On November 5, Woodrow Wilson is elected the 28th President of the United States of America.	1 9 1 2	American feature film production begins (although a few experiments and films were released before 1912, this year is really a watershed).
		London has 400 cinemas (90 in 1909); in the US, 5 million people visit the cinema daily. (Hutchinson).

On June 28, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary is assassinated at Sarajevo. The assassin, Gavrilo Princip, is linked with the "Black Hand", a Serbian nationalist society. On July 23, Austria-Hungary issues an ultimatum to Serbia based on suspicion of its involvement in the assassination. No agreement is made, and Austria declares war on Serbia on July 28.	1 9 1 4	American feature film production rises to over 300, many of which are focused on war-related topics.
In July, Germany offers support to Austria, while Russia mobilizes to defend Serbia. On August 1, Germany declares war on Russia. Soon thereafter, patterns of alliances form as the scope of the war expands throughout most of Europe. Woodrow Wilson declares US neutrality.		The anti-war film, In the Name of the Prince of Peace (Dyreda Art Film Corp.), is released.
Battle of the Marne (September), First Battle of Ypres (October).		The War of Wars; or the Franco-German Invasion (Ramo Films, Inc.) is released--the first dramatic World War I film released in the US.

April-May: Gallipoli offensive is launched by British and dominion troops against Turkish forces. First use of poisonous gas by Germans. Italy joins the war against Austria. On May 7, the ocean liner Lusitania is sunk by a German submarine, with 1,198 lives lost, including 128 US citizens. The event is a decisive factor in bringing the US into the war.	1 9 1 5	The center of film production begins to move to the West, as Paramount, Universal and other film companies open large facilities in southern California. A variety of war films are released, including: The Birth of a Nation (David W. Griffith Corp.); History of the Great European War (Picture Playhouse Film Co.); The Battle Cry of Peace (Vitagraph Co. of America; A Blue Ribbon Feature);
August: The New York World newspaper begins publishing a series of exposes about German sabotage, espionage, etc..		When World War I began, the Picture Playhouse Film Co. instructed their connections in Europe to send authentic war pictures. History of the Great European War, which includes scenes taken during the first few months of World War I, was produced and released in both high-class and small theaters across the US.

On November 7, Woodrow Wilson is re-elected as the US president, partially on a peace platform.	1 9 1 6	Dramatizations of the war experience, including Whom the Gods Destroy (Vitagraph Co. of America; A Blue Ribbon Feature), Joan the Woman (Cardinal Film Corp.), and are produced and released.
Battle of Verdun (Feb.); Germans and the French suffer about 400,000 casualties each. July-November: At the Battle of the Somme, British and French casualties exceed 620,000 and German casualties reach nearly 450,000.

February: The Russian Revolution begins. Germany declares unrestricted submarine warfare.	1 9 1 7	Charlie Chaplin signs the first million dollar contract and is the most popular motion picture star. Other popular stars include Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, William S. Hart and Robert Warwick.
On April 6, Wilson asks for and receives a declaration of war against Germany from the US Congress.		The Little American, starring Mary Pickford, is released.
On June 14, an American expeditionary force led by Gen. John J. Pershing arrives in France.
Woodrow Wilson refuses to reopen negotiations with Germany until it abandons unrestricted naval warfare.

On January 18, Woodrow Wilson proposes his "Fourteen Points" for peace settlement.	1 9 1 8	Pershing's Crusaders, a US government documentary about the war, was billed as the first "United States official war film."
March: Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Central Powers ends Russian participation in the war, with substantial concessions of territory and repararations. September: Bulgaria capitulates to the Allies; Hindenburg and Ludendorff call for an armistice. October: Turkey capitulates to the Allies; armistice offered on the basis of the Fourteen Points.		Approximately 200 of 845 features produced in US deal with the war. At the request of the British government, D.W. Griffith is commissioned to direct Hearts of the World, attempting a more realistic depiction of the war. My Four Years in Germany, The Hun Within, Claws of the Hun, The Kaiser, The Beast of Berlin, To Hell With the Kaiser, Johanna Enlists, Stolen Orders, and A Daughter of France are released.
On November 11, an armistice is signed between the Allies and Germany.

