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Peace Unravels
Didn't happen on March 9
At the end of WWI all disputes were not settled. Germany and Russia were not at the peace conference. Japan and Italy were mad because they didn't get as much land as they wanted after WWI. Totaltarianism started to rise. These were factors leading into WWII. -
Hitler Blitzkriegs Poland
Hitler blitzkrieged Poland. A blitzkrieg is a sudden attack whose focus is to make as much damage as quickly as possible. Although Hitler signed a nonaggression pact about a week earlier with the Soviets. Then on Sept 17 Russia attacked Poland as well. In the end, Poland had fallen to Germany. -
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor was the U.S Navy's main Pacific Base. Japan attacked in two waves, with the intention of destroying aircraft carriers and battleships. The first wave would take out most of the targets, while the second would destroy whatever was left. This is attack was supposed to prevent U.S. from influencing Japan's war effort in Southeast Asia. Although Japan did not plan their attack well; it was a Sunday morning so most of the ships were on patrol. -
The Manhattan Project
-1946 Didn't actually start on March 9
This project was the nickname for the atomic bomb project. It employed thousands of people and costed billions of dollars. The leaders of this project were General Leslie Groves and J. Robert Oppenheimer. For security reasons there were many different places within the U.S. where people worked on different sections of it. The U.S. had a major advantage over Japan once they had the atomic bomb. -
Allies Acknowledge the Holocaust
Didn't actually happen on March 10
In 1942 the Allies publicly acknowledged that Jewish people were being taken to poland and killed there. The severity of the camps was realized when Americans began to liberate them. Later, FDR established the War Refugee Board. This board worked with the Red Cross to save thousands of Jews, especially in Romania and Hungary. Stalin showed no sympathy for the death camps. -
Doolittle Raid
The U.S. noticed Japan becoming a stronger nation with many resources. They planned to attack Tokyo at night. However, their planes were detected early so Colonel James Doolittle bombed Tokyo during the day. They damaged buildings and killed 50 Japanese civilians and then crash landed in China. The only thing that came out of it was a boosted morale for the U.S. -
Battle of Stalingrad
- February 2, 1943 The Battle of Stalingrad was the turning point of the war in Europe. The battle demolished any ideas of Hitler taking over Europe. The Nazi army had to retreat back to Germany. After this battle, the Soviet Union had to go on the offensive. The outcome of this battle was positive for the U.S.
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Operation Overlord
This operation invloved General Dwight D Eisenhower, General Bernard Montgomery, and General Omar Bradley. The plan involved landing American, British, Polish and Canadian divisions on a beach in Normany, France. This was the largest fleet ever assembled at the time. The divisions were palnned to strike 5 beaches in Normandy and also involved the decpetion plan. The deception plan was a fake army that would trick Hitler to sending his troops to Calais. -
Battle of the Bulge
- January 28, 1945 The battle of the bulge was Hitler's desperate counterattack against the U.S. They caught the Americans by surprise and made a bulge in the American line and captured several key towns. On December 23 the skies cleared and allied bombers were able to attack and slowly push Germany out of France. This battle was supposed to drive a wedge between the British and American forces. However this was not a major success for Germany.
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Hitler Dies
Hitler was close to his breaking point by the time Americans, the British, and the Russians reached Berlin. He was distressed from battle, and was on too many drugs, the only thing that kept him going were dreams of victory. Hitler was starting to lose his power. His army was not responsive and wouldn't fight. Hitler committed suicide along with some of the people closest to him. -
Hiroshima and Nagasaki are Destroyed
American pilots dropped "Little Boy' on Hiroshima. It only took two minutes to kill 60,000 people. After this event, Japan was not sure whether to surrender or not. Three days later the Soviet Union delcared war on Japan. Japan surrendered when the U.S. dropped to second atomic bomb on Nagasaki and killed 35,000 more people.
