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Munich Pact
The Munich Pact is a perfect example of appeasement. In order to prevent war, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier signed an agreement giving the Sudetenland, land in Czechoslovakia, to Hitler. He claimed this would be his last territorial demand, but it was not by any means. The British and French here simply spoil Hitler and make him feel he can demand more and more, because they gave up land from their ally to him, in some ways ensuring war. -
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Stalin and Hitler signed a nonaggression treaty known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that shocked the world, due to the fact that Communists and Nazis were not on good terms. At the time, this pact benefited both leaders, keeping Hitler from a two-front war and giving Stalin a portion of Poland when it was conquered by the Nazis. This pact ended nearly two years later when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, showing his untrustworthiness and leading to the two-front war he had tried to avoid. -
Declaration of War
Hitler's power-hungry nature led him to invade Poland, because the Allies would not grant him an ethnically German portion of Poland that was taken from Germany by the Treaty of Versailles. France and England promised that an assault against Poland would result in a war, and they remained true to their war. Two days after Germany began invading Poland, France and Britain declared war on Germany, a war that would eventually take about 60 million lives. -
Lend-Lease Act
This Act was very debated and controversial, due to the fact that it is contrary to the United States' former policy of isolationism. This act, pushed for by President Roosevelt, allowed the US to not only sell, but even to lend arms to warring nations. Once passed, the United States lent arms to Britain and the Soviet Union when they were in conflict with Germany. This act signified the weakening of the policy of isolationism and pushed the US closer to war. -
Pearl Harbor
The Japanese acted very aggressively in Asia, attempting to gain massive amounts of land and expand their territory. This led to the United States freezing Japanese assets and banning oil exports to Japan. Japan grew somewhat desperate for oil, and when they realized war was inevitable with the United States, General Tojo bombed Pearl Harbor, which destroyed American warships and killed thousands. This action brought America into the war and promised a two front war in Europe and the Pacific. -
Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad
The German attempt to seize three large cities simultaneously failed. Despite Germany's firebombing of Stalingrad, the Soviet troops stood firm and launched a counterattack that killed hundreds of thousands of German troops. While this battle was massively costly for the Soviet Union, it forced Germany to retreat and lose all of the progress tey had made over the last several months. -
Mussolini resigns
Italy's failures in North Africa and the ease with which the Allies entered Sicily alarmed Italians and led them to lose faith in Mussolini. This loss of faith led to the Fascist Grand Council meeting to restore the king and parliament, which in turn led to the resignation of Mussolini. His resignation brought Italy out of the war temporarily. However, shortly after their surrender to the Allies, Italy declared war on Germany, aiding the Allied cause. -
D-Day
This offensive was directed by Eisenhower and carried out by both American and English troops. The Allied troops destroyed the German forces in Normandy, France, and came to control a large strip of coastline. Eventually, the Allies captured Paris. This victory gave the Allies access into Germany over the French border and eventually led to Germany's surrender. -
Beginning of the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa
The Americans had had a large amount of success with their strategy of island hopping, capturing islands one by one and bypassing certain islands, leaving them to die without supplies. These two islands were key locations, as Iowa Jima held airfields and Okinawa was very near Japan and would allow for an invasion. The capture of these islands was costly, but pushed the US closer to a victory of Japan. -
V-E Day
After a successful invasion into France in Operation Overlord that allowed Allied forces to enter Germany over the French border and a successful Battle of the Bulge, German offenses were ended. With an advancing Soviet forces, Hitler killed himself. This led to rapid surrenders from German armies and V-E day, the day the war officially ended in Europe. Now the US only had conflict in the Pacific to focus on. -
First atomic bomb dropped
This action by the US was the action that finally won the war. Firebombing would not convince Japan to surrender unconditionally, so Truman realized that the US would have to take desperate measures. First, the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and then three days later they also dropped a bomb on Nagasaki. These bombs completely destroyed the cities and led to massive loss of life, convincing Japan to surrender. -
V-J Day
After a period of bombings and firebombings by the US that destroyed cities and killed thousands and the dropping of two atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki that left the cities in ruins, the Japanese finally surrendered, seeing the horrors of the atomic bomb. The emperor was allowed to keep his position, as the people wanted, but only ceremonially, and the peace was officially accepted in September. This day marked the official end of World War II.
