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Hitler Begins Remilitarization of the Rhineland.\
-The Treaty of Versailles, which Hitler gianed wide support by opposing and promising to act against, harshly limited the size and power of the German military.
-The Rhineland was a demilitarized zone in Western Germany intended to serve as a safe division between Germany and France, whom it attacked in World War I.
-Hitler ordered the reinstallment of troops there, much to the approval of the German people.
-Because the Treaty of Versailles was harsh, the act was viewed with mixed opinions. -
Austrian Anschluss
-In decades prior the the Austrian Anschluss, disagreenment had often arose between Austria and the other German states, even creating the question of whether or not the part of the former HRE should be included in a united Germany.
- In March of 1938, Austria was annexed by Germany after the Munich Conference. Hitler and the majority of German people upported the unity of the two nations.
-Nazi forces immediately began enforcing their policies in Austria. -
Germany Attacks Poland
-Germany used the 'Blitzkreig' strategy, which made use of the technology which was not utilized well in WWI.
-Polish forces could not defend themselves adequately.
-This act of aggression by Hitler and his army began the fighting of WWII. -
Dunkirk Evacuted
- British forces in France were being forced to the Northern coast by enemy forces, separating them from their French allies. -The British government decided that the troops must be evacuated. -The evacuation operation, known as 'Operation Dynamo', took several weeks to complete as approximately 300,000 troops were brought back across the English Chanel. -This evacuation was successful but left French forces without support in France.
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Surrender of France
-German forces moved closer and closer to Paris, France more easily than they had before after the removal of the British troops at the Evacuation of Dunkirk. Despite a lack of military support to the French, the British encouraged their allies to resist defeat.
-The French army had suffered the loss of nearly half of its soldiers.
- With little hope of success, the French signed an armistice which Hitler insisted be signed in the same place at which the Germans surrendered to France in WWI. -
Hitler's "Operation Barbarossa"
-Hitler again used the 'Blitzkrieg' strategy in this planned attack on the Soviet Union.
-North, South, and Center groups of German forces were positioned to advance and attack.
-The German forces were successful for some time in their attack on the Soviet Union. However, their failure was brought about by Russia's freezing weather, which German troops were not equipped for or used to.
-Becuase of this the operation was deemed a failure. -
Japan Bombs Pearl Harbor
-Japan attacked the Amereican naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where the entire American fleet was stationed.
-Almost 3,000 Americans died.
-This event brought the isolationist United States into the war. -
D-Day
-American, British, &Canadian troops arrived on the coast of Normandy, France.
-Strategies such as bombing and fooling the enemy to hide where they planned to attack were used by the Allies.
More Ally troops arrived in Southern France in August. France was liberated by the beginning of September. -
Surrender of Germany
-On the previous day, May 7th, the official treaty of surrneder was signed, though fighting continued into May 8th in some areas.
-Nearly all germans forces surrended later on that day.
-That night, another formal treaty was signed, this time by more than one German official.
-The Allies declared the date "Victory in Europe Day."
-Some fighting between the Soviet Union and Germany continued untilthe next day, making May 9th Victory Day for the Soviets. -
Surrender of Japan
-The event occurred nearly one month after the first atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima by The United States.
-The Peace was signed in Tokyo Bay on the USS Missouri by General Yoshijiro Umezu and the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mamoru Shigemitsu.
-It ended the war in the Pacific Theater.
