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Period: to
World War 2
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Germany invades Poland
On the 1st of September 1939, Germany invaded Poland using a tactic known as 'blitzkrieg'. Attacking from the North, South and West with more than 2,000 tanks and over 1,000 planes, the German forces broke through Polish defenses along the border and advanced on Warsaw in a massive encirclement attack.This caused Britain and France to declare war on Germany on September 3rd however their forces were unable to do anything and Warsaw surrendered on September 27th. This marked the start of WW2. -
British evacuation from Dunkirk
The Dunkirk evacuation, was the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk, France, between 27 May and 4 June 1940. As the German advanced in France, they pushed the allied soldiers back to the beaches and if Britain had not so quickly assembled rescue boats, they would have suffered great losses. This is an important event in the history of the war because Britain had a huge amount of forces at Dunkirk. Losing that many men would have been disastrous for the allies and the war. -
France surrenders to Germany
After the fall of Poland, Germany set its eyes to western Europe and quickly overran Norway and Denmark to secure iron-ore supplies.In May invaded the Netherlands, Belgium and France. France was defeated by the 17th June 1940 and was forced to sign an Armistice 4 days later. This was a major turning point in the war as now Germany had only Britain to defeat before they controlled almost all of Europe. -
The Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain was a fight between the British Royal Air force and the German Luftwaffe over control of the air over Southern Britain and the English Channel. The battle was the first major military campaign in history to be fought entirely in the air and Hitler saw it as a prelude to the invasion of Britain. Britain managed to gain the upperhand and Hitler postponed the invasion of Britain indefinitely.This was important because if Hitler took Britain, he would have controlled all Europe -
Germany invades Russia
On June 22 1941, Germany invaded Russia to achieve Hitler’s original aim of the conquest of the Soviet Union. As Russia was slow to respond, German forces destroyed many Soviet planes on the ground and were able to advance quickly. However as the Russian winter started to set in, the advance slowed and was driven back from Moscow by soviet divisions from Siberia. By attacking Russia, Hitler betrayed Stalin and gave Britain a powerful ally. Now Germany was fighting a war on two fronts. -
Japanese bomb the American fleet at Pearl Harbour
On 7 December 1941, Japanese planes attacked the US naval base of Pearl Harbour, destroying half the US fleet. Previously to this many Americans opposed entering the war however the attack ensured the support of the public when President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared war on the Axis powers the next day and America entered the war in both the Pacific and European regions. Britain gained another very powerful ally. -
Fall of British Naval Base in Singapore
North of Australia, Malaya and Singapore were defended by 130,000 British Empire troops and it was said that Singapore with its British Naval Base could not fall. However on the 15 Feb 1942, the British commander of the naval base surrendered to a Japanese army half their size and all Singapore’s defenders became POW’s. Australians now felt even more exposed to an invasion of Japan. -
Japanese bomb Darwin
After Singapore fell, Australia felt even more exposed and their worst fears became a reality when on the 19th February 1942 the Japanese bombed Darwin. At least 243 people were killed and there was panic all across Australia. More air raids followed and the Japanese captured small groups of Australian forces. Darwin was the first of 64 attacks. -
The Kokoda Battles
The only Australian troops standing in the way of a Japanese invasion of Papua were three battalions stationed in Port Moresby. On 23 July they first clashed with the Japanese at Awala and after more than two weeks, the defenders fell back to Isurava and then Imita Ridge, just 50 kilometres from Port Moresby. Lack of supplies forced the Japanese into retreat and on 2 November the Australians regained Kokoda. This crucial campaign stopped Japanese taking control of the whole Pacific region. -
Germany lose the the battle of Stalingrad to the USSR
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad. From November 1942 Soviet Red Army troops fought back heroically and by the 31 January 1943, the German forces had surrendered. -
D-day Landings in Normandy, France
On Tuesday 6 June 1944 (D-day), the allies invaded Normandy, France in the largest seaborne invasion in history. The operation began the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi control and heavily contributed to the allies’ victory on the Western front. -
Allied bombing of Dresden
The bombing of Dresden was the aerial bombing of the city of Dresden, during WW2. In four raids between 13 and 15 February 1945, the British Royal Air Force the United States Army Air Forces dropped more than 3,900 tons of high-explosive bombs on the city and An estimated 22,700 to 25,000 people were killed. -
End of War in Europe
In April 1945, the Allied forces entered Berlin and Hitler committed suicide. On May 2, the Soviets conquered Berlin as 70,000 German troops laid down their arms in the surrender that Adolf Hitler had said never would come. Although this marked the end of the War in Europe, the Pacific war was still going on. -
Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
On August 6, 1945, during World War II an American 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. Three days later,on the 9th August, a second bomber dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. -
Japan unconditionally surrendered
On the 14th August 1945, following the bombings of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, the Japanese unconditionally surrendered. Japan’s Emperor Hirohito announced this in a radio address on August 15, citing the devastating power of “a new and most cruel bomb.” This marked the end of all fighting in WW2.
