Shocking World Changing Events of The 1940s – Part 2

To understand Part 2 of my blog, please go to Part 1 first: The World-Changing Events of the 1940s – Part 1

Below is an outline of events, that spanned over a 12 year period, during which this maniac was able to bring himself to power and turn an entire nation; these are the  subsequent turns of events that lead to the 2nd World War:

• Hitler’s Upcoming Struggle, December 20, 1924 –

• Adolf Hitler has been freed after only eight months in Landesberg Prison, where he was serving a sentence for High Treason after a failed attempt at a coup with Erich Ludendorff and other sympathetic members of the police and military last year. The coup had been modeled on Mussolini’s “March on Rome,” and Hitler had hoped to make his own “march on Berlin,” but several important factions withdrew their support at the last hour. Hitler’s imprisonment was turned into something of a publicity stunt by the ambitious leader of the Nazi Party. His original sentence was for five years, but after having found favor with the judiciary, prison guards, and other influential supporters, it was cut short. Adolf Hitler’s time in prison was predominantly spent
• dictating his book Mein Kampf (My Struggle) to his deputy Rudolf Hess. The book is both an autobiography and a political manifesto.

°     Germany, August 29, 1933,  

• Adolf Hitler now has total constitutional power in Germany and changes are underway throughout the nation with the abolition of all other political parties. It has also been confirmed that the Oranienburg concentration camp, which will be used to confine any political opponents and jews found to be in the way of Hitler’s vision for a new Germany, has been opened outside Berlin. Under new laws, such citizens may now be imprisoned without a trial or any right of appeal. Similar camps in Dachau in southern Germany, Buchenwald in central Germany, and Sachsenhausen near Berlin will all serve similar purposes. New laws allow anyone to inform on any person toward whom they have a grudge, and warrants state only: “In Article One of the Reich President for Protection of People and State of 28 February 1933, you are taken into protective custody in the interest of public security and order. Reason: Suspicion of activities inimical to the State.” Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor of Germany on January 30 this year and the passing of his Enabling Act on March 23 ended democracy for Germany. The act was passed in the Kroll Opera House in Berlin following the burning of the Reichstag building (the traditional seat of the German government).
  

  

  
   

  The only man to oppose Hitler on that was Otto Wells, the leader of the Social Democrats, who said, “We Germans Social Democrats pledge ourselves solemnly in this historic hour to the principles of humanity and justice, of freedom and socialism. No enabling act can give you the power to destroy ideas that are eternal and indestructible.” Hitler was enraged and responded with ” You are no longer needed! The star of Germany will rise and yours will sink! Your death knell has sounded!”

• Germany, August 2, 1934, 

• Following the death of President Paul von Hindenburg, age 86, Adolf Hitler, proclaims himself Führer and Dictator of Germany, making him both Head of State and Chancellor within two months’ time.  Leaving a clear route for Adolf Hitler to merge his current position as chancellor into one. The armed forces are forced to swear an oath of allegiance.
• Berlin, Germany, November 9, 1933,
•  Jewish shops, homes, and synagogues are looted or destroyed as Hitler’s anti-Jewish scheme is unleashed throughout Germany.
• Germany, March 22, 1933,
• The first Nazi concentration camp at Dachau, near Munich, begins operation.
• Berlin, Germany, April 1, 1933,
• The nazi government uses violence to orchestrate its boycott of Jewish business, forcing stores to close and barring professionals from their offices.
• Berlin, Germany, April 11, 1933,
• The nazis decree “non-Aryans” to include anyone descended from non-Aryan, particularly Jewish parents or grandparents.
• Germany, August 29, 1933,
• Jews and socialists are herded into concentration camps.
• Berlin, Germany, January 1, 1934
• , A nazi law forcing people with genetic defects to be sterilized comes into effect in Germany.
• Berlin, Germany, January 15, 1934,
• Germany and Poland sign a 10-year non-aggressive pact following a period of tension.
• Nuremberg, Germany, September 15, 1935,
• The Nuremberg decree legalizes the Nazi prosecution of Jews.
• Germany, March 7, 1936,
• France decides a large military force will be needed after German troops reoccupy the Rhineland.
• Germany, November 25, 1936, Germany signs an anti-Comintern pact with Japan to protect the country’s common interests.
• Rome, Italy, August 3, 1938

  , Mussolini introduces his anti-semitic laws into <italy, following the lead of his German allies.

• Munich, Germany, September 30, 1938, The Munich Agreement made by Germany, Italy, Britain, and France, allows Hitler to take Sudetenland, and Hungry and Poland to take border districts from Czechoslovakia. Another resolution is signed to resolve future disputes between Britain and Germany peacefully.
• Czechoslovakia, October 5, 1938,
• Hitler’s army marched into Czechoslovakia, on March 16th occupies Prague, and becomes a Nazi protectorate.
• Berlin, Germany, November 9, 1938, Jewish shops, homes, and synagogues are looted or destroyed as Hitler’s ant-Jewish scheme is unleashed throughout Germany.
• Rome, Italy, May 22, 1939,
• Mussolini signs a military pact with Hitler, obligating Italy to fight alongside Germany.

