World War II
Timeline of Events
1921
• Germany is forced to
accept $32 billion
reparations schedule
• The German mark
collapses creating severe
inflation
“For three Generations
you’ll have to slave away!”
1923
• France and Belgium occupy
the Ruhr b/c Germany
defaults on reparations
payments
• Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch
• Hitler writes Mein Kampf
expressing his anti-semetic
views and putting forth his
“Final Solution”
1924
• Creation of the Dawes
plan
• Germany’s economy
begins to improve at a
very slow rate
1929
• Kellogg-Briand Pact is
signed outlawing war (60
nations but no
enforcement powers)
1931
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=mtMss6hKPBU 10 min
• Japanese Invasion of Manchuria
(1931); puppet government of
Manchukuo
• Mukden incident
• Full-scale invasion of China in
earnest by 1937
• ‘Rape of Nanking’ (1937 -300,000 civilians massacred by
• Japanese troops in French Indochina
(1940)
• Japan occupies resources in Dutch
East Indies (Indonesia)
• 1932 FDR is elected Pres in the U.S.
1931
cont.
1933
• Hitler is made Chancellor in the
Weimar Republic & begins a
rearmament campaign
• Reichstag fire
• National Socialist German worker’s
party win 43% of the Reichstag
• National boycott of Jewish
businesses
• Public book burnings of Jewish
authors
• Dachau is open initially for
Communists, Socialists and labor
leaders
• Japan & Germany withdraw from
LoN
1934
• Ernst Rohm and the SA
(Sturmabteilung), Nazi storm
troopers that helped bring
Hitler to power, were arrested
and killed in the “Night of Long
Knives”
• Nazi party is now the only legal
political party.
• Law for the Prevention of
Hereditary Diseases
• 30,000 are now interned.
• August 2: Hindenburg dies
Hitler assumes the presidency
1935
• Anti-Jewish legislation
“Nuremburg Laws”
citizenship was revoked
1936
• Italy invades Ethiopia 1934
• Ethiopia asked the League
of Nations for help – they
had no military forces to
send
• LoN placed economic
sanctions on Italy for being
an aggressor
• Italy announced Ethiopia is
part of the Italian empire
1936
cont.
• Olympics in Germany
• All anti-Jewish signs are
removed until games are
over
• Rome-Berlin Axis & AntiComintern Pact
• Hitler takes the Rhineland
• Franco comes to power in
Spain
• FDR wins 2nd term
1937
• Marco-Polo Bridge Incident
(China)
• KMT-CCP Agreement
signed (China) ended the
civil war in order to
combine forces and free
China from Japanese
invaders
1938
• U.S. Naval Expansion Act
• Austria is annexed by Germany
• Kristallnacht – Nazi’s burn
synagogues and loot Jewish homes
and businesses – seized assets
• Jewish children expelled from
school (has previously been
excluded from university)
• Czech placed Sudetenland under
martial law & Hitler attacked and
annexed the land
• Munich Conference - appeasement
Young onlookers watch as the local fire department prevents the fire from spreading to
nearby houses, but makes no attempt to stop the synagogue from burning.
1939
• 9/17 Russia invades
Poland, Baltics and
Finland
• Poland partitioned
Germany begins
“blitzkrieg” campaign
• U.S. Neutrality Act
1939
cont
• WWII breaks out
• Germany annexes the rest of
Czechoslovakia. British pledges to
aid Poland "at once . . . with all the
support in their power” (declare
war on Ger.)
• The Jewish refugee ship the St. Louis
arrives in Belgium after being denied
access to Cuba and the U.S.
• Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
• Ger & S.U. wage war & divide
Poland
• U.S creates Cash & Carry Policy
1940
After the Battle of Britain
• Jan. Britain begins East Africa
Campaign against the Italians
• May U.S. fleet relocated to the
Pacific as a deterrent
• June 22 France falls to the
Nazi’s
• Vichy Government is set up
in southern France
• June10 Battle of Britain
• Dec. Lend-Lease Act
• FDR gets a 3rd term
1940
cont.
• The deportations of Gypsies
• German troops invade Denmark and
Norway.
• British forces land in Norway.
• Ger invaded Holland, Belgium, and
Luxembourg.
• British troops enter Belgium. British
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
resigns; Winston Churchill becomes
new Prime Minister.
• 5/15 Holland surrenders
• 5/28 Belgium surrenders
• 6/3 Norway surrenders
• 6/10 Italy declares war on G.B & Fr.
• 6/14 Germans enter Paris
1941
• March 11: FDR signs Lend-Lease Bill.
• April 6: Germany invades Greece and
Yugoslavia.
• April 13: Germans occupy Belgrade,
Yugoslavia. Russo-Japanese neutrality
pact signed.
• June 22: Germany attacks the S.U.
• June - July: Over 62,000 Jews are
murdered in western Russia.
