TIMELINE

1933

  • Adolf Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany

1935

  • Italy invades Ethiopia

1935–1937

  • U.S. Neutrality Acts

1936

  • Germany reoccupies Rhineland demilitarized zone

  • Rome-Berlin Axis established

1937

  • Japan invades China

1938

  • Munich conference

1939

  • German-Soviet nonaggression pact

  • Germany invades Poland

  • Britain and France declare war on Germany

1940

  • Germany, Italy, and Japan form alliance

1941

  • Germany invades Soviet Union

  • Lend-Lease Act and Atlantic Charter established

  • Japanese attack Pearl Harbor (December 7)

1942

  • Executive Order 9066 leads to Japanese internment camps

  • Battles of Coral Sea and Midway halt Japanese advance

1942–1945

  • Rationing of scarce goods

1943

  • Race riots in Detroit and Los Angeles

1944

  • D-Day: Allied landing in France (June 6)

1945

  • Yalta Conference (February)

  • Germany surrenders (May 7)

  • United Nations founded

  • Potsdam Conference (July–August)

  • United States drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 6 and 9)

  • Japan surrenders (August 10)