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Invasion of Poland
The Soviet Union invaded the Eastern part of Poland. This made it so Poland's path to success was ruined, and Germany and the Soviets created a pact to split the country. -
Battle of Britain
Germany attempted to air attack Great Britain, but they were not as successful as they were in the previous invasion of France. Around fall of 1940, the invasion was postponed until further notice. -
German Invasion of France
The Germans entered France with tanks, dive bombers, and artillery. Although France tried to defend themselves, Germany went to the northern part of France and quickly defeated the French. -
Pearl Harbor Bombing
The Pearl Harbor bombing was an aerial attack by the Japanese in an attempt to destroy the American naval base. This was when the U.S. decided to join World War 2, a big turning point, and declared war on Japan. -
Battle of Midway
This battle was a turning point, and that's because it was the first time the Allies were able to defeat the Japanese, and cause them to have heavy losses in their fleet. This battle lead to more Allied victories. -
Battle of Stalingrad
This battle was the stopping of Germans by the Soviets. This was important because it started the turning of power in the war to the Allies, allowing further advance by the Allied powers. (The date was when this battle ended) -
Battle for Italy - Italy surrenders
The 8th Army invaded Italy on the 3rd of September, 1943. As the British invaded more of Italy, the new Italian government (created after Mussolini was overthrown) surrendered to them. A short while before the 9th of September is when the Italians surrendered. The Italian Army was weak because the Germans had already done their deed on them, so the British were coming after the Germans. -
D-Day
Over 160,000 Allied troops were deployed to invade Normandy, France. Although this victory was important to the Allies, due to the fact it was the starting of ending German rule in France, it didn't make a big difference in the Holocaust. -
Battle of the Bulge
This battle was Germany's last push to attempt to stop the Allied powers. It was a temporary stop, but did hardly anything towards the continuation of the Allied advance. The Germans lost over 100,000 soldiers and almost all of their military equipment due to this battle. -
German Surrender
The Soviets and Americans continued their closing in on Germany, and both sides were fighting heavily. The Soviets got close to Adolf Hitler's bunker, and on April 30th, 1945, Hitler committed suicide. Quickly after, the German forces surrendered. Berlin was collapsing to the Soviets. May 7th, 1945 is when West Germany surrendered, and East Germany surrendered on May 9th. -
Atomic Bomb Dropping
American atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cites of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945. Over 120,000 civilians died in those bombings. These bombs were dropped because the Japanese refused to surrender to the U.S.