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Nazi Germany Invaded Poland
Germany invaded, breaking their agreement, so Britain and France declared war, starting World War II. -
Sitzkrieg
An eight-month period at the start of World War II, during which there was only one limited military land operation on the Western Front, when French troops invaded Germany's Saar district. -
Manhattan Project Began
A secret military project created to produce the first US nuclear weapon. -
France Fell to Germany
The French government signed an armistice with Nazi Germany just six weeks after the Nazis launched their invasion of Western Europe. -
Battle of Britain
A military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force defended the United Kingdom against large-scale attacks by the German Air Force. -
Destroyers-for-Bases Deal
In the Destroyers for Bases Agreement between the United States and Great Britain, fifty Caldwell, Wickes, and Clemson class US Navy destroyers were transferred to the Royal Navy from the United States Navy in exchange for land rights on British possessions. -
America First Committee Launched
The foremost United States non-interventionist pressure group against the American entry into World War II. -
Congress Instituted the Draft
The United States instituted the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, which required all men between the ages of 21 and 45 to register for the draft. -
Four Freedoms
Goals articulated by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt. -
Lend-Lease
The principal means for providing U.S. military aid to foreign nations during World War II. -
USS Kearny Attacked
USS Kearny (DD-432), a Benson-Livermore-class destroyer, was a United States Navy warship during World War II and was noted for being torpedoed by a German U-boat before the U.S. had entered the war. -
Reuben James Sank
While escorting convoy HX-156, the American destroyer U.S.S. Reuben James was torpedoed and sunk with the loss of 115 of 160 crewmen, including all officers. -
Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor
Japanese planes attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory. -
Battle of Bataan
The most intense phase of Imperial Japan's invasion of the Philippines during World War II. -
Bataan Death March
The forcible transfer by the Imperial Japanese Army of 60,000–80,000 Filipino and American prisoners of war from Saysain Point, Bagac, Bataan and Mariveles to Camp O'Donnell, Capas, Tarlac, via San Fernando, Pampanga, where the prisoners were loaded onto trains. -
Island Hopping Campaign Begins
Also known as leapfrogging, was a military strategy employed by the Allies in the Pacific War against Japan and the Axis powers during World War II. -
Battle of Coral Sea
A major naval battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and naval and air forces from the United States and Australia, taking place in the Pacific Theatre of the Second World War. -
Battle of Midway
A decisive naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II which occurred only six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The most major confrontation of World War II in which Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in Southern Russia. -
Battle of El Alamein
The Battle of El Alamein marked the culmination of the North African campaign between the forces of the British Empire and the German-Italian army commanded in the field by Erwin Rommel in World War II. -
Casablanca Conference
The Casablanca Conference was held at the Anfa Hotel in Casablanca, French Morocco, to plan the Allied European strategy for the next phase of World War II. -
Tehran Conference
A strategy meeting of Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill after the Anglo-Soviet Invasion of Iran; it was held in the Soviet Union's embassy in Tehran, Iran -
D-Day
Also known as the Normandy Landings, it was the landing operations of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. -
MacArthur Returned to the Philippines
A few hours after his troops landed, MacArthur waded ashore onto the Philippine island of Leyte. -
FDR Elected to a 4th Term
This was the first and only time a president has been inaugurated for a fourth term, but Roosevelt died 82 days into this term, and Truman succeeded to the presidency. -
Battle of the Bulge
The last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. -
Yalta Conference
Also known as the Crimea Conference and code named the Argonaut Conference, it was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union for the purpose of discussing Germany and Europe's postwar reorganization. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
A major battle in which the United States Marine Corps landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. -
Battle of Okinawa
Codenamed Operation Iceberg, it was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Marine and Army forces against the Imperial Japanese Army. -
FDR Died / Harry Truman Became President
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt passes away after four momentous terms in office, leaving Vice President Harry S. Truman in charge of a country still fighting the Second World War and in possession of a weapon of unprecedented and terrifying power. -
VE Day
Victory in Europe Day, generally known as V-E Day, VE Day or simply V Day, was the public holiday celebrated to mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces. -
Potsdam Conference
A conference between the The Big Three—Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (replaced on July 26 by Prime Minister Clement Attlee), and U.S. President Harry Truman— to negotiate terms for the end of World War II. -
Little Boy Dropped on Hiroshima
"Little Boy" was the codename for the atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima during World War II by the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, piloted by Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., commander of the 509th Composite Group of the United States Army Air Forces. -
Fat Man Dropped on Nagasaki
Fat Man was a more powerful and efficient, but more complicated, implosion-type nuclear weapon that used plutonium, a synthetic element created in nuclear reactors at Hanford, Washington. -
VJ Day
Victory over Japan Day is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect ending the war. -
Nuremberg Trials
A series of military tribunals held by the Allied forces under international law and the laws of war after World War II. -
Japanese War Crime Trials
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), also known as the Tokyo Trials or the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, was a military trial convened on April 29, 1946, to try the leaders of the Empire of Japan for "Class A" crimes, which were reserved for those who participated in a joint conspiracy to start and wage war.
