The document provides a detailed overview of the political and military events leading up to and during World War II. It describes the rise of dictators like Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito in Europe and Asia in the 1930s. As nationalist and militarist governments took power, they increasingly violated international treaties and invaded neighboring countries. While Western democracies attempted appeasement, war broke out in 1939 with Germany's invasion of Poland. The document then outlines the major military campaigns and turning points of the war in Europe and the Pacific theater between 1939-1945.

1.  Treaty of Versailles causes anger, resentment
in Europe
 World-wide Depression
 Dictators rise; driven by nationalism, desire
for more territory
 The rise of totalitarianism in Europe and
Asia lead to World War II.

4.  Totalitarian government exerts
almost complete control over
people
 replaces private farms with
collectives
 creates second largest industrial
power; famines kill millions
 purges anyone who threatens his
power; 8–13 million killed
Josef Stalin
Soviet Dictator
1879 – 1953

5. Soviet Collective Camp
Victims of Stalin’s
Purges

7.  Fascism stresses nationalism,
needs of state above individual
 Benito Mussolini plays on fears of
economic collapse, communism
 Supported by government officials,
police, army
 1922 appointed head of
government, establishes
totalitarian state
Benito
Mussolini
Italian
Fascist
1883 - 1945

8.  Adolf Hitler leader of National Socialist German
Workers’ Party (Nazi)
 Mein Kampf—Hitler’s book, basic beliefs of Nazism,
based on extreme nationalism
 Unite German-speaking people, enforce racial
“purification”
 Nazis become strongest political party; Hitler named
chancellor
 Dismantles democratic Weimar Republic; establishes
Third Reich

9. Adolf Hitler
German Reichs Führer
1889 - 1945
Mein Kampf (My Struggle)
Published 1925

10.  Emperor Hirohito
 Militarists control Japanese government
 1931, Nationalist military leaders seize
Manchuria
Hirohito
124th Emperor of Japan
1901 - 1989

11.  Japan invades Manchuria (China)
 Mussolini invades Ethiopia
 German Aggression:
 Rhineland
 Austria
 Czechoslovakia
 Poland

12. Japanese Soldiers Enter
Mukden, Manchuria
Italy Invades Ethiopia 1935

13. Hitler’s Troops Enter the Rhineland 1935

14. DATE
 1922
 7/1929
 4/1930
 6/1930
EVENT
 Mussolini became dictator of
Italy
 U.S. approved Kellogg-Briand
Pact
 London Naval Treaty limited
tonnage
 Hawley-Smoot Tariff created
trade barriers

15.  9/1931-
10/1931
 Japan marched into Manchuria
to take coal deposits; U.S. does
nothing
 League of Nations asked the
world to boycott Japanese
goods and stop exporting to
Japan, U.S. did not boycott

16.  1/1932-7/1932  U.S. Stimson Doctrine
refused to recognize
Japanese land gains in
Manchuria
 US refused to cancel war
debts to Eur. Powers.
 Germany did not pay war
debts
 Allies did not pay debts to
US

18.  2/1933-Fall
1933
 Japan walked out of the
League of Nations; no
reprisals
 Nazis came to power and set
up a fascist government
 Hitler became Chancellor of
Germany

19.  Hitler pulled Germany out of
League of Nations and began
building up German army
 US formally recognized USSR
 US issues good neighbor
policy stating that no country
had the right to intervene in
the affairs of other nations.

20.  4/1934 - Fall
1934
 Mussolini sent Italian
troops to attack Ethiopia
 Japan gave notice it would
terminate the Wash. Naval
Conference agreement.
 President Paul von
Hindenburg of Germany
dies; Hitler became Fuhrer

21.  1935  Hitler announced that
Germany would rearm despite
Treaty of Versailles
 Announced existence of
German air force (Luftwaffe)
 Hitler introduced compulsory
military service for German
men.

22.  8/1935 - 12/1935
 2/1936
 US announced First
Neutrality Act and forbade
sales to belligerents
 US announced Second
Neutrality Act and said it
would make no loans to
belligerents

23.  3/1936
 7/1936
 Hitler sent troops into the
Rhineland in violation of
Treaty of Versailles; world did
nothing
 Spanish Civil War began;
fascists overthrew existing
government with help of
Germany and Italy.

