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The Rise of Fascist Italy
The creation of fascism began with italy in 1922, which started off with a group of dissatisfied war veterans, nationalists, and people who feared communism. They wore black shirts, and one day this group of a newfound Fascist party marched into Rome where they appointed their own duke, Benito Mussolini. Fascism upheld the idea that people should glorify their nation through aggression towards other nations. These ideals would soon spread into Germany. -
Creation of the Federal Farm Board (FFB)
This was formerly created before the great stock market crash, but it would later come to be enlarged during the period of the Great Depression to account for the huge economic crisis which was soon to come. This board was created to help farmers stabilize their crop prices by temporarily storing their surplus crops before selling them. This program was deemed far too humble to handle the ongoing overproduction of crops. -
Period: to
The Great Depression Period + Pre - World War II
The greatest economic crash to ever occur in the 20th century globally. Occurred after a prosperous yet short period of time once WWI was finished. Along with this, the rise of militarism, fascism, and nazism in Europe and Asia became a growing cause for concern as years went by. -
Black Thursday
Extreme amount of stocks being sold on Wall Street led to a huge downward spiral in the price of stocks and caused investors to lose a large amount of money. Some bankers bought millions of dollars worth of stocks to solve the issue of the crash, but only managed to stabilize the issue for one day. -
Black Tuesday
Mass panic in fear of another steep drop in stock prices led to millions of investors ordering their brokers to sell their stocks; little to no buyers could be found. Black Tuesday marked a complete drop and economic collapse of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), which would continue downward from it's high of 381 to 41 three years later. Many believe this event to be the beginning of the Great Depression. -
The Dust Bowl
The dust bowl was a period of severe drought within the plains of Southern America which devastated southern farmers. This contributed to the starting of the Great Depression and led to many farmers leaving their homes to California for farm or factory work, these people were also known as Okies. The novelist, John Steinbeck, wrote about the tragic economic disaster in the book "The Grapes Of Wrath" in 1939. -
Herbert Hoover concurring his Foreign Policy
After the complete disaster that was WWI, President Herbert Hoover stated to the American people that the United States should not enter any firm commitments or foreign wars to which people agreed with. This is known as "Isolationism". -
The Rise of Militaristic Japan
Across the 1920s-30s period, Nationalists and militarists slowly but surely gained more and more power within Japanese legislature. Using this power, especially during the recovery period of WWI, they convinced their emperor that the best way to ensure access to raw materials (which Japan lacked) was to invade China and Southeast Asia. Thus giving Japan the idea of the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere". -
Passing of the Hawley-Smoot Tarrif
An act passed by the republican congress to protect farmers and U.S. industries from foreign competition. Set a higher tax increase ranging from 31-49 percent on foreign imports, which led to European countries setting higher tariffs against U.S. goods. Ultimately made the global and U.S. economy dive into deeper depression. -
Hoover's Debt Moratorium
The economic conditions within Europe and the United States were so terrible that the Dawes Plan (Germany's reparation payments) was cancelled. Hoover passed this one-year moratorium on international debt and reparation payments.Some countries such as Britain and German accepted vigorously accepted these ideas, but others such as France, hesitated.After this was passed, Banks on both sides of the Atlantic scrambled to pay off those withdrawing their money. -
Japanese Invasion of Manchuria
Japan defied Chinese Open-Door policies and the League of Nation covenant by marching into Manchuria and renaming said conquered territory "Manchukuo" while establishing a puppet government. The League of Nations chose to simply argue against it to maintain peace leading to Japan to exit the league. The U.S. issued the Stimson Doctrine as a result of the Japanese invasion and used the Nine-Power Treaty (1922) policy to claim not to recognize "Manchukuo". The League of Nations followed. -
The Election of 1932
