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Nazi Germany Invaded Poland
September 1st of 1930, Germany tanks and planes begin a full scale invasion of Poland starting World War II in Europe -
Sitzkrieg
Considered a "Phony War"; Occurred after Blitzkrieg in Poland (The lightning war) to France, causing France to believe that he would not invade only to give them a false sense of security. -
Battle of Britain
The first ever air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940. -
The America First Committee Launched
The America First Committee (AFC) was the foremost United States non-interventionist pressure group against America entering World War II; ended three days after the attack of Pearl Harbor brought the U.S into the war. -
Destroyer-For-Bases-Deal
In September, due to the constant assault on Britain by German bombing raids and submarine attacks threatening to take over the Atlantic, Roosevelt arranged a trade where Britain received 50 older (but still serviceable) U.S destroyers in exchange for the U.S to build military bases on British Islands in the Caribbean. -
France Fell to Germany
After Sitzkrieg, Germany attacks through tanks outflanking the Maginot Line and pushing deeper into France -
Congress Instituted the Draft
Roosevelt pushed neutrality back by persuading congress to enact a law for compulsory military service, The Selective Training and and Service Act, which provided for the registration of of men (ages 21-35) and for the training of 1.2 million troops in just one year -
Japanese Bomb Pearl Harbor
On December 7, The Japanese attack and bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, bringing the United States into the war -
Four Freedoms
FDR addressed Congress proposing the lending of money to Britain for the purchase of U.S war material as well as stating four freedoms in his speech: Freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom of want, and freedom of fear. -
USS Kearny Attacked
U.S Navy warship was torpedoed by a German U-Boat before the U.S entered the war -
Island Hopping Campaign Begins
(Leapfrogging) A strategy employed by the United States to gain military bases and secure the many small islands in the Pacific. -
Lend-Lease
Formed to counteract the cash-and-carry requirement of The Neutrality Act and to permit Britain to obtain all the U.S arms it needed on credit; stated to be like lending a neighbor a garden hose to put out a fire. -
Reuben James Sank
American Destroyer, the First ever naval ship sunk and lost by German U-boats in WWII -
Battle of Bataan
Imperial Japan attacked and ultimately overwhelmed Allied forces on the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines. -
Bataan Death March
Approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops located in Bataan were forced to make an arduous 65-mile march to prison camps. -
Battle of Coral Sea
First ever 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. -
Battle of Midway
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 -
Battle of El Alamein
Fought in Egypt, was the first decisive, irreversible British victory over German ground forces, which, together with their Italian allies, were forced to retreat 1,500 miles to Tunisia. -
Manhattan Project Began
Due to the fear of Nazi Germany creating and using nuclear weapons in war, a secret military project was created in Manhattan to produce the first US nuclear weapon, Gadget, which was detonated in the New Mexico desert. -
Casablanca Conference
Conference held at the Anfa Hotel in Casablanca, French Morocco where British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt met to discuss future global military strategy for the western Allies -
Battle of Stalingrad
The biggest confrontation of World War II in which Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in Southern Russia -
Conference of Tehran
Conference between President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin in Tehran to discuss an opening of a “second front” in western Europe. -
D-Day
Battle of Normandy, France in Operation Overlord, allied invasion which was the beginning of the end of the war as well as the largest seaborne invasion in history -
MacArthur Returned to the Philippines
In 1942 President Roosevelt ordered MacArthur to leave the Philippines and set up a new headquarters in Australia, MacArthur however waded ashore onto the Philippine island of Leyte and made a radio broadcast in which he declared, “People of the Philippines, I have returned!” -
FDR Elected to a Fourth Term
The nation's 32nd president and the only one to be elected to three terms, was inaugurated for a fourth term as World War II appeared to be headed towards an Allied victory -
Battle of the Bulge
The last major German offensive on the Western Front during World War II which became an unsuccessful attempt to push the Allies back from German home territory, it did however create a bulge in American lines 50 miles wide and 70 miles deep. -
Yalta Conference
Conference held near Yalta in Crimea, Soviet Union where Prime Minister Winston Churchill, President Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin discussed the future progress of the war and the fate of the post-war world -
Battle of Iwo JIma
A major battle in which the United States Marine Corps landed on and eventually captured (operation detachment) the island of Iwo Jima from the Imperial Japanese Army. -
Battle of Okinawa
(Code-named Operation Iceberg) Last major and bloodiest battle of WWII where the Navy's Fifth Fleet and more than 180,000 U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps troops descended on the Pacific island of Okinawa for a final push towards Japan -
VE Day
(Victory in Europe Day) Marked the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces -
Potsdam Conference
Conference held near Berlin where President Harry S. Truman, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill/Clement Attlee, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin met to discuss and negotiate terms for the end of the war. -
Little Boy Dropped on Hiroshima
Code-name for the atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima that exploded about 1,900 ft. and took approximately 45,000 lives. -
Fat Man Dropped on Nagasaki
Three days after the bombing of Hiroshima, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki which exploded about 60,000 ft high. -
VJ Day
(Victory over Japan Day) Day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, which as a result ended the war. -
Nuremberg Trials
Series of Military Tribunals (13) held in Nuremberg, Germany where judges from the allied powers presided over the hearings of twenty-two major Nazi criminals; 12 were sentenced to death. -
FDR Dies/Harry Truman becomes President
Vice President, Harry S. Truman, steps in the place of Roosevelt after his death, deciding that a tougher policy towards the Soviet Union was necessary -
Japanese War-Crime Trials
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE) presided over a series of trials of senior Japanese political and military leaders in order to serve punishment for war crimes; 25 of 28 Japanese defendants being found guilty.