24.  General Francisco Franco rebels
against Spanish republic
 Hitler, Mussolini back Franco;
Stalin aids opposition
 Western democracies remain
neutral
 War leads to Rome-Berlin Axis -
alliance between Italy and
Germany
 Franco wins war, becomes
fascist dictator
Francisco Franco
Spanish Dictator
1892 - 1975

25.  10/1936
 5/1937
 Germany and Italy formed a
military alliance: Rome-Berlin
Axis
 US announced Third
Neutrality Act and claimed it
would trade on a “cash and
carry” basis
 Hitler repudiated all
responsibility for WWI
 Japan attacked China

26.  10/1937
 12/1937
 1938
 FDR’s “Quarantine the
Aggressor Speech” (econ.
Isolation); met with disinterest
 Italy withdraws from League of
Nations
 Germany annexed Austria

27.  12/1938  Fr., GB, It, and Germ. signed
the Munich Pact
(Appeasement) giving Hitler
the Sudetenland and Hitler
promised to leave the rest of
Czechoslovakia alone.
 Jewish persecution and
pogroms are put in place
throughout Germany

28.  3 million German-speakers in Sudetenland
 Hitler claims Czechs abuse Sudeten
Germans, masses troops on border
 Prime Ministers of Brit. and Fr. meet with
Hitler
 Sign Munich Pact, hand Sudetenland over to
Germany
 Appeasement—giving up principles to
pacify an aggressor

29. British Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain and
German Führer Adolf Hitler
September 1939

30.  3/1939
 8/1939
 Germany invaded and
took the rest of
Czechoslovakia
 Hitler-Stalin
Nonaggression Pact
signed; would not
attack each other;
secretly agreed to divide
Poland between them

31.  9/1939
 9/3/39
 Hitler invaded Poland
(Blitzkrieg); Poland
surrendered after a month and
was split between Germany
and USSR.
 England & France declared war
on Germany for violation of
Munich Pact.
 WWII begins

32. German Blitzkrieg
“Lightning War”

34. The Maginot Line, 1940

35.  British, French trapped on beach at
Dunkirk; ferried to safety in UK
miraculous rescue
 1940, Italy invades France from
south; Germans approach Paris
 France falls; Germans occupy
northern France
 Nazi puppet government (Vichy
Gov’t) set up in southern France
 General Charles de Gaulle sets up
government-in-exile in England
French Leader
Charles de
Gaulle
1890 - 1970

36. Evacuation of
Dunkirk
1940

37. France Falls
Germans Enter Paris - 1940

38.  Summer 1940, Germany prepares fleet to
invade Britain
 Battle of Britain—German planes
(Luftwaffe) bomb British targets
 RAF – Royal Air Force
 Britain uses radar to track, shoot down
German planes
 Hitler calls off invasion of Britain. Churchill
became Prime Minister of England.

40. DATE
 9/1940
EVENT
 Destroyers for Bases Deal: US
sends ships to Brit. And rec’d 99
year leases to naval and air
bases in the Caribbean.
 Japan continues south and
invades French Indo-China
(Vietnam)
 US placed an embargo on
exports to Japan
 Japan, Germany, and Italy
formed a military alliance called
the Axis Powers.

41. DATE
 11/1940
 1/1941
 6/1941
EVENT
 FDR elected to third term
 FDR delivers his “Four
Freedoms” Speech (speech,
religion, want, fear)
 Congress passed Lend-Lease Act
 Germany invaded Soviet Union
(USSR) – major mistake for
Hitler, must now fight on two
fronts, Germany underestimated
the Soviet’s resolve.

43.  The U S provides economic and military aid
to help the Allies achieve victory.
 Moving Cautiously Away from Neutrality
 Congress passes “cash-and-carry” provision
 Germany, Japan, Italy alliance aimed at
keeping U.S. out of war by forcing fight on
two oceans

45.  Nazi victories in 1940
lead to increased U.S.
defense spending
 First peacetime draft
enacted—Selective
Training and Service
Act

46.  FDR tells nation if Britain falls, Axis powers
free to conquer world
 U.S. must become “arsenal of democracy”
 Britain has no more cash to buy U.S. arms
 1941 Lend-Lease Act—U.S. to lend or lease
supplies for defense
 Roosevelt sends lend-lease supplies to Soviet
Union

48. American-made .38 revolvers
shipped to England from the
United States under the Lend-
Lease Program are unpacked at an
English ordnance depot

49.  Hitler deploys U-boats to attack supply
convoys
 Wolf packs—groups of up to 40 submarines
patrol North Atlantic
 sink supply ships
 FDR allows navy to attack German U-boats
in self-defense

51.  FDR, Churchill issue Atlantic Charter—joint
declaration of war aims
 Charter is basis of “A Declaration of the
United Nations” or Allies
 Allies—nations that fight Axis powers; 26
nations sign Declaration

