Study
Tool: Chronological Events of the 1939-1945 Era
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This war is more than a catastrophic war; its terms and people become symbols¾become part of thinking of multiple generations. Click here for some examples.
( ) with specific name – Name is for reference for you can find the information in the index if needed.
Allies =
Date |
Presidential Election/Event |
US Official -Unofficial Actions |
Allies |
Axis |
US War Actions |
Issue/Organization
Development |
Political Party
Development |
1920s-1930s |
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1940-05 |
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Committee to Defend |
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1940-06 |
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Fr: Falls to Ger; |
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War Department:
Surplus, old munitions, arms, planes to Br |
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1940-08 to 10 |
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Selective Service Act |
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“Overage”
destroyers to Br for 99-yr. leases (Destroyer-Bases Agreement) |
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FDR: Embargo on
steel, scrap iron to all but Br |
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1940-11 |
Wendell Willkie
vs. F. D. Roosevelt |
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1940-12 |
Fireside chat on US
as “the great arsenal of democracy” |
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Ger: US protest
over US aid to Br (Dec. 21) |
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1941-01 |
Four Freedoms[1]
speech to Congress |
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Threatened black march on |
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1941-03 |
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Lend-Lease Bill |
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1941-04 |
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Rationing starts (later
Office of Price Administration) |
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1941-06 |
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Ger invades Ru. |
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Lend-Lease to Ru |
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Science group est.[3] |
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FDR: move to block
march[4] |
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1941-08 |
Atlantic Charter
announced[5] |
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1941-09, 10 |
“’Active defense’”
to Iceland |
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Reuben James sunk, Iceland convoy duty |
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1941-11 |
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Congress modifies
Neutrality Acts |
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1941-12 |
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Japan: Takes multiple
areas[6]
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War Production
Board (WPB) |
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1941-12-07 |
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Japan: Pearl
Harbor |
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1941-12-11 |
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US declares war on
Japan |
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Ger, Italy:
Declare war on US |
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1942 |
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Detroit race riots; CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) forms |
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1942-02 |
Exec. Order 9102 –
Relocation[7] |
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1942-04 |
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Draft starts |
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1942-11 |
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Allies N. Africa
campaign – victory against Vichy |
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1943-02 |
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Ru: Victory at Stalingrad |
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US: Guadalcanal
secured – 6 months (New Guinea); |
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“leapfrog”
campaign starts |
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1943-06 |
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Mobs against Mexican Americans (CA) |
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1943-07-08 |
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Sicily victory; enter
into N. Italy; Mussolini flees |
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1944-03 |
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GI Bill |
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1944-06 |
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Allies: Normandy |
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1944-07 |
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Port Chicago, CA – 250 black sailors killed |
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1944-12 |
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US/Br: Battle of Bulge
– stop German counter 77K US casualties |
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1945-02 |
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US: Philippines
victory – 7 months |
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Yalta Accords –
UN, free elections |
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1945-03 |
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US: Iwo Jima –
victory – 2 months |
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1945-04 |
FDR dead; Harry S
Truman President |
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Ger: Suicide of
Hitler |
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1945-04-06 |
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UN Conference –
draft charter |
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1945-05 |
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Allies: Berlin
falls (May 2), Ger surrenders (May 7), V-E (May 8) |
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1945-06 |
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German/Berlin
occupation zones est.; Ru., US, Fr, Br |
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1945-07 |
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Potsdam Conference
– agree to trials[8] |
Japan:
Rejects unconditional surrender |
US: Successful
atomic bomb test (Jul. 17) |
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1945-08 |
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US: Hiroshima,
atomic bomb |
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US: occupies Japan |
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Date
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Rise of Axis Powers |
1931-09 |
Japan: Manchurian invasion |
1933-01 |
Germany: Hitler, Chancellor |
1935-05 |
Italy: Invades Ethiopia |
1936 |
Germany: Reoccupies the Rhineland |
Germany, Italy: Mutual defense pact |
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Spanish Civil War |
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1937-12 |
Japan: Bombs US Panay in Yangtze River in China |
Japan: As part of attacks on China (with high Chinese dead counts), fall of the city of Nanking (Nanjing), Rape of Nanking – torture, rape, mass murder |
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1938 |
Germany takes Sudetenland; Munich – Chamberlain |
1938-11 |
Kristallnacht |
Date |
US |
Allies |
Axis |
1939-03 |
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Ger: Makes demands on Poles (Mar. 23) |
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Br, Fr:
Promise aid to Poles (Mar. 31) |
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1939-04 |
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Italy: Invades Albania (Apr. 7) |
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US/FDR: to Hitler and
Mussolini asking assurances (Apr. 15) |
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1939-05 |
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Ger/Italy: Military alliance (May 22) |
1939-08 |
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Ger/Ru: Non-aggression pact (Aug. 23) |
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US/FDR: to Poles,
Hitler, Italy’s King Victor Emmanuel for negotiation (Aug. 24) |
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Poles: Accept
conciliation. No response so mobilize (Aug. 31) |
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1939-09 |
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Ger: Invades Poland (Sept. 1) |
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Br/Fr: declare war on Ger (Sept. 1) |
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US: Declares neutrality (Sept. 3) |
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Ru: Invades Poland (Sept. 17) |
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Ger/Ru: Partition Poland (Sept. 18) |
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1939-11 |
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Ru: Invades Finland. Complete (Mar. 1940) |
1940-04 |
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Ger: Invades Denmark, Norway |
1940-05 |
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Ger: Invades The Netherlands, Belgium (May 10). Fall by June. |
Chamberlain, Neville
Churchill, Winston
DeGaulle, Charles
Hitler, Adolph
Mussolini, Benito
Quisling, Vidkum – Not in your textbook, the puppet leader of Norway set up by Germany
Stalin, Joseph
Wallenberg,
Raoul – Also cover Auschwitz, Dachau, Holocaust
Auschwitz
Axis
Bataan Death
March
Blitzkreig
Dachau
Dunkirk
Holocaust –
from Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary: (usually cap.)
“the systematic mass slaughter of European Jews in Nazi concentration camps during
World War II” [from words meaning burnt whole]
Kamikaze
Luftwaffe
Maginot line, “impregnable”
Nazi - from Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary: “a member of the National Socialist Workers’ party in Germany….”
Nuremberg Trials
Siegfried line
Vichy – Not in your textbook - the French puppet government set up by Germany
Copyright C. J. Bibus, Ed.D. 2003-2010 |
WCJC Department: |
History – Dr. Bibus |
Contact Information: |
281.239.1577 or cjb_classes@yahoo.com |
Last Updated: |
2010 |
WCJC Home: |
[1] Of speech, of religion, from want, from fear
[2] During 1941, A. Phillip Randolph – Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
[3] Later radar, sonar, atomic bomb (Office of Scientific Research and Development)
[4] Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC) in return for no march
[5] Not binding, but signed by 15 countries by Sept. 24
[6] Guam, Wake Island, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dutch East Indies, and others; Corregidor surrenders May; Bataan Death March follows
[7] 1988 – Congress – survivors $20K reparations
[8] Nuremberg