TIME LINE

1920	* Hitler changes the name of his party to the National Socialist German Worker's Party, the German equivalent of which was often shortened to Nazi.
1922	* Mussolini made Prime Minister in Italy
1923	* Hitler begins writing Mein Kampf while in jail
1924	* Stalin becomes leader of the U.S.S.R. after Lenin dies
1925	* Mein Kampf is published
1926	* Mussolini ruling Italy as IL Duce, the leader * Hitler established himself as the Führer (leader) of the Socialist party * Hitler meets Joseph Goebbels and makes him head of propaganda.
1929	* Stalin’s dictatorship is established in the Soviet Union * Lateran Accords with Catholic Church – Mussolini recognized Vatican City, Catholic Church recognized Fascist Italy * The Great Depression hits
1930	* Reichstag elections of the National Socialists polled almost 6.5 million votes
1931	* Beginnings of National Government coalition in Britain, as a reaction to the Depression they were under.
1932	* Franklin Roosevelt is elected President of the United States * July --> The Nazi Party receives the largest share of the vote in German elections, but they fail to gain a majority.
1933	* Reichstag fire – fire in Reichstag building, decree passed that gave government emergency powers(to turn Germany into a police state.) * Geheime Staatspolizei (Secret State Police), known as the Gestapo, created to suppress opposition to the Hitler regime * Enabling Act --> granted Hitler dictatorial powers and signified the end of the Weimar Republic * President Von Hindenburg appointed Hitler chancellor March --> The Nazis open the first concentration camp at Dachau, just outside Munich, Germany. * Japan's draw back from the League of Nations. * Oct --> Germany's quits from the League of Nations and its withdrawal from all disarmament talks

1934

* President Hindenberg dies; Hitler is sole ruler of Germany Third Reich begins

* Purge of the SA – killing of SA leaders in return for army support of Hitler taking over Germany.

* February riot’s in France. Fascist leagues marched through French streets threatening to seize
power.

* Sept 19 --> Soviet Union joins the League of Nations.

1935

* Nuremberg Laws – excluded German Jews from German citizenship and forbade marriages and
extramarital relations between Jews and German citizens.

* October-->Mussolini invades Ethiopia- army led by Badoglio

1936

* Beginning’s of Stalin’s purge killings of government officials.

* Formation of Popular Front in France. Coalition of Communists, Socialists, and Radicals

* Rome-Berlin Axis formed

1938

* Sept 30th --> Munich Conference (Agreement): Britain (British Prime Minister Neville
                     Chamberlain) France (Daladier) and Italy (Mussolini) grant Czechoslovakia's
                     Sudetenland to Hitler to avoid war; Hitler gives Chamberlain his personal word on
                     future cooperation (the height of the policy of Appeasement): ("Peace in our time").

* Nov --> Japan proclaims a "New Order in East Asia", with Japan as the lead nation.

* Kristallnacht – Nazi led destructive rampage against Jews, where synagogues were burned, 700
Jewish businesses destroyed, 20, 000 Jews arrested, and at least 100 Jews killed

1939

* Fascist School Charter – educational system in Italy used as an instrument to create the "new
Fascist man.".

* May 22 --> Germany and Italy sign "The Pact of Steel," a formal alliance

* Aug 26 --> Hitler's guarantees the neutrality of Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg , Denmark &
Swiss

* Sept 5 --> Neutrality statement of the United States. The new Prime Minister, Nobuyuki Abe, from
Japan promises to keep out of the war in Europe.

* Sept 17 --> Russian troops invade Poland from the East.

* Sept 27 --> Poland surrenders to Nazi Germany

1945

* May 7 --> Germany surrenders

* August 6 --> atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima

* August 14 --> Japan surrenders