53.  Hideki Tojo - prime minister
 Japan seizes French bases in
Indochina; U.S. cuts off
trade
 Japan needs oil from U.S. or
must take Dutch East Indies
oil fields
 1941 U.S. breaks Japanese
codes; learns Japan planning
to attack U.S.
Hideki Tojo
Japanese Prime
Minister
1884 - 1948

54.  December 7, 1941 Japanese attack Pearl
Harbor
 2,403 Americans killed; 1,178 wounded
 Over 300 aircraft, 21 ships destroyed or
damaged
 Congress approves FDR’s request for
declaration of war against Japan
 Germany, Italy declare war on U.S.
 U.S. unprepared to fight in both Atlantic,
Pacific Oceans

58.  After Pearl Harbor, 5 million men
volunteer for military service
 10 million more drafted to meet
needs of two-front war
 Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps
(WAAC)—women in noncombat
positions
 Thousands enlist; “auxiliary”
dropped, get full U. S. army benefits

59.  Minority groups are denied basic citizenship
rights
 Question whether they should fight for
democracy in other countries

60.  300,000 Mexican Americans join armed
forces
 1 million African Americans serve; live, work
in segregated units
 13,000 Chinese Americans and 33,000
Japanese Americans serve
 25,000 Native Americans enlist

61. Navajo US Soldier
Black American Soldiers in Action
Japanese American Soldiers

62.  Factories convert from civilian to war
production
 Shipyards, defense plants expand, new ones
built
 Produce ships, arms rapidly
 use prefabricated parts
 people work at record speeds

64.  Nearly 18 million workers in war industries;
6 million are women
 Over 2 million minorities hired; face strong
discrimination at first
 FDR executive order forbids discrimination

65.  Manhattan Project develops atomic bomb
 Office of Scientific Research and
Development—technology, medicine
A gun-type nuclear bomb

66.  Higher taxes, purchase of war bonds, lower
demand for scarce goods
 organizes collection of recyclable materials
 Office of Price Administration (OPA) freezes
prices, fights inflation
 Mandatory rationing
 War Production Board (WPB) says which
companies convert production
 allocates raw materials

68.  Allied forces, led by the United States and
Great Britain, battle Axis powers for control
of Europe and North Africa.
 Churchill convinces FDR to strike first
against Hitler

69.  Hitler orders submarine attacks against
supply ships to Britain
 Wolf packs destroy hundreds of ships in
1942
 Allies organize convoys of cargo ships with
escort:
 destroyers with sonar; planes with radar

70. US Convoy Ships in the Atlantic

71.  The Battle of Stalingrad
 Soviets defeat Germans in bitter winter
campaign
 Over 230,000 Germans, 1,100,000 Soviets
die
 Turning point battle in Europe: Soviet army
begins to move towards Germany

72. Battle of
Leningrad

73.  General Dwight D. Eisenhower
commands invasion of North
Africa
 Afrika Korps, led by General
Erwin Rommel, surrenders
 Battle of El Alamein is turning
point battle in North Africa
Field Marshal Erwin
Rommel
1891 - 1944

75.  Allies decide will accept only unconditional
surrender from Axis
 Summer 1943, capture Sicily; Mussolini
forced to resign

76. Benito Mussoline (center)
Executed and Beaten by
Italians in Milan April 1945

77.  African Americans —Tuskegee Airmen,
Buffaloes—highly decorated
 Mexican-American soldiers win many
awards
 Japanese-American unit most decorated
unit in U.S. history

78. Japanese American Soldiers of 442nd Regimental Combat Team –
Most Decorated Unit in American Army –
21 Congressional Medal of Honor Winners in World War II

79. African American Pilots of the Tuskegee Airman

80.  D-Day
 Allies set up phantom army, send
fake radio messages to fool
Germans
 Eisenhower directs Allied invasion
of Normandy on D-Day June 6,
1944
Inflatable
Rubber Decoy
Tank

81. Aerial View of D Day
Landings June 6, 1944

82.  General Omar Bradley bombs to
create gap in enemy defense line
 General George Patton leads
Third Army, reach Paris in
August
 FDR reelected for 4th term with
running mate Harry S. Truman
American
General Omar
Bradley
American
General George
Patton

83.  December German tank divisions drive 60
miles into Allied area
 Battle of the Bulge –
 Germans pushed back
 have irreplaceable losses
 last German offensive

85.  Allies in Germany, Soviets in Poland liberate
concentration camps
 Find starving prisoners, corpses, evidence of
killing

