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Hitler invades Poland
World War II officially begins with the fighting that began when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939. -
France and Great Britain join the fight
These two countries are the first Allies, the nations that are fighting against Axis, which includes Germany, Italy, and Japan. One year after they both join the fight, France falls to the Germans. The next year, USSR and the US both join the Allies in the war. -
Pearl Harbor
After the US froze Japanese assets and ceased trade, including fuel, Japan attacked their naval base in Hawaii, Pearl Harbor, in an attempt to knock down the US. Although the US did take a hit, the country rallied and entered the war with much patriotism, the opposite of what the Japanese wanted. -
Battle of Stalingrad
This battle was a turning point in WWII. Here, Russians battled the Germans for 6 months. This was a very bloody battle, but the USSR won a tremendous victory. -
Battle of Midway
This battle with the US fighting the Japanese in the Pacific was the turning point of the war against Japan. In this naval battle, the US destroyed Japanese aircraft and killed their most skilled naval pilots. -
D-Day
D-Day is one of the most well known attacks during WWII. On this day, the Allies invaded Normandy, France. This attack was led by the American Dwight D. Eisenhower. This was a very decisive victory that set the Allies well on their way to winning the war. This victory also established the second front that Stalin and the USSR were seeking from the war. -
Yalta Conference
This conference was a gathering of the leaders of the Allies (Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin) to decide what to do after German defeat. It was decided that Poland would hold free elections, USSR would join the war against Japan, they created the United Nations, and they would meet again. -
Iwo Jima
This battle is one of the most well known battles fought by the Americans against the Japanese. Marines invaded this small island and their victory came at a grand cost. This was one of the most bloody battles that the US has ever fought. One third of the entire Marine Corps was killed here. This was fought for over a month resulted in over 26,000 American casualties. -
German surrender
On April 30, 1945, Hitler committed suicide. After the loss of their leader, the Germans surrendered after only days. -
Hiroshima bombing
After FDR died, his VP Harry Truman took command of the war. As VP, he did not know about the Manhattan project (building the atomic bomb). As fighting with the Japanese worsened, Truman warned them to surrender or to face the consequences. Unsurprisingly, they continued to fight. As a result, Truman dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing thousands of Japanese civilians. As if that didn’t seem to send the message, he dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki. One week later, Japan surrendered.
