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The Battlr of the Atlantic
-Sept. 3rd, 1939 - May 8th, 1945
-Collection of naval battles between the Kriegsmarine (Germany’s Navy) and the Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Navy (UK), the US Navy, and Allied merchant ships.
-Longest campaign during WW2, lasting to the defeat of Germany in 1945
-Around UK / Between Germany and UK. German Navy attempted to cut off naval trade for the UK, weakening there forces. -
The Winter War
-Military conflict between the Finnish Army and Soviet Union (USSR)
-Began on Nov. 30th, 1939, 3 months after the outbreak of WW2
-Started with Soviet invasion of the Eastern Finnish border
-Ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peace treaty on March 13th, 1940
-The League of Nations deemed the attack illegal and expelled the Soviet Union from the League -
The Military Draft
-Sept. 16th, 1940: US institutes “ Selective Training and Service Act of 1940”
-All men between 21 and 45 must register for draft
-First peacetime draft in US History
-Those selected from draft lottery had to serve a mandatory one year in Armed Forces
-Once US entered WW2, draft terms were extended through entire fight
-By the end of the war (1945), 50 million men registered for draft and 10 million had been inducted to the military -
Tuskegee Airmen
-Founded in 1941
-First African-American military aviators in US Army Air Corps, precursor of the US Air Force
-Formed 332nd Fighter Group and 477th Bombardment Group
-“Tuskegee” comes from the Tuskegee Army Airfield in Alabama, where they were trained
-Flew more than 15,000 sorties in Europe/ North Africa during WW2.
-There incredible abilities earned the group more than 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses, and helped further the integration of other races in the US Armed Forces -
Mt. Rushmore
-Monument of four former presidents (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln) in Pennington County, South Dakota
-Artists: Gutzon and Lincoln Borglum
-The monument was completed on Oct. 31st, 1941 -
White Rose
-Founded in 1942
-A group led by Hans/Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst spoke out against Nazi tyranny
-Group expanded into an organization, including students from Berlin, Freiburg, etc.
-After the German defeat at Stalingrad (Jan. 1943), Hans and Sophie handed out pamphlets to encourage students at Munich to rebel. However, a university janitor had spotted them and reported them to the Gestapo(German Secret State Police)
-Nazi regime executed Hans, Sophie, and Christoph on Feb. 22nd, 1943 -
Bataan Death March
-Forced march of American/ Filipino POWs by the Japanese Empire during WW2
-63 Mile march began with 72,000 prisoners from the southern end of the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines
-Began April 9th, 1942
-The atrocious conditions and brutal treatment of the prisoners during the march resulted in about 7,000 - 10,000 deaths. -
Invasion of Italy
-Invasion OF THE MAINLAND started on Sept. 3rd, 1943
-The British 8th Army (under the command of Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery) begins the Allied invasion of the Italian Peninsula
-They crossed the Strait of Messina from Sicily and landed at Calabria (the toe of Italy)
-On the same day they landed, Italy’s government secretly agreed to the Allies’ terms of surrender, but did not publically announce this until Sept. 8th -
Hiroshima / Nagasaki
Hiroshima: August 6th, 1945
Nagasaki: August 9th, 1945 (3 days later) -
Cold War
Began: 1947
Ended: 1991 -
Period: to
Berlin Airlift
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NATO
-Founded April 4th, 1949
-North Atlantic Treaty Organization (or North Atlantic Alliance)
-Military alliance between European and North American countries based on the North Atlantic Treaty, also signed April 4th, 1949 -
Warsaw Pact
