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Kristallnacht
The night of broken glass -
Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
A treaty made by Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939 that opened the way for both nations to invade Poland. -
Germany’s Invasion of Poland
The action by Germany that began World War II in 1939. Germany invaded Poland only days after signing the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, under which the Soviet Union agreed not to defend Poland from the east if Germany attacked it from the west. Britain and France, which had pledged to protect Poland from German attack, soon declared war on Germany. -
Dunkirk
a seaport in N France: site of the evacuation of a British expeditionary force of over 330,000 men under German fire -
Fall of France
The conquest of France by Germany in World War II in the spring of 1940. With France occupied, only British resistance in the Battle of Britain kept Germany from gaining control of Europe -
The Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain is the name given to the Second World War air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940. -
The Atlantic Charter
The Atlantic Charter was a pivotal policy statement issued on August 14, 1941 that, early in World War II, defined the Allied goals for the post-war world. -
Pearl Harbor
The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. -
Battle of Coral Sea
The Battle of the Coral Sea was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II between the Imperial Japanese Navy and naval and air forces from the United States and Australia. -
Battle of Midway
American planes based on land and on carriers decisively defeated a Japanese fleet on its way to invade the Midway Islands -
Operation Torch
The British-American invasion of French North Africa during the North African Campaign of the Second World War -
The Battle of Stalingrad
a major battle in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in Southern Russia, on the eastern boundary of Europe -
D-Day
The day on which the Allied forces invaded France -
Battle of Iwo Jima
A major battle in which the United States Armed Forces landed and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Imperial Army -
V-E Day
The Allied victory in Europe -
Hiroshima
a seaport on SW Honshu, in SW Japan: first military use of atomic bomb -
Nagasaki
A seaport on W Kyushu, in SW Japan: second military use of the atomic bomb. -
V-J Day
The day on which Japan ceased fighting in World War II. -
Nuremberg Trials
Trials of Nazi leaders conducted after World War II. -
Battle of the Bulge
A major German offensive campaign launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium, France, and Luxembourg on the Western Front
