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Hitler Violates the Treaty of Versailles
Hiter announced the creation of a new airforce. The next week, he instigated a new military draft that expanded Germany's army from 100,000 to 550,000 troops. Both of these actions violated the WWI Treaty of Versailles -
Hitler Annexes Austria to Germany
One of Hitlers goals was take over Austria. Hitler threatened to invade Austria, so Austrian Nazis were put in charge of the Austrian government. Nazi troops were then brought in to Austria to maintain the law. -
The Nazi-Soviet Nonagression Pact
Germany and the Soviet Union signed a pact that stated that thy would not attack each other. Hitler promised Stalin eastern Poland in return for agreement to the pact. This was only a clever ruse by Hitler, as he planned to take over the Soviet Union anyways. -
Britian and France Declare war on Germany
Once Hitler's pact with Stalin was announced, they were able to freely attack Poland. This angered the rest of the world who were involved with Poland. Hitler invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, and Britian and France declared war on Germany on September 3,1939. -
Germany Invades the Soviet Union
Hitler, anxious to defeat the Soviet Union before the winter set in, invaded with no preperations for winter. However, winter came early that year, and te German advance was stopped. Invading the Soviet Union was considered to be Germany's greatest mistake of WWII. -
Pearl Harbor
USS Arizona Under Attack at Pearl HarborJapan decided to try and attack Pearl harbor, a US naval base in Hawaii. This attack was supposed to knock out the American fleet, but instead it unified the American people in their decision to go to war against Japan. Germany assumed that America would be distracted by the war with Japan and declared war on the USA soon afterwards. -
US Declares War on Japan
The United States declared war on Japan, one day after the attacks on Pearl Harbor, along with Great Britain. The US, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union became the main Allied forces, and Germany, Italy and Japan became the main Axis forces. The Allies ageed that they would put all differences aside until the Axis Powres surrendered unconditionally. -
D-Day
D-Day is considered to be the greatest naval invasion in history. The Allies were able to land two million men on the beaces of Normandy within the first three months of the invasion. The US moved past the German blockade, and onto Paris to take back control for the Allies. -
V-E Day
Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945, causeing the war in europe to come to a final hault. After Mussolini had been assasinated by resistance fiighters in Italy on April 28, 1945, Hitler commited suicide in his underground bunker on April 30th. When the Axis powers realized that they had lost their two biggest leaders, they had no choice but to surrender. -
The US Drops the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima
Truman beleived that droping the atoic bomb on Japan would end the war adn save many American lives by eliminating the need for an invasion on Japan. The first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. This bomb leveled the city and killed 80,000 people on impact, not to mention the thousands that would die of radiation later. -
US Drops the Atomic Bomb on Nagasaki
Even after the devestation of the first bomb that was dropped on their country, Japan still refused to surrender. This called for the second bomb to be dropped on Nagasaki. This bomb killed 40,000 on impact and even more that were exposed to the radiation. After the second bomb, Japan had had enough. -
V-J Day
After the atomic bomb was dropped on two of Japan's cities, they finally surrendered. This marked the end of a long and costly war. With the life toll counting up to 50 million, this war effected the entire world for years to come.