The Peace Conference meets at Versailles and signs the Treaty of Versailles, officially ending the conflict.	1 9 1 9	United Artists Corp. is formed by Chaplin, Pickford, Fairbanks and Griffith as a distribution company. American patriotic film imagery is particularly popular as the war winds down.
Congress passes the Volstead Act, making provisions for the enforcement of the Eighteenth Amendment to the US Constitution. The Eighteenth Amendment, forbidding the manufacture, sale, import, or export of intoxicating liquors, initiates an era of Prohibition lasting more than a dozen years.
On March 23, Benito Mussolini founds the Italian fascist movement.

The League of Nations meets for the first time. However, the US is absent after the Senate failed to ratify the Versailles Treaty due to fears that committing the US to membership in the League would limit its sovereignty.	1 9 2 0
On August 26, following the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, women gain the right to vote.
On November 2, Warren G. Harding is elected president.

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Charlie Chaplin stars, directs and produces in The Kid Rudolph Valentino stars in The Sheik (Paramount Pictures).

In October, Mussolini's fascist movement marches on Rome and forms new government.

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On August 2, President Warren G. Harding dies suddenly and is succeeded by his Vice President, Calvin Coolidge.

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On November 4, Calvin Coolidge wins US presidential election	1 9 2 4	The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film corporation is formed merging the Louis B. Mayer Corp., the Metro Pictures Corp., and Goldwyn Pictures.
J. Edgar Hoover is appointed the acting director of the Bureau of Investigation (later known as the FBI)
On January 21, Soviet leader V.I. Lenin dies and is succeeded by Joseph Stalin.

The Scopes Trial takes place in Tennessee. John T. Scopes, a biology teacher in a Dayton, Tennessee public school, was accused of teaching evolution, a theory contrary to the accepted biblical interpretation of creationism. Scopes was found guilty, but the case was later overturned by the state supreme court on a legal technicality.

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The Big Parade (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures) is released. United Artists releases Charlie Chaplin's film The Gold Rush. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer releases Ben Hur.

In January, John Logie Baird presents the world's first working television system.

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On May 20, Charles Lindbergh makes the first transatlantic solo flight from New York to Paris aboard the Spirit of St. Louis.

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The Jazz Singer, is released by Warner Bros., proving the popular potential of talking pictures.

On October 7, Herbert Hoover wins the US presidential election.

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The Lights of New York is released by Warner Bros., becoming the first 100 percent talking picture.

On February 14, gangsters dressed as policeman working for Al "Scarface" Capone gun down several members of a rival gang led by George "Bugsy" Moran in an incident later known as the "St. Valentine's Day Massacre".	1 9 2 9
During the final week of October, the US Stock Market crashes, beginning the Great Depression. The gross national product declines from the 1929 figure of $103,828,000,000 to $55,760,000,000 in 1933.	1 9 2 9

On May 1, The Empire State Building is dedicated in New York.

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On October 8, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) elected president.

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In 1932, 127 sound films were made, compared with only 8 in 1929.

On January 30, Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany. By July, Hitler has ordered the suppression of political parties other than the Nazi party and begun boycotting Jewish businesses. This year, the first of the concentration camps open at Dachau.	1 9 3 3	Fay Wray stars in King Kong, released by RKO Radio Pictures. Spencer Tracy and Loretta Young star in Man's Castle, released by Columbia Pictures. Gold Diggers and 42nd Street are released by Warner Brothers.
During his inauguration address, FDR declares, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." FDR introduces the New Deal, a system of economic and social programs and legislation aimed to counter the effects of the Great Depression. FDR's New Deal program includes provisions for public works, labor protection, industrial recovery, and retirement and unemployment insurance. The Tennessee Valley Authority is formed to build dams and hydroelectric plants.

In Germany, after the death of President Paul von Hindenberg, the chancellorship and presidency are merged under Hitler.

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FDR begins more legislation under his New Deal, including the creation of the Works Progress Administration. On August 14, the Social Security Act is signed. The National Labor Relations Board is created through the Wagner Act, outlawing unfair practices by employers and to regulate labor negotiations.

