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Tripartite Agreement
A pact made by America and Great Britain for an accepted currency between both countries. This pact was made for international trading between each other and stability in their own economies. As a result of the withdrawal of the gold standard in Great Britain, both America and Britain were having trading problems as a result. Many of the citizens in both countries were calling for currency reform, and this resulted. -
Rape of Nanjing
During the war of Sino-Japanese, Japanese forces conquired the city of Nanjing, the capital of China. The Chinese government had been forced back which lead to the overtaking of the capital. One of the captains ordered for the city to be demolished and wrecked down with the civilians slaughtered. What followed was an enormous amount of raping, murders, and mutilation of civilians that horrified many of the surrounding countries. Once WWII was over, the Japanese general was held for war crimes. -
Anschluss
The annexation of Austria-Hungary by the Germans was announced by Hitler in the March of 1938. The Austrians had been longing for this for quite awhile, since many Austrians speak German. This made way for Hitler's dream of uniting all of the German-speaking people in Europe by allowing him to annex a large amount of land while going against the Treaty of Versailles. As time went on, He would annex even more of Europe. -
Munich Pact
A signed pact with the French and British prime ministers and Adolf Hitler. This was made to keep peace between the countries and advert from war, while giving Czechoslovakia to Germany to annex. After Hitler had annexed Austria, he began to set his sights on a new target: Czechoslovakia. -
Kristallnacht
This event was known for the massive violence and hate committed against Jews in Germany by Nazis. Jewish homes, synagogues, businesses and more were torched and destroyed. Initially this killed about 100 jews. The night following this was called the "Night of Broken Glass", where over 30,000 jewish people were sent to concentration camps simply because they were jewish. All of this was done by the orders of Adolf Hitler, which made many countries outraged. -
Non-Aggression Pact
Earlier before the beginning of WWII, Soviet Russia and Germany signed a pact saying that they would refrain from taking military actions on each other for the next 10 years or so. Of course, this was only a section of Adolf Hitler's plan. He used this to his advantage to invade Poland and other countries with no opposition to his actions. At this time Poland was an ally of Russia, and the pact restricted Russia. Later on, Hitler would break this pact and invade Russia. -
Invasion of Poland
On the day of September 1st, 1939 German infantry infiltrated Poland through a span of over 1,750 miles along the Polish borders.U-boats, aerial bombings and more bombarded the country while it struggled to defend itself. Hitler said that the invasion was an act of defense against Poland, but not many believed him. France and Britain soon found interest in this, and not with good response. After this France and Britain declared war on Germany, starting WWII. -
Evacuation of Dunkirk
Cut off by the oncoming swarm of the German army, the British troops posted in England are forced to retreat over the North Sea to their allies in England. The British commanders were thinking of moving all of the expeditionary force back to Britain due to the massive wave of Germans. However, the Germans had the forces almost completely surrounded the British. From this, any citizens that had seafaring vessels were asked to aid in the retreat from the city. -
Lend Lease Act
A principle made by the U.S. to aid all countries whom the president and government deems viable to help in defending America. Countries that apply to this are such as the Brazil, Soviet Union, and more. This allowed the U.S. to build up it's military while still fighting in a war without overexerting itself. The act also allowed the U.S. to send out their own forces to other countries to help their fights too. This made it so that the U.S. didn't have to enter the war to help in the fight. -
Operation Barbarossa
The day of betrayal had come, with the Germans launching an enormous invasion on Soviet Russia. With over 3 million German infantry units posted and 150 divisions, the Soviets were certainly taken by surprise. This invasion covered over 2,000 miles across the borders. This attack failed though, and made a humongous backstep in Hitler's plans when he now had to fight a war on two fronts. -
Pearl Harbor
On this dreadful day of December 7th, Japanese bomber planes flew over the U.S. military naval base of Pearl Harbor and without warning unloaded explosives all over the area. An astounding number of more than 2,400 people were killed in this attack, outraging the U.S. Only around 100 Japanese soldiers died in this attack, and this finally pushed America over the edge to join in on WWII. From then on the U.S. would join the allies in the fight, and over time the allies would eventually win. -
Battle of Midway
From the outrage of Pearl Harbor, came an enormous counter offensive from America, taking out Japan completely from the war. -
D-Day Invasion
Through a stretch of 50 miles, Canadian, American, and British infantry were posted on 5 different beaches during the infamous day known as D-Day. Over 150,000 Allied troops were posted on the beaches which extensive planning put behind the attack on France's Normandy Region. Beforehand the Allies had conducted an enormous plan for deceiving the opposing forces by telling them they were going to attack a different area, and when the time came around, they actually attacked the unarmed beaches! -
Liberation of Paris
For four years during WWII, Paris, France had been under the rule of Nazi Germany and taken from the Allied Powers. However, on August 26th, 1944 it was taken back and given to France by the French resistance and U.S. military support. The opposition for the retaking was light and some Germans even simply refused to fight. By this time the Germans were losing in the war with the Allies gaining the upper hand. This overtaking was a large stepping stone in fending off the Germans for the Allies. -
Battle of the Bulge
This was one of the final major German offensive battles in WWII. The battles were fought through Belgian and French areas mostly in an attempt to break up the Allied forces through the European areas in one big blitzkrieg. As the American forces that were deployed there, they took the form of a large bulge, hence the name. The Allies managed to defend the areas through intelligent defensive planning. -
Hitler Commits Suicide
The leader of the Germans Adolf Hitler commits suicide in a bunker by shooting himself after taking a cyanide tablet. Not long after, the Germans surrender in World War II, effectively ending the war. Before this, the Germans had been fighting a two-front war against the Soviet Union and the Western Allies. Due to a multitude of battles gone wrong, Hitler retreated to a secluded bunker after the Soviets seized Berlin, which then Hitler soon met his own demise. -
Surrender of Germany
After so many killed and much blood shed, the day of May 7th came around and Germany had had enough. They could fight no longer. Their leader, Adolf Hitler had been killed and the government, military, and people were without leadership. Germany backed out of WWII on this day, marking the finale of the conflict in Europe in WWII. (Fun fact, Europeans have a holiday on May 8th celebrating this victory) -
Hiroshima and/or Nagasaki
On the dark day of August 6th, 1945, an American bomber plane delivered and deployed a nuclear explosive on top of Hiroshima, Japan. Over 80 thousand people were killed in the initial bombing. On August 9th, another American plane dropped another nuclear bomb on a Japanese city, this time being the city of Nagasaki. Soon after Japan backed out of World War II and surrender from the insane power of the bombs. In total, the bombings killed over 120,000 people. -
Invasion of Manchuria
After the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet Union declared war on the Japanese. Following their word with the USA, the Soviet Union invaded the occupied area of Manchuria. The Soviets had over 1 million soldiers, and the Japanese were 700,000 strong. The Japanese were very close to surrendering due to the bombings, but would refuse until they knew the ensured future of Japan and the health of the emperor.
