-
Period: to
German Blitzkrieg
"Blitzkrieg," a German word meaning “Lightning War,” was Germany’s strategy to avoid a long war in the first phase of World War II in Europe. Germany's strategy was to defeat its opponents in a series of short campaigns. Germany quickly overran much of Europe and was victorious for more than two years by relying on this new military tactic of "Blitzkrieg". Blitzkrieg tactics required the concentration of offensive weapons (such as tanks, planes, and artillery) along a narrow front. -
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor attack, (December 7, 1941), surprise aerial attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu Island, Hawaii, by the Japanese that precipitated the entry of the United States into World War II. The strike climaxed a decade of worsening relations between the United States and Japan. -
Wannasee Confrence
The Wannsee Conference was a meeting of senior government officials of Nazi Germany and Schutzstaffel leaders, held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee on 20 January 1942. -
The Battle of Midway
On the morning of June 4, 1942, aircraft from Japanese carriers attacked and damaged the US base on Midway. The US Marine Corps force stationed on Midway endured devastating losses, but the facilities only suffered minor damage. -
Period: to
The Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 1942 – 2 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (later renamed Volgograd) in Southern Russia. -
Period: to
Operation Gomorrah
Operation Gomorrah, was a campaign of air raids which began on 24 July 1943 and lasted for eight days and seven nights. It was at the time the heaviest assault in the history of aerial warfare and was later called the Hiroshima of Germany by British officials. -
Operation Thunderclap
In 1944, during World War II, a plan called Operation Thunderclap was proposed. The idea was to bomb Berlin, which would inflict many casualties. However, the project was never put into action. -
Period: to
The Invasion of Normandy Beach ( D-day
On June 6, 1944, the long-awaited Allied landing in northern France began. Facing Hitlers Atlantic Wall, soldiers of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and other Allied nations landed on beaches in Normandy, beginning a campaign which lasted until July 24, 1944. -
Period: to
The Battle of Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was Adolf Hitler's last major offensive in World War II against the Western Front. Lasting six brutal weeks, from December 16, 1944, to January 25, 1945, the assault took place during frigid weather conditions. -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
On 27 January 1945, Auschwitz concentration camp—a Nazi concentration camp and extermination camp in occupied Poland where more than a million people were murdered as part of the Nazis' "Final Solution" to the Jewish question—was liberated by the Soviet Red Army during the Vistula–Oder Offensive -
Period: to
The Battle at Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima (19 February – 26 March 1945) was a major battle in which the United States Marine Corps (USMC) and United States Navy (USN) landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) during World War II. -
Victory in Europe (VE Day)
On Victory in Europe Day, or V-E Day, Germany unconditionally surrendered its military forces to the Allies, including the United States. On May 8, 1945 - known as Victory in Europe Day or V-E Day - celebrations erupted around the world to mark the end of World War II in Europe. -
Postdam Declaration
Potsdam Declaration, ultimatum issued by the United States, Great Britain, and China on July 26, 1945, calling for the unconditional surrender of Japan. The declaration was made at the Potsdam Conference near the end of World War II. -
Dropping of the Atomic Bomb
On the morning of August 6, 1945, the American B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Top Image: The devastated downtown of Hiroshima with the dome of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall visible in the distance -
Period: to
Victory Japan Day (VJ Day)
Victory over Japan Day (V-J Day) would officially be celebrated in the United States on the day formal surrender documents were signed aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay: September 2, 1945. But as welcome as victory over Japan was, the day was bittersweet in light of the war's destructiveness.