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The Fox Company merges with Twentieth Century to create Twentieth Century-Fox. Becky Sharp, the first three-strip Technicolor feature film is released.

On October 1, General Francisco Franco is appointed chief of state in Spain.	1 9 3 6	Universal releases My Man Godfrey starring Carole Lombard and William Powell.
On November 3, FDR is reelected.
On August 11, the 11th Olympic games are held in Berlin. German television broadcasts the games. African American sprinter Jesse Owens wins four gold medals.

The Hindenburg, a German airship, explodes, killing 36 as it attempts to moor at Lakehurst Naval Station in New Jersey.

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Fritz Lang's You Only Live Once is released by United Artists Corporation

The Fair Labor Standards Act passes in the US, creating a minimum wage and maximum hour work-week, among other labor reforms	1 9 3 8	Twentieth Century-Fox releases Just Around the Corner, starring Shirley Temple. Military build-up films become popular.
On November 9, Jewish homes, synagogues and schools are burnt down and shops are looted in the attacks known as Kristallnacht.	1 9 3 8

On April 7, Spain joins Germany, Italy and Japan in the Anti-Comintern Pact. In May, Hitler and Mussolini sign a 10-year political and military alliance. On Setember 1, Germany invades Poland. Two days later, Britain and France declare war on Germany

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Gone with the Wind is released, produced by David O. Selznick and starring Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable.

In May, after British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigns, Winston Churchill heads coalition government.	1 9 4 0	Twentieth Century-Fox releases The Grapes of Wrath, based on the John Steinbeck novel.
On May 10, Germany invades the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. In June Italy declares war on France and Britain, and Germans enter Paris. In the August Battle of Britain, the Royal Air Force shoots down 180 German planes. Germans attack British airports and bomb London in raid known as the blitz.
On Novemer 5, FDR is re-elected president for a third consecutive term.

On December 7, Japan attacks the US at Pearl Harbor. More than 2000 members of the US armed forces were killed and a large portion of the US Pacific fleet was damaged. The incident, dubbed "a day which will live in infamy" by FDR, brings the US into the war. On December 8, US and Britain declare war on Japan, and on December 11 Germany and Italy declare war on the US.	1 9 4 1	Citizen Kane is released, directed by and starring Orson Welles.
In December, the "Manhattan Project" of atomic research starts in Chicago and Los Angeles.	1 9 4 1

On April 9, US and Filipino forces on the Bataan peninsula surrender and are taken on a forced march, known as the Bataan Death March, during which nearly 10,000 are killed or die. On April 16, 16 US bombers make a bombing raid on Tokyo and other Japanese cities during the Doolittle Raid. In August, US troops capture an airfield on the Pacific island Guadalcanal. On November 7, during US General Dwight D. Eisenhower's Operation Torch, allied troops land in Morocco and Algeria.	1 9 4 2	Mrs. Miniver is released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
US industrial production expands for the war effort. Campaigns are begun in Britain (Dig for Victory) and the US (Victory Gardens) encouraging civilians to cultivate gardens to increase the available food supply.
On March 21, FDR establishes the War Relocation Authority, moving Japanese Americans away from the Pacific Coast. 110,000 are interned in camps.
On December 2, In Chicago, Enrico Fermi initiates the first controlled chain-reaction in a nuclear reactor.

In January's Casablanca Conference, FDR and Churchill confer on a grand strategy. On September 3, upon the arrival of US forces Italy surrenders.

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Casablanca is released by Warner Brothers, starring Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart.

On June 6, allied forces surprise the Germans by landing on five beaches in Normandy, France, a day later referred to as D-Day. In July, during the Bretton Woods Conference the International Monetary Fund and World Bank are established. On November 7, FDR wins the US presidential election for a fourth term.

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On April 12, FDR dies and is succeeded by his vice president, Harry S Truman. In June, the founding conference of the United Nations is held with 51 countries initially signing the charter. On June 28, Mussolini is shot. On June 30, Hitler commits suicide in his bunker. On May 7, Germany surrenders. On August 6, the US drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima; three days later a second bomb is dropped on Nagasaki. On September 2, Japan surrenders aboard the USS Missouri. On November 20, the Nuremberg trials begin for Nazi war criminals.

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