U.S. History

  • German Anschuluss with Austria

    Hitler intended to unify all German speaking peoples. He annexed Austria to do this. He also demanded liberation of the German people in the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia. (Chamberlain attempted a settlement before war broke out)
  • Period: to

    Time Span

    Given by Instructions
  • Treaty with Munich

    Attended by Hitler, Chamberlain, Daladier of France, and Mussolini [not Russia]. Hitler said he just wanted Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia and that was all. The Czechs realized no one would come to their aid, so they surrendered.
  • Hitler invades Czechoslovakia

    Hitler broke his promise and occupied the country.
  • Britain rearms and reassures Poland

    Britain began re-arming and installed a highly secret radar early warning system along the East coast. Conscription was introduced.
    (March - April)
  • Russia and Germany sign a Pact

    -Non-aggression pact
    -included secret clauses for the division of Poland
  • Hitler invades Poland

  • Britain and France declare war on Germany

  • 'Phoney War'

    Britain saw no military action [Sept. 1939 - May 1940]
  • Hitler invades Denmark and Norway

  • Battle of Britain

    Comprised of four phases. [July - October]
  • British rout Italians in North Africa

  • Blitzkrieg

    Hitler launched a lightning war on Holland and Belgium. Rotterdam was bombed almost to extinction. Both countries were occupied.
  • Chamberlain Resigns

    Winston Churchill became the new head of the wartime coalition government.
  • Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo)

    General Gort had been forced to retreat to the coast of Dunkirk. The troops waited under merciless fire to be saved {more than 338,000 rescued)
  • Italy enters the war of the side of the Axis powers

    Italy wanted the rich pickings from the spoils of the war.
  • France signs armistice with Germany

    France was occupied by Germany, signing an armistice after being devastated by the war.
  • Tripartite Pact

    A mutual alliance signed by Germany, Italy, and Japan
  • Italy and Germany attack Yugoslavia

    [early] They attacked Yugoslavia, Greece, and the island of Crete
  • Hitler attacks Russia- Operation Barbarossa

  • Pearl Harbor

  • Britain and U.S. declare war on Japan

  • Japanese take Singapore

    Captured from the British
  • Battle of Midway

    USA defeated the Japanese - US Navy was able to push Japan back
  • Allies in North Africa

    Destroy the German-Italian army in North Africa [General Alexander's job]
  • Allies push into North Africa

    [General Eisenhower] Assumed control of French Morocco and Algeria - & gradually closed in on the Germans
  • Battle of Stalingrad

    Russians won against Germany
  • Battle of El Alamein

    Montgomery attacked the German-Italian Army in North Africa
  • Allies invade Sicily

  • Allies take Sicily

  • Allies meet as Tehran

    [Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill] They discussed post-war settlements.
  • Axis surrender North Africa

  • Italy Surrenders

    [Mussolini thrown out of office]Italy joined the Allies. Germans took control over the National Army, freed Mussolini, and set him up as the head of the puppet government in Northern Italy.
  • Rome Liberated

    Allies liberated Rome from the Germans
  • Leningrad Relieved

  • Japanese evicted from Burma

    [General Slim Britain]
  • Battle of the Bulge

    [German beat by Allies] Germany launched a final attack through the Ardennes region of Belgium
  • D-Day

    [General Eisenhower] Allies launched an attack on Germany's forces in Normandy, Western France.
  • Paris Liberated

  • V2 Flying Bombs

    First V2 flying bombs killed 3 people in London
  • Allies cross the Rhine

  • Death of Roosevelt

    Succeeded by President Truman
  • Russians reach Berlin

  • Mussolini captured and Executed

    [Executed by Italian partisans]
  • Hitler commits Suicide

  • German Forces Surrender

    [in Italy]
  • German Forces Surrender

    [Admiral Donitz - Hitler's successor] Tried to surrender with AL=llies but continue to fight Russia.
  • Donitz offer unconditional surrender

  • V.E. Day

  • Churchill loses the Election

  • Atomic Bomb dropped in Hiroshima

  • Atomic Bomb dropped on Nagasaki

  • Japanese Surrender

  • MacArthur accepts Japan's Surrender

    Formally ended the WW2