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The SS St. Louis
The SS St. Louis was a ship that had Jewish people on deck because they were discriminated against.The ship went from Germany to Cuba. Most of the 937 people on deck had US visas.They only planned to stay in Cuba for a small amount of time.Cuba did not allow the Jewish people to enter, except for 27 who bought new visas.After that the USA and Canada did not allow them to enter.In the end,the ship went back to Europe and people disappeared to countries like France. Canada was not nice during WW2. -
British Commonwealth Air Training Plan
This was an agreement between Canada, New Zealand,Australia, and Britain.It was a plan to train air crew members for WW2. Air crew members include pilots,and more Canada agreed to pay for the entire plan. Schools were set up throughout Canada to provide service for the programs.This program was super successful, and most of the British aircrew graduated from the BCATP. The program also helped people who were struggling from the Depression.It was one of Canada's greatest contributions to the war. -
German Blitzkrieg
The German Blitzkrieg was a method of warfare developed by the Germans during World War 2. The tactic was used to surprise the enemy by attacking them with all you have got. Hitler used this tactic a lot to take over land faster and more easily. This had a big impact during World War 2 because it allowed Hitler and his army to take over regions like France easily. -
Manhattan Project
It was an American-led plan to create an atomic bomb.The Manhattan project was started in response to the word that had been spread that the Germans were creating a nuclear weapon and that Hitler was prepared to use it.For this mission to be possible some of the greatest minds were required.In July 1945, the atomic bomb was complete and tested and that is when the war became apparent. The US figured out that it was a war winning weapon.Research that was found then is used now, in the US military -
Fall Of France
The Fall of France was the German invasion of France. In 6 weeks, the Germans took over France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The Germans took over France using one of the very famous war tactic known as the Blitzkrieg. They overwhelmed France with their army and forced them to retreat. This had a big affect on the war because the French collapse was completely unexpected. It forced Britain to fight the Germans over the next 4 years at sea, in the air and in the Mediterranean -
Evacuation of Dunkirk
From May 27, 1940-Jun 4, 1940 the Evacuation of Dunkirk took place.The British Army was stranded on the seaport of Dunkirk waiting to be rescued.The Germans found out about this and they bombed the port.The British brought about 800 ships to save the soldiers and over 338,000 people were saved.The Germans had a lot of the British army defenseless but for some reason Hitler didn't fully commit to the attack.This had a huge impact on the war as so many British troops were saved and fought the war. -
Battle of Britain
Between July 10-October 31 1940 the battle of Britain took place. Was a battle started by Hitler to make the Luftwaffe(German Air Force)destroy the British air force(RAF). The battle was in the air and ground. This took place because Hitler thought they had to destroy the British air force to stop sinking the German ships which carried German soldiers across the channel. It was the first defeat for Hitlers military forces and before this they seemed unstoppable. It gave hope to British forces. -
The Final Solution
The Final Solution was just another name for the Holocaust.The Holocaust as a mass murder of about 6 million Jews.Hitler blamed the Jews for losing WW1. Until 1941, Jews were just stripped of everything they had, but in July of 1941 things got worse. The Final Solution was when the concentration camps opened up and the Jews had to wear yellow stars.Jews were forced to the camps, treated in a terrible way and killed. This event had a long lasting impact, as survivors could not return home. -
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name of the Axis invasion of the Soviet-Union. The Germans wanted to take over the western side of the Soviet-Union so that Germans could repopulate there and so that they could use the people that lived there as slaves. Even though Germans had many major victories in this invasion, they came up short in the Battle of Moscow due to the weather. The impact that this had on the war was that if the Nazi conquered the Soviet-Union the war would've been different. -
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor was a surprise attack by Japanese forces on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor.Hundreds of fighter planes came on the base and destroyed vessels, battleships, airplanes, and people. Japan attacked pearl harbor because they would destroy the vessels and airplanes that would interfere with their conquest of Southeast Asia.This is significant because this brought USA into the war and it gave them a reason to fight.Also because America lost lots of valuable equipment. -