• Moscow, USSR, August 23, 1939,

• Hitler and Stalin sign a nazi-Soviet pact of non-aggression that divides Eastern Europe between Germany and the USSR.

• Poland, on September 1, 1939,

• German forces invade Poland from Germany in the west, East Prussia in the north, and Czechoslovakia in the south.

• Europe, September 3, 1939,

• Britain & France declare war on Germany in accord with treaty obligations to Poland. They are followed by New Zealand, Australia, and India.
• Poland, September 29, 1939,
• Warsaw surrenders; 700,000 Polish troops are taken, prisoners.
• Germany, October 1939,
• The Nazis begin a program to euthanize the sick and disabled in Germany.

• Finnland, November 30, 1939,

• The USSR attacks Finland after their strategic negotiations on November 12 fail.
• Europe, February 20, 1940

  ,Hitler orders his U-boat captains to attack all shipping, Allied vessels, and neutral ships alike.

• Europe, May 10, 1940,

• After invading Norway and Denmark on April 9, Germany now invades Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, and France.
• Berlin, Germany, September 27, 1940

  , Japan, Germany, and Italy sign a 10-year pact. They met in Berlin to sign an agreement recognizing each other’s spheres of interests, as well as promising to come to one another’s aid should one of them be attacked by any state “not now a belligerent.” This is being seen as a warning to both the United States and the USSR to remain neutral in the current conflict. Article 6 of what is now being referred to as the Three-Power-Pact states it will come into effect “immediately upon signing and shall remain in force 10 years” from that day.

• The UK, November 30, 1940

  , Germany is mass bombing regional cities, Glasgow, Birmingham, Coventry, Manchester, and Sheffield have been hit.

• London, England, December 29, 1940,
• The city burns from more than 10,000 German firebombs.

• Yugoslavia, April 17, 1941,

• The country surrenders after Germany occupies Sarajevo.

• Greece, April 30, 1941,

• Most of Greece is under German and Italian occupation, German forces took Athens on April 26.
• Crete, Greece, June 1, 1941,
• German forces take the island of Crete in a bloody battle, Allied troops are evacuated to Egypt.

• USSR, June 22, 1941

  , Germany invades the USSR, breaking the Nazi-Soviet pact.

• Honolulu, Hawaii, December 7, 1941,

• Japanese planes make a surprise attack on the US fleet at Pearl Harbour.
• Washington DC, USA, December 8, 1941

  , The USA, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand declare war on Japan.

• The USA, December 11, 1941

  The USA reciprocates  Germany’s and Italy’s declaration of war.

• Central America, December 11, 1941,

• Cuba, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic declared war on Germany and Italy.
• Europe, December 12, 1941,
• Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria declared war on the USA.

• Hongkong, December 25, 1941,

• Japan seizes HongKong
• St.Petersburg, USSR, December 25, 1941,
• Over 3000 people have starved to death since the German siege on the city began in September.
• Washington DC, USA, January 1, 1942,
• The Declaration of the United Nations to pledge support for the Atlantic Charter is signed by 26 countries.
• Berlin, Germany, January 20, 1942,
• In the meantime, Nazi leaders at the Wannsee Conference structure the “final solution of the Jewish question,” aiming to exterminate over 11 million European Jews.
• Italy, July 25, 1943
• Premier Benito Mussolini is ousted. New Marshal Pietro Badoglio places him under arrest. Badoglio declares Italy is no longer a fascist state.
• Italy, October 13, 1943,
• Badoglio declares war on Germany.
• Poland, on January 27, 1944,
• Soviet forces seize the concentration camp at Auschwitz, find 50000 starving prisoners left near death, the remainder having already herded out.
  Milan, Italy, April 28, 1945,
• Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci are strung up for public display after being shot dead.
• Germany, April 1945,
• Allied forces discover dens of horror in the Nazi concentration camps, finding starved, critically ill, captives, and grounds piled with rotting corpses.
• Berlin, April 30, 1945
• Hitler suicide in his bunker by shooting himself. His newlywed wife, Eva brown, poisons herself and dies.
• London, England, May 8, 1945,
• Crowds of spectators jam London’s street to hear Churchill’s broadcast announcing the war in Europe will end at midnight. Around 50,000 gleeful revelers take to the streets, singing, dancing, and embracing.
• Reims, France, May 7, 1945,
• Germany signs its surrender after the foreign minister gives notice in a radio broadcast.

• Japan, August 6 -9, 1945

  , The United States drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagaski.

• Japan, August 15, 1945,

• Japan signs an unconditional surrender to the Allied powers.

      Your blogging friend Ulrich Koepf

LINKS: History Stories – The Holocaust 

LINKS: The Pictures that Defined World War II