Name _____________________
Modern World and U.S. History
Mr. Kraft
World War II (WWII)
Axis Aggression Timeline
Key Countries and Leaders:
Axis Powers:
Allied Powers:
Germany –
Italy –
Japan:
 Emperor –
 Prime Minister –
Spain (Neutral) –
United States –
England (U.K.) –
France –
 Vichy France –
Soviet Union –
China:
 Communist Group –
 Anti-Communist Group –
Timeline (1917 – 1941):
1917:
1. March 3 – Russia withdraws from WWI after signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
2. October 25 – Russian Civil War begins after the October Revolution in which the Bolsheviks, led by
Vladimir Lenin, overthrow the Russian Provisional Government.
1918:
1. November 11 – WWI ends with the surrender of Germany.
 Other countries blamed and punished for the outbreak of WWI –
1919:
1. February 11 – Friedrich Ebert is elected President of Germany.
 Name of new German government –
2. March 23 – the Fascist Party forms in Italy
 Founder –
 Members –
3. June 28 – Treaty of Versailles, which ended WWI, is signed.
 International peace organization established –
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1920:
1. February 24 – NAZI Party forms in Germany
 Founders – Anton Drexler, Gottfried Feder, Dietrich Eckhart, & Karl Harrer
 Members –
 Key Member –
2. Jan 10 – League of Nations is formed.
 Purpose –
 Weakness –
 Does the U.S. join the League of Nations? –
1921:
1. March 12 –The Bolshevik Red Army wins the Russian Civil War and establishes Russia as the first
communist country in the world.
 Russia’s New Name –
 Russia’s New Leader –
2. July 1 – Chinese Communist Party is founded.
 Founder / Leader –
3. July 29 – Adolf Hitler gains control of the Secret Police of the National Socialist German Workers
(NAZI) Party.
 Name of NAZI secret police –
1922:
1. October 24 – Benito Mussolini is appointed Premier (head of the Italian government) of Italy by King
Victor Emmanuel III after the March on Rome.
1923:
1. October 23 – The first Soviet gulag (concentration camp) is constructed in northern Russia for the
purpose of imprisoning enemies and opponents of the Soviet Bolshevik Party.
2. November 8-9 – Hitler’s Munich Beer Hall Putsch fails as the NAZI party attempts to overthrow the
German Government (Weimar Republic).
 Result –
 Hitler’s Jail Sentence –
 Book Hitler wrote while in jail –
1924:
1. January 21 – Vladimir Lenin dies.
 New Leader of the Soviet Union (does not officially get the position until 1928) –
2. November 12 – Hitler is released from prison on the basis of “good behavior”.
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1925:
1. January 3 – Mussolini dismisses the Italian Parliament and takes complete power of the Italian
government.
 Mussolini’s nickname –
2. February 28 – German President Friedrich Ebert dies.
3. March 10 – Paul Von Hindenburg is elected President of Germany.
4. March 12 – Sun Yat-sen, the president of the Republic of China, dies.
 New Leader –
1926:
1. December 12 – Hirohito is appointed Emperor of Japan.
1927:
1. February 19 – Chinese Civil War begins:
 Communist group leader –
 Anti-Communist group leader –
2. July 18 – Vol. # 1 and Vol. # 2 of Mein Kampf (“My Struggle”) is published and released to the
German public. Vol. #1 was first published and released in 1925.
 Author –
 Vol. # 1 –
 Vol. # 2 –
1929:
1. October 29 – U.S. Stock Market Crash brings the U.S. into the worldwide economic depression
(Great Depression) that resulted from WWI.
1931:
1. September 18 – Japan invades Manchuria (China).
 Response of the League of Nations –
1933:
1. January 30 – Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor (head of German government) of Germany by
President Paul von Hindenburg due to the fact that Hitler was the leader of the political party that had
the most members in the Reichstag (German Congress), the NAZIs.
2. February 27 – The Reichstag (German Congress) is set on fire by arsonist.
 Group Blamed –
 Who really did it? –
 Importance –
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3. March 21 – The first NAZI concentration camp was built in Germany for the purpose of imprisoning
political enemies and opponents of the German NAZI party.
 Where –
4. April 26 – The NAZI German Gestapo was created.
 Purpose –
5. July 14 – All political parties are banned in Germany except the NAZI Party.
6. August 10 – Japan withdraws from the League of Nations.
7. September 25 – Germany withdraws from the League of Nations.
1934:
1. October 10 – The Communist “Long March” in China begins.
 Leader and Group –
a. Group Size –
 Time
 Length / Distance –
 Purpose –
2. June 30 – “The Night of Long Knives” takes place.
 Purpose –
3. August 2 – German President Paul von Hindenburg dies.
4. August 19 – Adolf Hitler names himself chancellor and president thus gaining total power of the
German government.
 Hitler’s Nickname –
 New Name of the German government –
5. September 21 – December 23 – The Reichstag Fire Trial takes place.
 Result – German Communist party member Marinus van der Lubbe was sentenced to death (beheaded), which took place the following year.
 Importance –
6. October 16 – Nazi-Polish non-aggression pact is signed.
 Terms –
1935:
1. March 16 – Germany begins military draft and re-establishes the military enlistment program in
violation of the Treaty of Versailles, which ended WWI.
