World War II

A Timeline of Events

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• 1922 – Mussolini becomes dictator in Italy. He is known as “Il Duce”

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• 1924 – Stalin comes to power in the Soviet Union

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• 1929 –The Great Depression begins across Europe and the United States; the American stock market crashes

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• 1931 – Japan conquers Manchuria in northern China

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• 1932 – Hitler becomes Germany’s chancellor “Der Fürher”

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• May 1933 – Massive book burning in Berlin

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• 1935 – Italy invades Ethiopia in Africa. Haili Salasi, Ethiopia’s leader, makes a stand against Italy and begs for international help, but is unsuccessful.

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• September 15, 1935 Nuremberg Laws passed

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• Early 1936 – Hitler moves troops into the Rhineland, an area along the Rhine River bordering France. Britain urges appeasement.

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• Late 1936 – Mussolini and Hitler form the Rome – Berlin Axis. The “Third Reich” – the third incarnation of the Roman Empire - begins.

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• 1937 - Japan invades southern China

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• 1938 – Germany annexes Austria

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• November 9, 1938 – Kristelnacht – hundreds of synagogues are burned, windows in Jewish businesses are smashed, 91 Jews are murdered, 30,000 are arrested and sent to concentration camps

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• November 12, 1938 Jewish children are expelled from schools

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• 1939 – Germany signs a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union. Czechoslovakia is partitioned. Neville Chamberlain, PM of Great Britain, proclaims, “Peace in our time.”

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• September 1, 1939 Germany invades Poland. World War II begins.

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• 1940 – Germany invades Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, and France using a technique called blitzkrieg, or lightning war.

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• 1940 – Japan joins the Axis

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• 1940 Germany bombs Great Britain; The Battle of Britain begins

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• 1941 – Germany invades the Soviet Union

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• 1941 – Tojo becomes Prime Minister of Japan

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• Summer 1941 Hitler’s “Final Solution to the Jewish Question” is begun, ultimately resulting in the deaths of 6 million Jewish people – the Holocaust

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• December 7, 1941 Japan bombs Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The United States enters the war.

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• December 1941 – Japanese invades the Philippines

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• March 1942 – Allied forces under the command of Douglas MacArthur withdraw to Australia. MacArthur promises, “I shall return.”

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• 1942 - Bataan Death March• 60 mile march of 75,000 American and Filipino

POWs by the Japanese• 11,000 men reportedly die

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• 1942 – Allied forces led by General Eisenhower invade North Africa and stop the German advance, led by General Rommel, at El Alamein, Egypt.

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• June 1942 – Battle of Midway is turning point of the war in the Pacific. Allies begin the process of island hopping to get close to the Japanese homeland.

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• August 1942 – February 1943 The Battle Guadalcanal is the first major land victory in the Pacific. It is made possible by Navajo Code Talkers.

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• 1943 – German troops surrender at Stalingrad in the Soviet Union.

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• 1943 – Allies invade Sicily. Italy surrenders.

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• June 6, 1944 - Allies invade Normandy – D-Day

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• 1944 – Paris is liberated

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• 1944 – Hitler launches the Battle of the Bulge; Stalin gains control of Eastern Europe

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• October 1944 – Allies invade the Philippines, liberating Manila by March. The Japanese increase their use of kamikazes.

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• Late 1944 – the Allies begin bombing Japan

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• February 1945 U.S. Marines invade Iwo Jima.

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• April 1945 – Allied forces invade Okinawa. 18,000 Americans die; 120,000 Japanese

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• 1945 – Allied forces advance on Berlin. Germany surrenders on May 7. This is called VE Day.

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• August 6, 1945 the Enola Gay drops an atomic bomb on the industrial city of Hiroshima. 75,000 people die.

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• August 9, 1945 a second atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki, killing 40,000.

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• September 2, 1945 Japan unconditionally surrenders aboard the battleship Missouri,

VJ Day. The war is over.