This year was known as the maximum low of the Great Depression. Republicans desperately renominated Hoover and argued that the appointment of a democratic president would worsen the United States' economic situation, Despite that, Franklin D. Roosevelt and his vice president nominee John N. Garner won with a majority of the votes from the states. During his campaign, Roosevelt pledged his "New Deal" ideals: the repeal of prohibition, aid to the unemployed, and cuts in government spending. -
Franklin D. Roosevelt's' Prohibition Repeal
Franklin D. Roosevelt kept his promise to repeal prohibition and enacted the Beer-Wine Revenue act which legalized the purchasing beer and wine to gain much needed tax money. Later in 1933, He enacted the 21st amendment which repealed the 18th amendment and inevitably ended prohibition in America as a whole. -
The Creation of the Industrial Recovery Program
The creation of the National Recovery Administration (NRA) was an attempt to combine immediate and long-term relief and reform. This program was directed by Hugh Johnson, and it's purpose was to guarantee reasonable wages, work hours, levels of productions, and prices of goods. This program also gave rights for workers to bargain, but ultimately it had limited success for two years before congress deemed it unconstitutional in the Schecter v. U.S. case in 1935. -
Franklin Roosevelt's Foreign Policies
Although he was occupied with the economic crisis, FDR improved on Hoover's effort to gain a better relationship with Latin America by creating the Good-Neighbor policy. This policy was against interventionism (didn't make sense because of the lack of funds) and established a pan-american effort to defend the region from foreign threats due to the rise of militarism in Europe and Asia. Roosevelt pledged at pan-american conferences to not intervene in LA while nullifying the Platt amendment. -
Franklin Roosevelt's Foreign Economic Policy Plan
In order to further the U.S. economy, in some cases FDR began to get involved into foreign matters. He chose to acknowledge the Communist Regime within the Soviet Union in 1933 to boost the U.S. economy, he created the Tydings-McDuffie Act in 1934 to provide the Philippines independence and removed U.S. troops by 1936, and his Secretary of State Cordell gave the president power to reduce U.S. tariffs by up to 50% in which other nations did the same for their tariffs for U.S. goods in 1934. -
The Rise Of Nazi Germany
In 1933 a Nazi leader named Hitler established control of German legislature. This was a result of rising anger from terrible economic conditions during the Great Depression and national resentment over German policies within the Treaty of Versailles established after WWI. Hitler used a combination of bullying tactics, fascist ideals, and manipulation to appeal to people (workers) within Germany. Ultimately creating anti-semitic views amongst those within Germany. These were the brown shirts. -
Franklin D. Roosevelt's 100 Days of Action
When the new president Franklin D. Roosevelt first went into office, he immediately called congress into a special session which lasted one hundred days. Within this period, Congress passed every single heap of laws the new president proposed. Most of these were relief and recovery programs which demonstrated FDR's dedication to his 3 R's: Relief for the unemployed, recovery for businesses and the economy, and reform of economic institutions. -
The Creation of the Wheeler-Howard Act
John Collier, an American-Indian rights advocate, was appointed as the commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1933. From this, he established conservation efforts and took American Indians into consideration with the WPA and New Deal programs. He created the Indian Reorganization act in replacement of the Dawes act which led to the returning of land to tribes and supported preservation of native culture. People later criticized it. -
The Investigation Committee Conclusion
Many people began to acknowledge the regret of joining WWI in the early 1930s. In 1934, an investigation committee led by Senator Gerald Nye of ND concluded that the main reason the U.S. participated in WWI was out of greed. This influenced the U.S. government to further isolationist policies. -
The Creation of the Works Progress Administration (WPA)
This program was under control of Harry Hopkins under Roosevelt's board and was much larger than relief programs apart of the first New Deal. The main purpose of this program was to provide people with jobs, and with the use of billions of dollars, it employed 3.4 mill men and women who were provided temporary relief under the state. Most were put to work under civil infrastructure job, unemployed people worked on beautification of cities or the arts.The NYA section helped the youth find jobs. -
The Creation of the Wagner Act
This act replaced the labor provisions of the former National Recovery Act (NRA) which was deemed unconstitutional by congress in 1935. This act, like the NRA, established the legal rights of workers by allowing workers the right to bargain and the right to unionize. With this it also outlawed unfair business practices. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) was also enacted to further enforce and uphold the law. -
