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Reuben James Sank
American destroyer sank by German U-boat, killed many American sailors -
Nazi Germany Invaded Poland
Germany's invasion of Poland was the primer on how Hitler intended to wage war -
Sitzkrieg
the phony war or sitting war was a phase early in World War II that was marked by a lack of major military operations by the western allies against Germany. -
Manhattan Project Began
The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. -
France Fell on Germany
(Also known as the Battle of France) When France fell Americans realized the only thing that stood between Hitler controlling all of Europe was England. -
Battle of Britain
An aerial battle between Germany and Britain which involved the bombing of Britain and the Britain Royal Air Force, which offered successful resistance -
America First Committee Launched
an influential political pressure group in the United States that opposed aid to the Allies in World War II because it feared direct American military involvement in the conflict. -
Destroyers-for-Bases Deal
The Destroyers-For-Bases Deal was an agreement between the U.S. and the UK that transferred fifty mothballed destroyers from the United States Navy in exchange for land rights on British possessions. -
Congress Instituted the Draft
The United States instituted the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, which required all men between the ages of 21 and 45 to register for the draft, which s was the first peacetime draft in United States history. -
Lend-Lease
The United States sold, transferred, exchanged, and lent equipment to any country to help it defend itself from the Axis Powers. -
USS Kearny Attacked
The USS Kearny was torpedoed on October 17, 1941 by a German U-boat while on patrol off Greenland, but did not sink. -
Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor
Surprise attack by the Japanese on the main U.S. Pacific Fleet harbored in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii destroyed 18 U.S. ships and 200 aircraft. -
Four Freedoms
A speech by FDR that proposed four points as fundamental freedoms humans "everywhere in the world" ought to enjoy: speech and expression, religion, want, fear. want and fear were new ideas which excited Americans by going beyond the constitutional values. -
Bataan Death March
The Bataan Death March was the forcible transfer by the Imperial Japanese Army of 60,000–80,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war. -
Battle of Coral Sea
A naval battle between Japan and the US which halted the Japanese movement towards Australia, but resulted in heavy losses for the US. -
Battle of Midway
U.S. naval victory over the Japanese fleet where they lost four of their best aircraft carriers. It marked a turning point in World War II. -
Island Hopping Campaign Begins
A military strategy employed by the Allies in the Pacific War against Japan and the Axis powers during World War II. -
Battle of El Alamein
battle of the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War, fought between Axis powers and Allied powers it halted the second and final advance by the Axis forces into Egypt. -
Battle of Stalingrad
An unsuccessful German attack on the city of Stalingrad that was the furthest extent of German advance into the Soviet Union. -
Battle of Bataan
The Battle of Bataan represented the most intense phase of Imperial Japan's invasion of the Philippines during World War II. -
Tehran Conference
First major meeting between the Big Three (United States, Britain, Russia) at which they planned the 1944 assault on France and agreed to divide Germany into zones of occupation after the war -
Casablanca Conference
FDR and Churchill met in Morocco to settle the future strategy of the Allies following the success of the North African campaign then they decided to launch an attack on Italy through Sicily before initiating an invasion into France over the English Channel. -
D-Day
The invasion of Normandy that began the process of re-taking France, this was the turning point of the war -
MacArthur Returned to the Philippines
General Mac Arthur fulfilled his promise to the captured from the Bataan Death March to return after he was forced to flee. -
FDR Elected to a 4th Term
FDR was elected to an unprecedented fourth term in office. -
Battle of the Bulge
Its objective was to split the Allied armies by means of a surprise blitzkrieg thrust through the Ardennes to Antwerp, marking a repeat of what the Germans had done three times previously–in September 1870, August 1914, and May 1940. -
VJ Day
The Victory over Japan, a treaty signed on S.S. Missouri -
Yalta Conference
A meeting in Yalta of President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, and Joseph Stalin where they discussed the treatment of Germany, the status of Poland, the creation of the United Nations and Russian entry into the war against Japan -
Battle of Iwo Jima
A major battle in which the United States Marine Corps landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Imperial Japanese Army. -
Battle of Okinawa
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
Roosevelt died before the war was over, Harry Truman was his successor becoming President -
VE Day
Victory in Europe Day when the Germans surrendered -
Potsdam Conference
The final wartime meeting of the leaders that discussed the future of Europe but their failure to reach meaningful agreements soon led to the onset of the Cold War. -
Little Boy Dropped on Hiroshima
The first atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. -
Fat Man Dropped on Nagasaki
The second atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki -
Nuremberg Trials
Series of trials conducted by an International Military Tribunal in which former Nazi leaders were charged with crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. -
Japanese War Crime Trials
The International Military Tribunals for the Far East begins hearing the case against 28 Japanese military and government officials accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during World War II.
