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The Holocaust
The Holocaust was a genocide in which over six million European Jews were killed by Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany. The Jews were systematically murdered. Hitler was successful at killing various ethnic and political groups in Europe.
Jan 30, 1933 – May 8, 1945 -
Munich Agreement
The agreement prevented a war from happening but it also gave Czechoslovakia away to the Germans. -
Germany Invades Poland
After Hitler invaded Poland in September 1939, France and Britain went to war with Germany. Germany attacked France. France fell in June 1940. -
The Soviet Union Invades Poland
As Soviet troops broke into Poland, they met up with German troops who had fought their way in. The Germans handed over their Polish prisoners. Thousands of Polish troops were taken into captivity. Some 'Poles' surrendered to avoid being captured by the Germans. The Soviet Union ended up with about three-fifths of Poland and 13 million of its people as a result of the invasion. -
Germany Invades Denmark and Norway
Adolf Hitler made the decision to invade Norway and Denmark, even though it had no significant effect on the outcome of the war. Hitler believed he would establish a milestone in the history of warfare by demonstrating the effective reach of modern military forces. -
Germany Declares war on the United States
Adolf Hitler declared war on the United States. He brought a country that had remained neutral into conflict. -
Battle of Midway
The United States Navy defeated a Japanese attack against Midway Atoll and destroyed Japanese aircraft carriers. The battle was important because it weakened the Imperial Japanese Navy for the rest of the war. They were unable to build their armies back up.
June 4-7 1942 -
Battle of Stalingrand
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II. Nazi Germany fought the Soviet Union. They were seeking control over the city of Stalingrad.
1942 – February 2, 1943 -
Battle of Kursk
The Battle of Kursk was the last major offensive they launched in Russia. The damage done to the German Army was massive. 500,000 men were killed, wounded or missing; a lot of the Armour had been lost. -
D-Day
General Dwight Eisenhower led the United States and Allied troops in an invasion of Normandy. The armies fought their way through France and Belgium and into Germany while Russian troops fought from the east.
Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945. -
Operation Dragoon
The goal of the operation was to secure the ports that were vital and were on the French Mediterranean coast. There was also a increase pressure on the German forces by opening another front.
August 15- September 14 1944 -
Battle of Bulge
This was the last major German offensive campaign of World War II. The surprise attack caught the Allied forces completely off guard. American forces took the brunt of the attack and it was their highest casualties of any operation during the war. The battle also depleted Germany's armored forces on the Western Front and they were irreplaceable.
December 16 1944 – January 25 1945 -
The Rhine Crossing
Within 48 hours, four US divisions had crossed the Rhine at Oppenheim and positioned themselves to advance into Germany. They crossed without the usual artillery preparation, a maneuver that caught German troops by surprise.The crossing of the Rhine was vital to the conquest of Germany. -
Adolf Hitler Commits Suicide
Adolf Hitler committed suicide by swallowing a cyanide capsule and then shooting himself in the head. Germany decided to surrender the Allied Forces soon after. This ended Hitler’s dreams of a “1,000-year” Reich. -
Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
President Truman decided to drop atomic bomb to end the war quickly and prevent more U.S. casualties. The Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, killing about 78,000 people and injuring 100,000 more. On August 9 a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki killing another 40,000 people.
August 6 and August 9, 1945
