World War II

Lend Lease

Mar 11, 1941

The U.S. issued this to supply the United Kingdom, France, the Republic of China, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations. The Lend Lease gave food, oil, materials, and generally free aid to these countries.

Atlantic Charter

Aug 9, 1941

This is a statement that set out American and British goals after the end of World War II. This is a joint statement between the two countries heads of government. The Atlantic Charter outlined what the aims of the U.S. and United Kingdom were after the war.

Pearl Harbor

Dec 7, 1941

This was a U.S. naval base in Honolulu, Hawaii. One day Japan devised a surprise attack on this naval base. Hundreds of Japanese fighter plans came and destroyed 20 vessels, 8 battle ships and over 300 planes. In the process, these Japan fighter plans also took 2,400 innocent lives with 1,000 people injured.

Bataan

Jan 7, 1942

This was fought between the U.S. and the Philippine Commonwealth. This was the most intense invasion by Japan to the Philippines. The Imperial Japanese Army and Navy invaded Luzon after bombing the naval base at Pearl Harbor.

Japanese Interment Camp

Feb 19, 1942

This was a U.S. government policy that isolated the Japanese people. About 120,000 Japanese people were relocated to concentration camps. President Roosevelt ordered this after the Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor.

Island Hopping

Apr 26, 1942

This was a military strategy also known as leapfrogging. The Allies employed this strategy when fighting against the Empire of Japan. The idea of this strategy was to capture every island that led to the final target.

Battle of Midway

Jun 4, 1942

This was a major naval battle in the Pacific. This battle occurred six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. The U.S. Navy defeated the Imperial Japanese fleet.

Guadalcanal

Aug 7, 1942

This was the first major offensive and decisive victory for the Allies over the Empire of Japan. The U.S. marines launched a surprise attack and took control of an airbase. Japan experienced great loss and were forced to give up Guadalcanal.

Operation Torch

Nov 8, 1942

This was an Allied invasion in French North Africa. This was the first major Allied offense of the war. Their hopes and goal was to remove the Axis presence on this continent. This marked the first time that Britain and the U.S. worked together on an invasion plan.

The Italian Campaign

Jul 10, 1943

This is also called the Liberation of Italy. It was fought between the Allied and the Axis powers. This was a series of Allied beach landings and land battles. The goal of these battles were to defeat the Axis powers out of Italy and Germany.

D-Day

Jun 6, 1944

The battle started with 156,00 American, British and Canadian troops landed on the coast of France. The battle field stretched from five beaches along a 50 mile stretch. This was one of the largest amphibious military assaults. This battle resulted in Allied liberation of Western Europe from Germany’s control.

Meeting at Yalta

Feb 4, 1945

This is also known as Crimea Conference and code-named Argonaut. This was meeting was about World War II with the U.S, United Kingdom and the Soviet Union. These heads of governments discussed the postwar reorganization of Germany and Europe.

Fall of Berlin

Apr 16, 1945

This was bloody battle from both the military and civilian standpoint. This was fought with air attacks, tanks and men. This battle caused Germany to wave their white flag to the Soviet Union.

Los Alamos

Jul 16, 1945

This is the United States Department of Energy national laboratory. Los Alamos is where the U.S. designed their nuclear weapon during World War 2. This is plan is also known as the Manhattan Project. Los Alamos was a selected secret location for designing bombs.

Meeting at Potsdam

Jul 17, 1945

This meeting was held near Berlin. It was the last of the Big Three meetings during WWII. Joseph Stalin, Harry S. Truman and Winston Churchill attended this meeting. The three gathered together to discuss how to administer Germany.

Hiroshima/ Nagasaki

Aug 6, 1945

The United States deployed two nuclear weapons over these two cities in Japan. There was about 70,000 people killed and tens of thousands killed from radiation poising in Hiroshima. In Nagasaki 20,000-40,000 people were killed. After the two bombings, Emperor Hirohito announced his surrender, which ended World War II.