-
Nazis take the Sudetenland
Hitler demanded that Sudetenland was given to Germany or they would declare war. He wanted it because Germany had lost that territory in World War I. Hitler wanted to take back the territory and the people that used to be German. The Czech government didn’t want to give it to him, but eventually they did, which indirectly led to the start of World War II. I chose this picture of the Sudetenland and Germany to give a comparison between the two places and to show what was given back to Germany. -
Ribbentrop/Molotov Pact
Germany and Soviet Russia signed an agreement that allowed Germany to invade Poland without having a war with Soviet Russia. It also allowed Joseph Stalin to take parts of Poland and Finland and to annex Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. There was also a secret part of the treaty that gave Lithuania to Germany. The signing of this treaty directly led up to World War II. -
Ribbentrop/Molotov Pact
The media I chose is a political cartoon that portrays Poland as Goldilocks and Little Red Riding Hood, and Germany and Soviet Russia as the bear and the wolf. I thought it was a good representation of Germany and Soviet Russia ganging up on Poland and allowing Germany to attack it. -
Germany’s invasion of Poland
The Germans easily invaded and defeated the Polish, causing the British and French to declare war on Germany. Germany annexed the Polish territories along their border. The British and the French fighting against the Germans was the start of World War II. I chose the picture of the German soldiers attacking Poland because that was the main cause of World War II. If that had not happened, the French and British wouldn’t have any reason to declare war on Germany, and the war wouldn’t have started. -
Start of the German Blitzkrieg
(Continued from Time Span)
One strategy they used was to drop several fake bombs that would never explode, along with other bombs that went off after an extended period of time. This meant you never knew if a bomb was going to go off later, or not at all. This is represented in the media I chose, a picture of one of these bombs. -
Period: to
German Blitzkrieg
On September 7, Germany launched a major attack on London and other major cities. They dropped tons of bombs on London, killing nearly 32,000 people in total. They did this to basically destroy everything in these large British cities. -
Battle of Britain
In July, Hitler began Operation Sealion. This was the seaborne attack on Britain. He also sent the German air force to destroy the British air force. This made the seaborne attack on Britain much easier. The Media I chose to represent the Battle of Britain is a piece of artwork that shows the British air force being attacked. I think it does a good job of showing all the planes being shot right out of the sky. This was a very important event in the Battle of Britain. -
Nazi Invasion of the Soviet Union
Breaking the non-aggression pact signed by Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939, Hitler invades the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. Surprisingly though, Germany was defeated by the Soviet Union, despite the fact that they had a much smaller army and were unprepared for the attack. It was the first time one of Hitler’s major attacks had failed. -
Nazi Invasion of the Soviet Union
The media I chose is a picture which happens to be the cover of a book about the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. It shows the code name of the operation, Barbarossa, and an injured man, most likely a soldier. I think it accurately displays the effects of the battle. -
Pearl Harbor
The American naval base, Pearl Harbor, was attacked on the morning of December 7, 1941 by Japanese fighter planes. They destroyed nearly 20 ships and almost 200 planes. Over 2,000 Americans were killed in the attack. The next day, the United Stated declared war on Japan and three days after, Japan declared war on the United States. This was the point where the United States joined World War II. -
Pearl Harbor
The picture I chose is an inscription about the attack on Pearl Harbor. This shows just how significant an event this was in American History. -
Wannsee Conference
A group of Nazis met at the Wannsee Conference to discuss the “final solution of the Jewish problem”. Their ultimate goal was to eliminate the Jewish people, and here, they discussed how to deport the Jews and ultimately kill the entire population. They wanted to get rid of the Jewish people as fast as they could. The media I chose is a political cartoon which, although it does not apply specifically to the Wannsee Conference, it is a very good representation of what they were planning there. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was one of World War II’s deadliest and most devastating battles. Germany lost the battle and a huge portion of their army, and never fully recovered from the loss. The Germans bombed the Volga River and the city of Stalingrad, but the Soviets fought back, causing them to surrender by February of 1943. I chose for my media, an aerial view of Stalingrad. The huge clouds of smoke just emphasize how much damage was done during this battle. -
Allied Invasion of Africa
The Allies invaded North Africa to defeat the Germans. In some places there was a lot of fighting, but other places, there was hardly any at all. They could not completely take Germany out, but enough damage was done to help the Allies along. For the media, I chose an article page about Operation Torch, which was the name of the invasion of Africa. It shows how big of a risk this was, but in the end it paid off. -
Operation Gomorrah
The second largest city in Germany, Hamburg, was attacked by airplanes in Operation Gomorrah. It caused over 50,000 deaths, 40,000 of them on July 27, when 739 planes attacked Hamburg. The media I chose is a picture of the bombs being dropped on Hamburg. It makes it seem more real to actually see the bombs falling down on the city. Not something anyone should ever have to experience, but it was a necessary measure to defeat the Germans. -
D-Day Normandy Invasion
Britain, Canada, America, and France attacked Germany off the coast of Normandy. It was a major turning point in World War II, yet it was almost canceled due to bad weather. This ended up helping them because the Germans did not expect the attack to come with the overcast skies, so they were not prepared. They dropped men with parachutes at night to destroy important targets behind enemy lines. They also dropped thousands of dummies to confuse the Germans. -
D-Day Normandy Invasion
Later they bombed the Germans from the sky and the water. They even destroyed railroads and telephone lines. I chose a picture of troops and supplies on the shoe of Normandy for my media. It shows just how large of an operation this was. It was a very important event in World War II. -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
The Allies started to come across tens of thousands of concentration camps. The Germans tried to hide the evidence of the camps by tearing them down, but they were moving quickly, and much of the camps were left standing. Auschwitz was the largest of these camps, and was liberated by the Soviets in January of 1945. -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
The media I chose is a photograph of all the unburied dead bodies found at one the many concentration camps. Very few people who were sent to these camps survived, and the ones who did were starved, sick, and weak. The rest that died were sometimes buried in mass graves. Other times they were burned, or just left out in the open. -
Battle of the Bulge
This was Germany’s last try at chasing the Allies out of Europe. The Germans took the Americans by surprise with their attack, and the troops had to fight in the cold and snow. Even with all this against them, the American soldiers did not back down. They fought back and eventually forced Germany to surrender the battle. I chose for my media, a photograph of soldiers fighting in the snow at Battle of the Bulge. It shows how dedicated to their country they are to fight even in harsh conditions. -
VE Day
The Allies finally defeated Germany. There was heavy fighting in Normandy, and the Germans surrendered soon after the death of Hitler. At 12:01 on March 8, the Allies had officially won World War II. The media I chose is a newspaper extra about the victory of the United Stated and the surrender of Germany. It shows that this day was a huge deal in American history, the end of World War II.