• August 11: Churchill & FDR sign the
Atlantic Charter, establishing the war
aims of both nations.
1941 cont
• December 7: Britain declares war on
Finland, Hungary, and Rumania.
• December 8: Britain & the U.S declare
war on Japan. Japan invades Malaya.
• 12/7 Pearl Harbor attacked
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e6h9h7ky0E attack scene 10 min
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VqQAf74fsE (FDR speech)
• December 9: Japan invades
Philippines.
• December 11: Ger & It declare war
on U.S.
1942
• February 19: By order of FDR,
Japanese-Americans living on the West
Coast are transferred to internment
camps in the interior of the country.
• April 10: Japan captures Bataan. By
June, Japan controls the Philippines.
• May 4-8: Battle of Coral Sea.
http://military.discovery.com/videos/world-war-ii-in-color-battle-of-the-coral-sea.html 3 min
• June 3-6: Battle of Midway Island.
http://military.discovery.com/videos/20th-century-battlefields-episode-4-1942-midway.html 2 min
• August 5-31: Germans advancing in
Russia.
• August 7: Americans land on
Guadalcanal.
• November 8: U.S. & G.B. land in
French North Africa.
Animated map
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/launch_ani_north_africa_campaign.shtml
1943
• January 14: FDR and Churchill meet at
Casablanca, decide on a policy of
"Unconditional Surrender."
• January 31: Ger. Gen. surrender to
the Soviets at Stalingrad.
• May 13: Ger. surrender in Tunisia.
• July 10: Allies invade Sicily.
• July 25: Benito Mussolini is dismissed
by King Victor Emmanuel in Italy and is
arrested. Attempts to escape to is
caught, assassinated beaten & hung.
• August 2: Eight days of Allied bombing
in Hamburg, Germany.
• August 17: Allied conquest of Sicily.
1943 cont.
• August - December: The United
States lands on the Solomon
Islands, New Guinea, New Georgia
and the Gilbert Islands.
• September 3: Italy forms
armistice with Allies.
• September 8: Italy surrenders.
• October 13: Italy declares war on
Germany.
• November 22-26: Cairo
conference between Churchill and
FDR
• November 28: Teheran
conference between the Big Three:
Churchill, FDR and Joseph Stalin, of
the Soviet Union.
1944
•
•
•
•
January 22: Allies land in Anzio, It.
February 3: Ger. offensive at Anzio.
March 22: Japanese invade India.
April 10-18: Soviet success against the
Germans in Crimea.
• June 4: Allies occupy Rome.
• June 6: D-Day
interactive map
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/launch_ani_d_day.shtml
• June 19-20: Battle of the Philippine
Sea, Allied victory over Japanese forces.
• June 22: The G. I. Bill of Rights passed.
• June 23: Russians start offensive on
Central Front.
• July 20: Failed attack to kill Hitler.
• July 24: American forces land in the
Marianas Islands.
1944 cont
• July 27: Americans break Ger. lines in
Normandy.
• August 17: Japan removed from India.
• August 25: Paris liberated by the
Allies.
• October Allies land in Greece,
Russians enter East Prussia.
• October 19: Americans in Philippines.
• November 7: FDR is elected for his
fourth term; Harry S Truman VP.
• November 28-29: First American
night air attack on Tokyo.
• December 16-26: Battle of the Bulge,
the last German offensive in the west.
1945
• February 4: Am. enter Manila: Yalta
Conference.
• February 13: Dresden raid.
• February 19: Americans land on Iwo
Jima. April 1 Okinawa.
• March 18: Air-raid on Berlin.
• March 23: Allies cross the Rhine.
• April 12: FDR dies, Harry S Truman
becomes president.
• April 20: Am. capture Nuremberg.
• April 29: Dachau concentration camp
is overrun by United States soldiers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PNjQi1Pmkc
• May 1: Hitler commits suicide.
1945
cont
• May 2: Berlin surrenders to Russian
forces.
• May 4: German forces in Holland,
North-West Germany, and Denmark
surrender.
• May 7: Unconditional surrender of all
German forces to Britain, Russia, and
the United States.
• May 8: V-E Day: German surrender
confirmed.
• June 26: U.N. charter is signed.
• July 5: Liberation of Philippines
complete.
1945
cont.
• July 16: Potsdam conference ends.
Meanwhile, the first atomic bomb is
exploded in a test at Alamogordo, New
Mexico.
• July 26: Potsdam Declaration is
delivered to Japan.
• August 2: Potsdam conference ends.
• August 5: Atomic bomb is dropped on
Hiroshima.
• August 8: Russia declares war on
Japan.
• August 9: Atomic bomb is dropped on
Nagasaki.
• August 14: Japan accepts Allied terms.
• August 15: V-J Day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncq_Wye43TM BBC Film clip 5 min
WHEWF!!!!
We just ran through WWII
in a week!
Really?!