The Second New Deal
For Roosevelt's first 2 years in the office, he mainly focused on the recovery part of his 3 R's program. -
The Creation of the Social Security Act
This is probably one of the most important acts enacted in the U.S. during the 20th century as it would continue on into present day time. This act created a federal insurance program which automatically collects payments from employers and workers which would then be used to make monthly payments to those who are retired above the age of 65. The unemployed, the disabled, and dependent children and their mothers were also guaranteed financial compensation from this program. -
The Passing of the Neutrality Act of 1935
Being that isolationists held a majority of the population within Congress from the 1930s to 1938- Neutrality acts began to be enacted in America. The first one was the one created in 1935 which authorized the president to prohibit arms shipments and to disallow people from riding on belligerent ships due to past incidents. -
The Invasion of Ethiopia
In order to demonstrate Fascist Italy's true power, Mussolini ordered troops to invade Ethiopia in a mere year. The League of Nations did nothing but scold this action. -
The Election of 1936
Under Roosevelt's presidency, the U.S. economy began to improve, but still was not strong enough. During this election, Roosevelt was the nominee for democrats due to his programs and presidency style. Roosevelt was widely popular amongst the working-class and small farmers but widely hated by businesses because of some of his pro-union acts. Alf Landon was the republican nominee, and his main criticization was of how much the democrats were spending. Ultimately Roosevelt won by a landslide. -
The Passing of The Neutrality Act of 1936
Being that isolationists held a majority of the population within Congress from the 1930s to 1938- Neutrality acts began to be enacted in America. The 2nd one was in 1936, which forbade the extension of loans and credits to belligerents. -
The Spanish Civil War
Happened as a result of fascist powers attempting to take control under General Francisco Franco. Led to a power struggle between Fascists and Loyalists whome Americans sympathized with. Due to the neutrality acts though, Americans were not allowed to aid the Loyalists. -
The Invasion of Rhineland
Rhineland was previously supposed to be demilitarized according to the Treaty of Versailles, till one day Nazi troops marched into Rhineland. The League of Nations turned away. -
The Last New Deal Phase
Although all seemed well under the new deal, it began to stagger backwards by unemployment going from 15% to 25% in 1933 which ultimately led to a recession period in 1937. The government was partly to blame being because of the complications between the social security tax and the spending on relief and public work programs. To solve this, a economist named John Maynard helped establish the Keynesian theory of encouraging deficit spending in hard times. This ultimately led to positive results. -
The Court Reorganization Situation
After the frustrating decisions of congress deeming the NRA and AAA unconstitutional in 1935, Roosevelt planned on removing some court justices with the Judicial Reorganization Bill of 1937 which proposed that the president could add an additional justice for every justice about 70.5 years old in the supreme court. This ultimately allowed him to add 6 new justices. Most people on both sides viewed it as unconstitutional and shot it down. But he still got to appoint justices due to retirement. -
The Neutrality Act of 1937
Being that isolationists held a majority of the population within Congress from the 1930s to 1938- Neutrality acts began to be enacted in America. The 3rd one was in 1937, this one forbade the shipping of arms to sides involved in the Spanish Civil War. -
Quarantine Speech
In order to test the waters and see how the public would react to non-isolationist feelings, FDR made the Quarantine Speech in which the public opinion was extremely limited. Feeling limited by the public opinion, he chose to expand the naval budget by 2/3 and to increase the military in 1938. -
The Creation of the Fair Labor Standards Act
This last major reform of the new deal was a victory for organized labor. This had several regulations which are: A minimum wage of 40 cents an hour, a maximum work week of 40 hours with overtime pay, and child labor restrictions for minors under 16. In the case of U.S. v. Darby Lumber Co., the Supreme Court reversed it's earlier ruling deeming child labor constitutional. -
The Invasion of Sudetenland + The Munich Conference
