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Congress Instituted the Draft
The act required all men in the U.S. between the ages of 21 and 30 to register for military service -
Nazi Germany Invade Poland
The German invasion of Poland was a primer on how Hitler intended to wage war–what would become the “blitzkrieg” strategy. -
Sitzkrieg
The Phoney War (French: Drôle de guerre; German: Sitzkrieg) was an eight-month period at the start of World War II, during which there was only one limited military land operation on the Western Front, when French troops invaded Germany's Saar district. -
France Fell to Germany
On June 22, 1940, the French government signed an armistice with Nazi Germany just six weeks after the Nazis launched their invasion of Western Europe -
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain was the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces, and was also the largest and most sustained aerial bombing campaign to that date -
Destroyers - For - Bases Deal
In the Destroyers for Bases Agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom on September 2, 1940, fifty Caldwell, Wickes, and Clemson class US Navy destroyers were transferred to the Royal Navy from the United States Navy in exchange for land rights on British possessions -
America First Committee Launched
The America First Committee (AFC) was the foremost United States non-interventionist pressure group against the American entry into World War II. -
Four Freedoms
Roosevelt insisted that people in all nations of the world shared Americans' entitlement to four freedoms: the freedom of speech and expression, the freedom to worship God in his own way, freedom from want and freedom from fear. -
Lend- Lease
It permitted him to "sell, transfer title to, exchange, lease, lend, or otherwise dispose of, to any such government [whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States] any defense article." -
USS Kearny Attacked
USS Kearny (DD-432), a Benson-Livermore-class destroyer, was a United States Navy warship during World War II. -
Reuben James Sank
While escorting convoy HX-156, the American destroyer U.S.S. Reuben James was torpedoed and sunk with the loss of 115 of 160 crewmen, including all officers. -
Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor
surprise aerial attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu Island, Hawaii, by the Japanese that precipitated the entry of the United States into World War II. -
Battle of Bataan
The Battle of Bataan represented the most intense phase of Imperial Japan's invasion of the Philippines during World War II -
Bataan Death March
The Bataan Death March was when the Japanese forced 76,000 captured Allied soldiers (Filipinos and Americans) to march about 80 miles across the Bataan Peninsula -
Battle of Coral Sea
a major naval battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and naval and air forces from the United States and Australia, taking place in the Pacific Theatre of World War II. -
Battle of Midway
The United States Navy defeated a Japanese attack against Midway Atoll, marking a turning point in the war in the Pacific theatre -
Battle of Stalingrad
It stopped the German advance into the Soviet Union and marked the turning of the tide of war in favour of the Allies. -
Battle of El Alamein
The Allied victory at El Alamein lead to the retreat of the Afrika Korps and the German surrender in North Africa in May 1943 -
Island of Hopping Campaign Begins
Leapfrogging, also known as island hopping, was a military strategy employed by the Allies in the Pacific War against Japan and the Axis powers during World War II. -
Casablanca Conference
The Casablanca Conference was held at the Anfa Hotel in Casablanca, French Morocco, from January 14 to 24, 1943, to plan the Allied European strategy for the next phase of World War II -
Tehran Conference
the three Allied leaders also discussed important issues concerning the fate of Eastern Europe and Germany in the postwar period. -
D-Day
Allied forces launched a combined naval, air and land assault on Nazi-occupied France; codenamed Operation 'Overlord', the Allied landings on the Normandy beaches marked the start of a long and costly campaign to liberate north-west Europe from German occupation. -
MacArthur Returned to the Philippines
a few hours after his troops landed, MacArthur waded ashore onto the Philippine island of Leyte. -
Battle of the Bulge
So the significance of the Battle of the Bulge was that Germany's defeat and the end of the war in Europe came sooner, and at a lower cost in Allied lives than it would have otherwise. -
FDR Elected to a 4th Term
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected to an unprecedented fourth term in office. FDR remains the only president to have served more than two terms. -
Yalta Conference
During the conference, the three leaders agreed to demand Germany's unconditional surrender and began plans for a post-war world. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima was an epic military campaign between U.S. Marines and the Imperial Army of Japan in early 1945. -
Battle of Okinawa
codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Marine and Army forces against the Imperial Japanese Army. -
FDR Died/ Harry Truman became President
the 33rd president of the United States from 1945 to 1953, succeeding upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt after serving as vice president. -
VE Day
Victory in Europe Day, generally known as VE Day or V-E Day, was celebrated on Tuesday, 8 May 1945 to mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces. -
Manhattan Project Began
The Manhattan Project. This once classified photograph features the first atomic bomb — a weapon that atomic scientists had nicknamed "Gadget." -
Potsdam conference
The conference failed to settle most of the important issues at hand and thus helped set the stage for the Cold War that would begin shortly after World War II came to an end. -
Little Boy Dropped on Hiroshima
This silent footage, in both color and black and white, shows the preparation of the “Little Boy” and “Fat Man” atomic bombs on Tinian Island. -
Fat Man Dropped on Nagasaki
"Fat Man" was the codename for the nuclear bomb that was detonated over the Japanese city of Nagasaki by the United States. -
VJ Day
Victory over Japan Day is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end. -
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg trials were a series of military tribunals held by the Allied forces under international law and the laws of war after World War II. -
Japanese War Crime Trials
On March 11, 1948, 30 people, including several doctors and one female nurse, were brought to trial by the Allied war crimes tribunal.
