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Rise of Fascism and Nazism
Fascism is a form of radical authoritarian nationalism that came to the prominence in early 20th century. Fascists have identified World War II as having been a revolution that brought revolutionary changes in the nature of war, society, the state, and technology, as the advent of total war and total mass mobilization of society had broken down the distinction between civilian and combatant
Nazism is ideology and practice of the German Nazi Party and state. -
Germany’s expansion and annexation of Austria
The Anschluss was the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in March 1938. At the time of the event, and until the German orthography reform of 1996 -
Neutrality Act
Congress passed the first Neutrality Act prohibiting the export of “arms, ammunition, and implements of war” from the United States to foreign nations at war and requiring arms manufacturers in the United States to apply for an export license. American citizens traveling in war zones were also advised that they did so at their own risk. -
Signing of the Non-Aggression Pact (Germany and U.S.S.R.)
shortly before World War II broke out in Europe–enemies Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union surprised the world by signing the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, in which the two countries agreed to take no military action against each other for the next 10 years. -
Blitzkrieg attack on Poland
was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the beginning of World War II in Europe. -
Battle of Britan
Battle or Britain is the name given to the Second World War air campaign waged by the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940. The Battle of Britain was the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces, and was also the largest and most sustained aerial bombing campaign to that date. -
Lend-Lease Act
Proposed in late 1940 and passed in March 1941, the Lend-Lease Act was the principal means for providing U.S. military aid to foreign nations during World War II. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack led to the United States' entry into World War II. -
Transition of the US home front to War production
The women had to take over many jobs and boosted our economy which got us out of the Great Depression -
Battle of Midway
a crucial and decisive naval battle in the Pacific Theatre of World War II. Only six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea, the United States Navy, decisively defeated an attacking fleet of the Imperial Japanese inflicting devastating and irreparable damage on the Japanese fleet. -
Invasion of Africa by Eisenhower
In July, Eisenhower was appointed lieutenant general and named to head Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of French North Africa. As supreme commander of a mixed force of Allied nationalities, services, and equipment, Eisenhower designed a system of unified command and rapidly won the respect of his British and Canadian subordinates. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in the south-western Soviet Union. -
D-Day
D-Day is the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. The best known D-Day is June 6, 1944—the day of the Normandy landings—initiating the Western Allied effort to liberate mainland Europe from Nazi occupation during World War II. However, many other invasions and operations had a designated D-Day, both before and after that operation -
Liberation of Madjdanek
the camp was used to kill people on an industrial scale during Operation Reinhard, the German plan to murder all Jews within their General Government territory of Poland. The camp, which operated from October 1, 1941 until July 22, 1944, was captured nearly intact, because the rapid advance of the Soviet Red Army during Operation Bagration prevented the SS from destroying most of its infrastructure; but also, due to the ineptitude of commandant Anton Thernes who failed in his task of removing -
The Battle of Bulge
The Battle of Bulge was a major German offensive campaign launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium, France, and Luxembourg on the Western Front toward the end of World War II in Europe. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
was a major battle in which the United States Armed Forces landed and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. This five-week battle comprised some of the fiercest and bloodiest fighting of the War in the Pacific of World War II. -
Battle of Okinawa
was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945. Used the island or Okinawa as a base for air operations on the planned invasion of Japanese mainland -
V-E day
mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces. It marks the end of World War II in Europe. -
Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagaski
On August 6, 1945, during World War II, an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. -
V-J day
a name chosen for the day on which Japan surrendered, in effect ending World War II, and subsequent anniversaries of that event. The term has been applied to both of the days on which the initial announcement of Japan’s surrender was made