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Battle of Midway Island
The Battle of Midway Island was the first engagement between the Japanese and the U.S. Navy occurring six months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in June of 1942. This battle resulted in a U.S. victory. -
Beginning of Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was an undercover government operation to produce a nuclear bomb. Led by a German scientist, Robert J. Oppenheimer, the bombs were tested in New Mexico. -
British overpower Germans at El Alamein
The British decided to attack the Axis Powers in North Africa in order to clear the Suez Canal and buy time to replenish their troops. In October of 1942, the Germans were defeated at El Alamein of Egypt, leading to the eventual purge of Germans from Africa by May 1943 -
Invasion of Italy
Further delaying requests from Stalin to open a second front in France, the British, American, and Canadians invaded Italy from the south in July of 1943. Mussolini was forced to retreat to Northern Italy, and Rome was taken by June 4, 1944. -
D-Day
The June 6, 1944 invasion of France (occupied by Germany), by the Allies. The Normandy landings opened a second front in Europe that the Germans had to fight against marking a large turning point in World War II. -
Liberation of Paris
After D-Day, allied troops made their way through the French countryside, liberating villages as they went. In August of 1944, the troops reached Paris where they assist french rebels and defeated the Germans after about 4 years of occupation. This marked a major turning point in the war, and the beginning of the end for the Nazis. -
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bugle was the last German attack to attempt to gain ground in World War II in December of 1944. This battle broke the line that was held by the Allies but the Germans retreated across the Rhine River back to Germany and the Germans never went over lines held by the Allies in the rest of the war. -
Yalta Conference/Agreement
The Yalta Agreement was an consensus negotiated at the 1945 Yalta Conference between Roosevelt of the U.S., Churchill of Great Britain, and Stalin of the Soviet Union. The accord reached was related to the fate of postwar Eastern Europe. This agreement did very little to ease to tensions that were growing between the Soviet Union and its Allies in the West. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
Beginning on February 19th, 1945, when the United States Marine Corps as well as the Navy landed on the island of Iwo Jima. Ending on March 26th as the United States seized the island from the Japanese Imperial Army. -
Hiroshima
Occuring on August 6th, 1945, the bombing of Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki occurred, orchestrated by the United States government. This disaster ended up killing an estimated 200,000 people total, civilian deaths causing uproar.