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Battle of Britain
This was the intense air battle between the Germans and the British over Great Britain's airspace from July 1940 to May 1941, with the heaviest fighting from July to October 1940. -
Leon Trotsky Assassinated
Around 5:30 p.m. Trotsky was sitting at his desk in his study, helping Ramon Mercader edit an article. Mercader waited until Trotsky started to read the article, then snuck up behind Trotsky and slammed a mountaineering ice pick into Trotsky's skull. -
Jeep Invented
During World War I, the U.S. Army needed a fast, lightweight all-terrain vehicle.. The Army called on the automotive companies to create a working prototype in fortynine days. Willy’s Truck Company was the first company to create the right prototype. The new vehicle was nicknamed “the Jeep.” -
Mount Rushmore Completed
This a sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore near Keystone, South Dakota, in the United States. Sculpted by Danish-American Gutzon Borglum and his son, Lincoln Borglum, Mount Rushmore features 60-foot sculptures of the heads of four United States presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincon. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The Japanese launched a surprise air attack on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. After just two hours of bombing, more than 2,400 Americans were dead, 21 ships had either been sunk or damaged, and more than 188 U.S. aircraft destroyed. -
The Bataan Death March
The Bataan Death March was the forced march of American and Filipino prisoners of war by the Japanese during World War II. The 63-mile march began with 72,000 prisoners from the southern end of the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines. -
Anne Frank Goes Into Hiding
Thirteen year old Anne Frank had been writing in her red and white checkered diary for less than a month when her sister, Margot, received a call up notice around 3 p.m. on July 5, 1942. Although the Frank family had planned to go into hiding on July 16, 1942, they decided to leave immediately so that Margot would not have to be deported to a "work camp." -
The Katyn Forest Massacre
In addition to the annihilation of European Jewry by Nazi Germany, there were other incidents of mass death on both sides of the fighting forces during World War II. One such massacre was uncovered by German forces in the Katyn Forest outside Smolensk, Russia. -
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland fought valiantly against the German soldiers who intended to round them up and send them to the Treblinka Death Camp. Despite overwhelming odds, the resistance fighters, known as the Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa. -
D-Day
In June 1944, the United States and the United Kingdom began the long-awaited attack from the west, the Normandy Invasion.This was the very first day of this massive amphibious invasion, which brought thousands of ships, tanks, planes, and troops across the English Channel. -
FDR Dies
Commonly known by his initials FDR, was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the 32nd President of the United States. From March 1933 to his death in April 1945, he was elected for four consecutive terms, and remains the only president ever to serve more than eight years. -
Hitler Commits Suicide
With the end of World War II imminent and the Russians nearing his underground bunker under the Chancellery building in Berlin, Germany, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler shot himself in the head with his pistol, likely after swallowing cyanide. -
Manhattan Project
During World War II, American physicists and engineers began a race against Nazi Germany to create the first atomic bomb. This secret four year endeavor was code-named “the Manhattan Project." -
U.S. Drops Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The Atomic bomb in Japan was conducted by the United States during the final stages of World War II in August 1945. The two bombings were the first and remain the only use of nuclear weapons in wartime. -
Slinky Toy Hits Shelves
In 1943, the idea for the Slinky toy originated when engineer Richard James dropped a tension spring on the ground and saw how it moved. Thinking he might be on to something a bit more fun and universal than a tension spring, he took the spring home to his wife, Betty, and the two of them tried to come up with a name for this potential toy.