Japanese Canadians Internment
During WW2, Japanese Canadians were discriminated against, even though most of them were Canadians by birth. White people excluded the Japanese from many events. Laws were passed, that stopped the Japanese from working in mines and voting. As the war went on, Japanese people were seen as a threat. The RCMP started to arrest suspects. People that they thought were working for Japan, but placed in Canada. During the war homes and businesses were sold by the government in order to pay for debts. -
Wannsee Conference
The Wannsee Conference was a meeting of senior government officials of the Nazi Germany and the Schutzstaffel ( a parliament party under Adolf Hitler and the Nazis). The meeting was held in Berlin and was called to find a solution on how to kill the most amount of Jewish people. The solution that was created was that the Jewish people in Europe would be rounded up and taken to concentration camps in Poland where they would be killed. the effect this had was that millions of Jewish died this way. -
Battle of El Alamein
This was a battle in Egypt.This battle way between Germany and the British.There were two battles at El Alamein. In the first battle,Germany dominated and the British were behind as their tanks got destroyed in the battle.In the second battle, the British were fully prepared as they had double the amount of men and tanks available than Germany.The leading German solider fell ill and by the time he got back, they were too far behind and the Allies won.The importance was that Germany lost control. -
The Conscription Crisis (Canada)
The conscription crisis in Canada was when the Canadian government realized that conscription was needed as they didn't have enough people so they forced Canadians into military service.These soldiers fought for the liberation of the Netherlands and many more battles.The conscription was one because Canada needed more people to join the army and even though people voted against it it needed to be done.This had a huge impact on Canada's army as without it it wouldn't be as big as it was before. -
Liberation of the Netherlands
Before the liberation of Netherlands Germany had control of Netherlands.Nearing the end of the war Canada was given the task to liberate the dutch when the British and US couldn't do it.Little by little Canada made Germany surrender.Canada liberated the Netherlands because 70% of the Jewish population was being killed and they had to do something to save them from starvation and sickness.This still has an impact today too because Netherlands would still be under Germany's control today today. -
D-Day
D-Day refers to the first day of the invasion of Normandy. The invasion of Normandy was the largest sea born invasion to ever occur in history. This invasion was done by the allied forces and the result wasn't very surprising as the allied forces won. The effect that this had on WW2 was that the allied forces took back the North-West of Europe from the Germans. -
Death of Hitler
On April 30th,1945 the chancellor of Germany Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his bunker.The way he committed suicide was he took a cyanide capsule then shot himself with a pistol his body was then cremated.No one knows the exact reason but the Russians were a few days away from him and one Nazi principle was death before dishonor so maybe instead of risking getting caught trying to escape he may have just chose suicide.It had a huge impact as Germany's leader was dead and Russia was on to them -
VE Day
VE day, Victory Day in Europe, was a publicly celebrated holiday on May 8 1945. The holiday celebrated the formal acceptance of Nazi Germans armed forces. The German surrender was authorized by Reichspräsident Karl Dönitz due to Adolf Hitler committing suicide during the Battle of Berlin on April 30 1945. The act of military surrender was signed on May 7 in Reigns, France then again on May 8 in Berlin, Germany. The effect of this event on WW2 was that it was the end of the War in Europe. -
Potsdam Declaration
The Potsdam Declaration was essentially a document that outlined the surrender of the Japanese government. The document was issued on July 26,1945 and had a few rules. The Japanese wanted to renegotiate but that allied forces wouldn't allow it. The Japanese then held a pres conference in which they said they will ignore this document and that they have no comment. The impact that this had on the war was that this led to the allie forces had no other choice than to invade Japan. -
Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
After Germany had surrendered, it was down to the final stages of war in which all the allied forces focused their attention on Japan. From the consent of the United Kingdom, The Americans dropped 2 nuclear bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki which killed at least 129,000 people, mostly civilians. The allied forces then invaded Japan which forced them to surrender on Augest 15, 1945. the effect this had on WW2 was that this was finally the end of WW2.
