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Battle of Britain
In the Battle of Britain, Germany bombed London in an intense air attack. Germany's goal was to conquer Britain. The British fought back, causing Germany to have to postpone a sea attack on Britain. The Battle of Britain lasted until the end of October and was significant in WWII because it was the first time that Germany had been defeated in trying to conquer another country. -
Operation Barbarossa
In Operation Barbarossa, three German army groups invaded the Soviet Union (Russia) seeking to provide more living space for the Reich. The plan took longer than expected and Operation Barbarossa failed. Operation Barbarossa was important because it was a factor in the Soviet Union deciding to join the Allies rather than the Germans. -
Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor
On December 7, 1941 -- which President Roosevelt called "a day which will live in infamy", Japnese pilots bombed the U.S. port of Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Hawai'i. Japan wanted to destroy the majority of the planes and ships at Pearl Harbor so that it could conquer Asia without interference. Also, Japan was having economic problems because the U.S. wouldn't sell it any oil and froze Japanese bank accounts. This event was important because it caused the U.S. to immediately enter WWII. -
Bataan Death March
The Bataan Death March was an atrocity that started when Allied forces in the Philippines under General Douglas MacArthur surrendered to the Japanese. Approximately 75,000 Allied soldiers (12,000 Americans and 63,000 Filipinos) became prisoners of war. Japanese soldiers forced the weakened Allied prisoners on a 65 mile walk to prison camps. Japanese soldiers killed thousands of men who fell down or tried to escape. Conditions at the prison camps were so bad that thousands more died. -
Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord, more commonly known as D-Day, was the operation in WWII in which the Allies invaded France. The Allies' goal was to gain Europe back from the Germans, and regaining control of France was the first step. In Operation Overlord, Allied planes and warships bombarded positions along the coast of Normandy, France, while planes dropped tens of thousands of troops further inland in France. This marked the start of the Allies retaking control of Western Europe from the Germans. -
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge took place in winter in the Ardennes Forest in France, when the German soldiers attacked the Allied troops. The Germans outnumbered the Allied forces, many of whom were inexperienced. The Battle of the Bulge lasted six weeks and Germany was able to drive a wedge 60 miles into the Allied lines before Allied reinforcements beat back the Germans. This battle was significant because so many German soldiers died and it was Hitler's last major offensive in the war. -
The Yalta Conference
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt met for a week in Yalta (in the Ukraine) near the end of World War II. At Yalta, they reached agreement to require Germany's unconditional surrender and divide it into four zones (each country and France occupying one zone apiece). At Yalta Stalin agreed Russia would enter the war against Japan. The three leaders agreed to meet in April in San Francisco to set up the United Nations. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima was a small island south of Kyushu (the main island of Japan). The Allied forces attacked Iwo Jima to try to take control of it away from the Japanese. More Allied soldiers were killed than Japanese soldiers in the battle which lasted 36 days before the Allied forces defeated the Japanese. The victory was important for the Allied forces because Iwo Jima was close to Japan and could be used as a base for attacks on Japan and for Allied planes to return for repair or refueling. -
V-E Day
The day that German soldiers laid down their arms and the Allies celebrated their victory over Hitler's Third Reich is referred to as "V-E Day", for Victory in Europe. On the day before, May 7, 1945, the Allies had accepted Germany's unconditional surrender. May 8 was declared a public holiday in celebration of the Allies' victory. -
Dropping the Atomic Bomb
Thousands of Japanese and American soldiers were being killed in the war in Asia and U.S. President Harry Truman decided to try to bring the war to a quick end by dropping the atomic bomb on Japan. On August 6, 1945, a plane called the Enola Gay dropped the atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima killing thousands of people. Still the Japanese didn't surrender, so on August 9, the Americans dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki. This led the Japanese to surrender five days later. -
V-J Day
V-J Day stands for Victory over Japan Day. On August 14, 1945 it was announced that the Japanese had surrendered to the Allied forces. Japan's surrender marked the end of World War II. Some people also consider V-J Day to be on September 2,when the Japanese signed the formal surrender documents on the U.S.S. Missouri.
