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Selective Service & Training Act
American men had not volunteered en masse or certainly not in the numbers needed to raise, train, and deploy an army quickly after the United States declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917. -
The Invasion (Blitzkrieg) of Poland
The invasion lasted from September 1 to October 5, 1939. As dawn broke on September 1, 1939, German forces launched a surprise attack on Poland. Army Group North attacked from Pomerania and East Prussia, while Army Group South drove deep into southern Poland from Silesia and Slovakia. -
Great Britain and France declare War on Nazi Germany
Britain and France declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939, two days after the German invasion of Poland. The guarantees given to Poland by Britain and France marked the end of the policy of appeasement. -
The Invasion (Blitzkrieg) of Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands & France
Such an attack ideally leads to a quick victory, limiting the loss of soldiers and artillery. Most famously, blitzkrieg describes the successful tactics used by Nazi Germany in the early years of World War II, as German forces swept through Poland, Norway, Belgium, Holland and France with astonishing speed and force. -
The Battle & Great Escape at Dunkirk
Operation Dynamo, the evacuation from Dunkirk, involved the rescue of more than 338,000 British and French soldiers from the French port of Dunkirk between 26 May and 4 June 1940. The evacuation, sometimes referred to as the Miracle of Dunkirk, was a big boost for British morale. -
The Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain fizzled out in late-October 1940, when Hitler abandoned his quest for control of British airspace and turned his attention toward attacking the Soviet Union. The campaign was Germany's first major defeat in World War II, but it didn't mark the end of the Blitz against Britain. -
Lend-Lease assistance Act
this act set up a system that would allow the United States to lend or lease war supplies to any nation deemed "vital to the defense of the United States." -
The Attack of Pearl harbor
After two hours of bombing, 21 U.S. ships were sunk or damaged, 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed, and 2,403 people were killed. All of this happened while the U.S. and Japan were officially engaging in diplomatic negotiations for possible peace in Asia. -
America Enters World War 11
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor catapulted the United States into World War II. The American people were outraged. Though diplomatic relations between the United States and Japan were deteriorating, they had not yet broken off at the time of the attack. -
Germany & Italy Declare War on the United States
Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. Hitler announced in Berlin that Germany, Italy , Congress approved legislation giving President Roosevelt virtually unlimited powers over defense contracts, the reorganization of government -
The Battle of the Coral Sea
World War II naval and air engagement in which a U.S. fleet turned back a Japanese invasion force that had been heading for strategic Port Moresby in New Guinea. -
The Battle of Midway Island
World War II naval battle, fought almost entirely with aircraft, in which the United States destroyed Japan's first-line carrier strength and most of its best trained naval pilots. -
The Invasion of North Africa
The battle for North Africa was primarily a struggle for control of the Suez Canal and access to oil from the Middle East and raw materials from Asia, but also an effort to drive Italy out of the war as a prelude to invasion of southern Europe and a planned bombing campaign against Germany. -
The invasion of Sicily & Italy
Although there would be further twists and turns in the liberation of the Italian nation, through Sicily the Allies had successfully delivered a devastating blow against the first fascist government in world history when they toppled Mussolini's regime. -
The D-Day Invasion of France
he D-Day operation of June 6, 1944, brought together the land, air, and sea forces of the allied armies in what became known as the largest amphibious invasion in military history. -
The Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was the US Army's greatest struggle to deny Adolf Hitler's last chance for victory. As 1944 was drawing to a close, the Allied forces could look back on a year of great strides towards victory over the Axis powers. -
Nazi concentration Camps Discovered
Images of what the Allies found when they liberated the first Nazi death camps towards the end of World War II brought the horror of the Holocaust to world attention. -
The Yalta Conference
the Soviet Union was given the right to control Eastern Europe. They were supposed to allow free elections in the countries of the Eastern Europe but they were given control. This led to Cold War b/z it made the West feel that the USSR was bent on expanding communism -
V-E 9 (Victory in Europe) Day
Germany unconditionally surrendered its military forces to the Allies, including the United States. On May 8, 1945 - known as Victory in Europe Day or V-E Day - celebrations erupted around the world to mark the end of World War II in Europe. -
The Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima
the American B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. -
The Atomic bomb on Nagasaki
he bombing of the Japanese city of Nagasaki with the Fat Man plutonium bomb device on August 9, 1945, caused terrible human devastation -
V-J (Victory over Japan) Day
Victory over Japan Day (V-J Day) would officially be celebrated in the United States on the day formal surrender documents were signed aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay: September 2, 1945. But as welcome as victory over Japan was, the day was bittersweet in light of the war's destructiveness.