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The Invasion of Poland
German troops invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, triggering World War II. In response to German aggression, Great Britain and France declared war on Nazi Germany. -
The Battle of Britain
Battle of Britain, during World War II, the successful defense of Great Britain against unremitting and destructive air raids conducted by the German air force (Luftwaffe) from July through September 1940, after the fall of France. -
The Bombing of Pearl Harbor
On the morning of December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The surprise attack by some 350 Japanese aircraft sunk or badly damaged eighteen US naval vessels, including eight battleships, destroyed or damaged 300 US aircraft, and killed 2,403 men. -
The Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II that took place 4–7 June 1942, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl .. -
The Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad (17 July 1942 – 2 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II, beginning when Nazi Germany and its Axis allies attacked and became locked in a protracted struggle with the Soviet Union for control over the Soviet city of Stalingrad (now known as Volgograd) in southern ... -
Operation Torch
Operation Torch (8–16 November 1942) was an Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. -
The Battle of Kursk
Battle of Kursk, (July 5–August 23, 1943), unsuccessful German assault on the Soviet salient around the city of Kursk, in western Russia, during World War II -
Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Program
The MFAA was established in 1943 by the American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas, known as the Roberts Commission for its chairman, Supreme Court Justice Owen Roberts. While the vast majority of MFAA officers were male, a few “Monuments Men” were female -
D-Day (June 6th, 1944)
The D-Day operation of June 6, 1944, brought together the land, air, and sea forces of the allied armies in what became known as the largest amphibious invasion in military history. The operation, given the codename OVERLORD, delivered five naval assault divisions to the beaches of Normandy, France. -
The Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge started on December 16, 1944, when German forces launched a surprise attack on Allied forces in the forested Ardennes region in Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. The battle lasted until January 16, 1945, after the Allied counteroffensive forced German troops to withdraw. -
The Battle of 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 ... -
The Death of FDR
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945), commonly known by his initials FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. The longest-serving U.S. president, he is the only president to have served more than two terms. -
The Death of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler, chancellor and dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, committed suicide via a gunshot to the head on 30 April 1945 in the Führerbunker in Berlin after it became clear that Germany would lose the Battle of Berlin, which led to the end of World War II in Europe -
The Battle of Okinawa
The battle for Okinawa dragged out over nearly three months and included some of the worst kamikaze attacks of the war. By the time Okinawa was secured by American forces on June 22, 1945, the United States had sustained over 49,000 casualties including more than 12,500 men killed or missing. -
Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima
On August 6, 1945, during World War II (1939‑45), an American B‑29 bomber dropped the world's first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese ... -
Atomic Bombing Nagasaki
atomic bombings did not place Nagasaki among their top two choices. Instead they identified Kokura as the second target after Hiroshima. In ...