Hitler demanded to take over a piece of german-speaking land in Czechoslovakia, In order to maintain peace, British PM Neville Chamberlain met with the French President, Mussolini, and Hitler at the Munich Conference. Here British and French leaders allowed Hitler to take Sudetenland and only Sudetenland. -
Hitler Occupying Czechoslovakia
Hitler broke the Munich agreement and rather than occupying Sudetenland, he occupied the entirety of Czechoslovakia to which it was clear to world leaders that war was inevitable. France and Britain's last hope was to threaten war if Poland was invaded. -
Period: to
WWII Period
A war began by the rising belief in nazism and fascist beliefs within Germany, fought between the Axis (Italy, Japan, Germany) and the Allies (France, Britain, Soviet Union, United States). -
The Invasion of Poland
Finally, Hitler invaded Poland. This led to the declaration of War with Britain and France against Germany which ultimately led to war between Italy and Japan. Germany began developing a warfare tactic called Blitzkrieg which would prove to be effective in the future as all allies were conquered by 1940 except for Britain and of course, it's western hemisphere counterparts. -
The Joining of the Axis Powers
The combination of frustration from the Great Depression, nationalistic resentments after WWI, fascism, nazism, and militaristic ideologies eventually crashed together in the 1930s. Ultimately leading to the creation of the Axis Powers which consisted of Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and Militaristic Japan. -
The Passing of the Selective Service Act
The U.S. government began to see the increasing need for protection from the foreign war which the president knew would inevitably rush over to America. In doing so, he passed the Selective Service Act which provided for the training and drafting of American men between 21-35. Most people were bothered by this being that it was a peacetime period of the United States. -
The Election of 1940
Roosevelt was nominated for a third term for democrats being that it was a critical time period. Wendell Willkie was the republican nominee who argued against doing so because it broke the two-term tradition. Nonetheless, Roosevelt won with a majority of the popular vote being that people wanted an experienced leader in that time of need. -
The Arsenal Of Democracy
During a fireside chat in the 1940s, Roosevelt expressed his growing need to break neutrality due to the threat towards democracy from the war in Europe. People began to realize Roosevelt was correct and that they needed to be the "Arsenal of Democracy". He furthered this in January 6, 1941 with his Four Freedoms speech after enacting a policy for Britain. These freedoms were the freedoms of religion, freedom of speech, freedom from want, and the freedom from fear. -
U.S. Disputes With Japan
After the Japanese joined the Axis powers, the U.S. prohibited the sales of steep and scrap to be limited to only Britain which was aimed at Japan. In July 1941, Japanese troops conquered Indochina in which the U.S. completely cut off Japanese access to vital materials such as U.S. oil. Japanese General Hideki Tojo attempted to negotiate oil trades with Japan, but to no avail for both sides. -
The Creation of the Fair Employment Practices Committee
Roosevelt created this to assist minorities in finding jobs after A. Philip Randolph, the head of the Railroad Porters Union, threatened to march into Washington in demand of equal job rights for African Americans. -
The Passing of the British-Aiding Acts
During March 1941, the Lend Lease Act was passed which allowed Britain to get a hold of U.S. arms on credit. Franklin Roosevelt compared it to lending a neighbor a garden hose to put out a fire. Isolationists were against this, but at this point in time most Americans agreed with aiding Britain. After this the Atlantic Charter was than passed, including the Shoot-on-sight policy for Germany in July 1941. -
The Invasion of the Soviet Union
By December 1941, Hitler broke his nonaggression pact with the communist leader Joseph Stalin. This led to Stalin to join the allies left remaining, Forming what was known as the big three- Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin. -
New Innovations
The U.S. government began to closely stick with universities and research labs which began producing helpful innovations which could help America win the war. The Office of Research was established to help develop electronics such as radar and sonar technologies, medicines (penicillin), jet engines, and the top secret atom bomb within the Manhattan Project. -
Pearl Harbor
While a U.S. naval fleet was bunkered down at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Plane bombings began to suddenly happen on U.S. ships and planes which led to the death of 2,400 Americans, 1,200 wounded and the destroying of military property within the U.S. These bombings were done in less than 2 hours. -