87.  April 1945, Soviet army storms Berlin; Hitler
commits suicide
 Eisenhower accepts unconditional surrender
of German Reich
 May 8, 1945, V-E Day: Victory in Europe Day
 FDR dies April 12; Vice President Harry S.
Truman becomes president

89.  Japan conquers empire
 Gen. Douglas MacArthur
leads Allied forces in
Philippines
 March 1942 U.S., Filipino
troops trapped on Bataan
Peninsula (Bataan Death
March)
 FDR orders MacArthur to
leave; thousands of troops
remain
Japanese and Prisoners
on Bataan Death March

90.  Battle of the Coral Sea
 May 1942, U.S., Australian soldiers stop
Japanese drive to Australia
 For first time since Pearl Harbor, Japanese
invasion turned back
 First naval battle fought completely by
aircraft carriers

91. USS Lexington Burning and Sinking
after her crew abandoned ship May 8
1942
Japanese Carrier Shokaku under
attack at Coral Sea

92.  Admiral Chester Nimitz commands U.S.
naval forces in Pacific
 Allies break Japanese code, win Battle of
Midway, stop Japan again
 Battle of Midway is the turning point battle
of the Pacific
 Allies advance island by island toward Japan

93. Japanese Carrier Soryu (center) on
fire at Battle of Midway, 1942

94.  Japan uses kamikaze attack—pilots crash
bomb-laden planes into ships
Kamikaze Pilots,
1944
Kamikaze Attack on USS
Comfort Hospital Ship

95.  Iwo Jima critical as base from which planes
can reach Japan
 6,000 marines die taking island; of 20,700
Japanese, 200 survive
 The Battle for Okinawa
 April–June: 7,600 U.S. troops, 110,000
Japanese die
 Allies fear invasion of Japan may mean 1.5
million Allied casualties

96. Landing Zone on Iwo Jima

97. American Marines in Action on Okinawa

98.  The Manhattan Project
 J. Robert Oppenheimer is research director
of Manhattan Project
 July 1945, atomic bomb tested in New
Mexico desert
 President Truman orders military to drop 2
atomic bombs on Japan

99.  Hiroshima and Nagasaki
 August 6, Hiroshima, major military center,
destroyed by bomb
 3 days later, bomb dropped on city of
Nagasaki
 September 2, 1945 Japan surrenders

100. Weapon and Testing Tower at
Manhattan Project

101. Destruction at Hiroshima

102.  February 1945, FDR, Churchill, Stalin meet in Yalta
 discuss post-war world
 Temporarily divide Germany into 4 parts
 Stalin promises free elections in Eastern Europe;
will fight Japan
 FDR gets support for conference to establish
United Nations
 Human Costs of the War
 WW II most destructive war in human history

103. Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin at Yalta
1945

104.  During the Holocaust, the Nazis
systematically execute 6 million Jews and 5
million other “non-Aryans.”
 Europe has long history of anti-Semitism
 Germans believe Hitler’s claims, blame Jews
for problems
 Nazis take away citizenship, jobs, property;
require Star of David

106. Jews Are Not Welcome Here

107.  Kristallnacht—Nazis attack Jewish homes,
businesses, synagogues
 About 100 Jews killed, hundreds injured,
30,000 arrested

109.  Hitler’s Final Solution—slavery, genocide of
“inferior” groups
 Genocide—deliberate, systematic killing of an
entire population
 Target Jews, gypsies, freemasons, Jehovah’s
Witnesses, unfit Germans
 Nazi death squads round up Jews, shoot them
 Jews forced into ghettos, segregated areas in
Polish cities
 Some form resistance movements; others
maintain Jewish culture

111.  Many Jews taken to concentration camps, or
labor camps
 Prisoners crammed into wooden barracks,
given little food
 Work dawn to dusk, 7 days per week
 Those too weak to work are killed

114.  Germans build death camps; gas chambers
used to kill thousands
 On arrival, SS doctors separate those who can
work
 Those who can’t work immediately killed in gas
chamber
 At first bodies buried in pits; later cremated to
cover up evidence
 Some are shot, hanged, poisoned, or die from
experiments

118.  The Nuremberg War Trials
 24 Nazi leaders tried, sentenced
 Charged with crimes against humanity,
against the peace, war crimes
 Established principle that people are
responsible for own actions in war

119. Nazi War Criminals at Nuremburg Trials 1945 -
1946

120.  The Occupation of Japan
 MacArthur commands U.S. occupation
forces in Japan
 Over 1,100 Japanese tried, sentenced
 MacArthur reshapes Japan’s economy,
government

121. General MacArthur and Emperor Hirohito 1946