 Response of the League of Nations –
2. August 31 – U.S. Neutrality Acts are passed (a series of these laws would be passed until 1941 after
the invasion of Pearl Harbor).
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3. September 15 – The Nuremberg Laws are instituted in Germany.
 Purpose –
4. October 3 – Italy invades and eventually occupies Ethiopia (Africa).
 Response of the League of Nations –
1936:
1. March 7 – Germany invades and occupies the German Rhineland that was given to France by order
of the Treaty of Versailles, which ended WWI.
 Response of the League of Nations –
2. July 17 – The Spanish Civil War begins.
 Spanish Fascist leader –
3. August 1 –16: – Summer Olympics are held in Berlin, Germany
4. October 25 – The Rome-Berlin Axis Alliance is formed.
 Terms –
1937:
1. June 11 – Stalin begins the “Great Purges” within the Red Army.
 Purpose –
2. July 7 – Japan invades China resulting in an all out war between the two countries (2nd SinoJapanese War).
 Response of the League of Nations –
3. August 10 – Italy withdrawals from the League of Nations
4. December 12 – Japanese sink the U.S.S. Panay on the Yangtze River in China
5. December 15 – The Rape of Nanking begins
 What –
 Result –
1938:
1. March 12 – Germany invades and annexes Austria (Anschluss – “Union of Austria and Germany”).
 Response of the League of Nations –
2. May 12 – Germany demands that the Sudetenland (Czechoslovakian land) become part of Germany.
3. June 13 – The Evian Conference convenes in France.
 Purpose –
 Outcome –
4. September 30 – The Munich Conference convenes in Germany.
 Terms / Agreement:
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5. October 15 – Germany annexes Sudetenland.
6. November 9 & 10 – “Kristallnacht” takes place.
 Purpose –
1939:
1. March 15 – Germany invades and annexes Czechoslovakia.
 Response of the League of Nations –
2. March 28 – The Spanish Civil War ends.
 Resulting leader –
3. April 11 – Italy invades and eventually occupies Albania.
 Response of the League of Nations –
4. August 23 – Hitler and Stalin sign the Soviet-Nazi non-aggression pact.
 Terms / Agreement:
5. September 1 – Germany invades and eventually occupies western Poland (Operation Case White) in
only 6 days.
 Response of the League of Nations –
6. September 3 – U.K. and France declare war on Germany = START OF WWII
7. September 17 – Soviet Union invades and eventually occupies eastern Poland.
8. November 30 – Soviet Union attacks Finland.
9. December 14 – Soviet Union is kicked out of the League of Nations.
1940:
1. March 12 – Finland and Soviet Union sign a non-aggression pact.
 Terms –
2. March 21 – Paul Reynaud is elected premier of France
3. April 9 – Germany invades and eventually occupies Denmark and Norway (Operation
Weseruebung).
4. May 10 – Germany invades and eventually occupies Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, and
France (Operation Case Yellow) and bypasses the French Maginot Line.
 Winston Churchill becomes the U.K. Prime Minister
5. May 15 – Germany invades and occupies Holland.
6. May 26 – June 4 – Allied forces engage in the “Miracle of Dunkirk” Retreat (Operation Dynamo).
 Allied troops evacuated –
 Where they evacuated to? –
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7. June 10 – Italy declares war on U.K. and France.
8. June 22 – Northern France is conquered by Germany when Paris is captured and southern France is
set up as a “puppet” state under the control of Germany (Vichy France).
 Vichy Premier –
9. July 10 – Germany begins the bombing of U.K. (Battle of Britain / London “Blitz”).
10. July 23 – Soviet Union occupies Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia (Baltic Countries).
11. August 12 – Winston Churchill and FDR secretly draft the Atlantic Charter.
 Importance –
12. September 1 – U.S. passes the Selective Service Act (The Draft).
13. September 13 – Italy attacks Egypt.
 Winner of land dispute –
14. September 27 – Axis / Tripartite Alliance is formed (Germany, Italy, and Japan).
15. October 7 – Germany invades and eventually occupies Romania.
16. October 28 – Italy attacks Greece.
 Winner of land dispute –
17. November 20 – Romania joins Axis Alliance.
1941:
1. March 11 – U.S. passes the Lend-Lease Act.
 Terms:
2. April 4 – The German Einsatzgruppen (S.S. mobile killing squads) forms in Pretzch, Germany.
3. April 17 – Germany invades and eventually occupies Yugoslavia.
4. April 27 – Germany invades and eventually occupies Greece.
5. May 24 – Naval battle between the HMS Hood and German battleship Bismarck takes place.
 Winner / Result –
6. June 22 – Germany begins the invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa).
7. August 20 – Battle of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) begins.
8. October 17 – Hideki Tojo becomes Prime Minister of Japan.
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9. December 7 (“The Day of Infamy”) – Japan attacks the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor.
 Name of the Japanese Empire –
December 7 – Hitler announces the Night and Fog Decree (Law)
 Terms – Suspected underground agents and others would now vanish without a trace into the
“night and fog”.
10. December 8 – U.S. declares war on Japan.
11. December 11 – Germany and Italy declare war on the U.S.
12. December 12 – China declares war on Germany, Italy, and Japan.
13. December 19 – Hitler assumes the post of Commander and Chief of the German Army after the
German Army suffers massive failures in Operation Barbarossa (invasion of the Soviet Union).
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