1945, and October 1, 1946, the IMT tried 22 "major" war criminals on charges of crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, and conspiracy to commit such crimes.