U.S. Declaration of War
After the Pearl Harbor bombing, Americans were outraged. Congress passed a vote on the declaration of war with only 1 opposing vote. This declaration inevitably led to Germany and Italy to declare war on the U.S. -
The Creation of Wartime Policies
Within the homefront, the War Production Board was established in 1942 to manage war industries. This furthered on to the creation of the Office of War Mobilization (OWM) which set production priorities to wartime production and controlled America's raw materials. The Office of Price Administration (OPA) was later created which froze the economy and encouraged rationing. Most of these policies were to fight and avoid wartime inflation as a newly economically recovered nation. -
Japanese Americans in the Homefront
Japanese Americans, as a result from growing racism and suspicion due to propaganda, began to force Japanese Americans from their home in the West Coast to containment camps. More than 100,000 Japanese-Americans were in said camps. In the case of Korematsu v. U.S. (1944), Congress deemed said camps unproblematic and valid. -
The Battle of the Atlantic
The allies main goals was to overcome the German submarines in the Atlantic, and to begin bombing German cities. With the help of Naval technology such as radar and sonar technologies, The battle of the seas managed to turn further in the hands of the Allies rather than the Axis. Strategic bombings happened on occasion to military targets in Germany, but was soon turned into total warfare to decrease German morale. -
Operation Torch
A series of missions to drive out the Axis from North Africa and the Mediterranean was on a go. Led by both U.S. General Dwight Eisenhower and General Bernard Montgomery, the allies successfully drove the Germans out North Africa by May 1943. The next mission was in the island of Sicily which was successful being that Mussolini ran out of power during the summer. So much that Hitler had to appoint Benito to northern Italy until the inevitable surrender of Germany. -
The Turning Point for Japan
The war in the pacific was greatly fought by naval warfare. As a result of decoding Japanese messages, U.S. forces successfully destroyed 4 Japanese carriers and 300 Japanese aircrafts which led to the complete pause of Japanese Expansion after the Battle of Midway. -
The Wartime Business
By 1944, Unemployment practically disappeared due to the appearance of wartime jobs. Automobile factories were transformed into wartime automobile factories. American factories dished out tanks, ships, and planes with an astonishing amount of speed. So much that Henry Kaiser's shipyard could create a new ship in just 14 days. Large corporations mostly made up this effort. -
The Distribution of Wartime Propoganda
Because few people were against the participation of the war, encouragement and morale was provided through various art forms, whether that be through art, literature, or song. -
The Election of 1944
The democratic nominee was, of course FDR and his Vice President Harry Truman. The Republican nominee was Thomas Dewey. FDR of course won by a landslide, but would not continue his presidency for long. -
The Battle of Leyte Gulf
The conflict that prepared the U.S. for a reoccupation of the Philippines using it's island-hoping practices was the largest naval battle in history. The Battle at Leyte Gulf in October of 1944 practically completely destroyed the Japanese navy.a -
D-Day
The allied forces went on a mission to liberate France which would be known as the largest invasion in sea history on D-Day. Led by Eisenhower, Allied forces came together to encroach on German troops on the Normandy Coast until Paris was officially liberated by the end of August. -
The Battle of Okinawa
Japan began going into desperate measures at this time after the complete disarmament of their naval power. Japan began resorting to kamikaze pilots (suicide planes) as a last effort hope to keep their power. U.S. forces had 50,000 casualties while the Japanese had 100,000 before a island near Japan was eventually taken over. -
Atom Bombs
After Japan stubbornly refused to surrender, Harry Truman resorted to his promise of complete annihilation and dropped an atom bomb on Hiroshima. 3 Days later, another was dropped on Nagasaki due to Japanese still not giving up. The bomb dropped on Nagasaki eventually led to Japan's surrender on September 2, 1945 along with the death of 250,000 Japanese. -
The Creation of the United Nations
After WWII, A peacekeeping organization was organized called the United Nations. Unlike the one during WWI, Congress readily accepted joining this one. In April 1945, representatives from 50 nations assembled in San Francisco gathered where they began to draft and finish a charter for the new organization until it eventually came into full existence in October 24, 1945.