American Experience

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World Timeline (1933-1945)

Browse a chronology of major international events that occurred during Roosevelt's presidency.

1933	Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany Japan withdraws from the League of Nations The first concentration camps are built in Germany Assyrian Christians are massacred in Iraq
1934	Adolf Hitler is elected Führer The USSR is admitted to the League of Nations Japan renounces Washington treaties of 1922 and 1930 A general strike occurs in France King of Yugoslavia and French Foreign Minister are assassinated
1935	Benito Mussolini invades Abyssinia (Ethiopia) Persia changes its name to Iran The Nuremburg Laws are passed against the Jews in Germany The Nazis repudiate the Versailles Treaty
1936	Edward VIII becomes king of Britain; later abdicates the throne to his brother, George VI Koki Hirota becomes premier of Japan Italy, Austria, and Hungary sign the Rome Pact Italy annexes Abyssinia Spanish Civil War begins Chiang Kai-shek declares war on Japan Germany begins building the Siegfried Line Leon Trotsky is exiled from the USSR The Olympic Games are held in Berlin
1937	The All-India Congress Party wins elections in India Italy and Yugoslavia sign the Belgrade Pact The Japanese seize Beijing Chiang Kai-shek unites with Mao Tse-Tung Bakr Sidqi, dictator of Iraq, is assassinated Italy withdraws from the League of Nations Tomas Masaryk becomes the first president of Czechloslovakia Japanese planes sink the U.S. gunboat Panay
1938	Riots and demonstrations against Jews in Germany Germany occupies the Sudentenland Hungary annexes southern Slovakia Kemal Atatürk, president of Turkey, dies U.S. and Germany recall their respective ambassadors Japan installs a puppet government in China
1939	Spanish Civil War ends England and Poland sign a treaty of mutual assistance Germany occupies Bohemia and Moravia Italy invades Albania Hungary leaves the League of Nations Germany invades Poland, sparking the beginning of World War II
1940	Germany invades Norway, Denmark, France, Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourg Winston Churchill becomes British prime minister Trotsky is assassinated in Mexico The Blitz begins in London
1941	The Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor Germany invades the USSR The U.S. declares war on Japan, Germany, and Italy
1942	Japan invades the Dutch East Indies and Burma, Singapore, Java, and Rangoon The Battle of Midway is fought U.S. prisoners of war suffer on the the Bataan Death March in the Philippines Tokyo is bombed
1943	Casablanca Conference between FDR and Churchill Soviets destroy the German army near Stalingrad The Allies invade Italy; Italy surrenders Mahatma Gandhi demands independence for India and is arrested by British Italy declares war on Germany Churchill, FDR, and Joseph Stalin meet at Teheran Allies begin "around-the-clock" bombing of Berlin Famine sweeps Bengal
1944	D-day landings in Normandy The first missile bomb is launched by the Germans on London (the V-1) Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh declares independence from France Charles de Gaulle retakes France from Germany
1945	Yalta Conference with FDR, Churchill, and Stalin The United Nations is formed FDR dies; Harry Truman takes office Hitler commits suicide Mussolini is executed The atom bomb is dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki V-E Day marks the end of the war in Europe

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