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The Beginning of the War
Hitler invades Poland. Britain and France respond by declaring war on Germany almost immeadiately. -
France Surrenders
Hitler took over the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg as a strategy to end up taking France. France eventually surrenders to Germany in June 22, 1940. -
The Battle of Britain
With France out, the British were left alone against Germany. Winston Churchill proclaimed to resist until death. The Battle of Britain was between Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Luftwaffe, Nazi Germany’s air force, and was the first battle in history fought solely in the air. Eventually, Hitler decided to move to the Mediterranean, as the British were too tough to defeat. -
Invasion to the Soviet Union
The operation Barbarossa was Germany's plan to invade the Soviet Union, as their troops were large in number but not great in training nor equipment. Germans destroyed everything they could on their way. Winter came and Germans were not prepared for the weather. 500.000 lives were lost and no conquering was done. The Soviet Union had previously signed an agreement with Germany. However, when the USSR saw Hitler’s intention of conquering their territories, they turned to the Allies. -
The Battle of Stalingrad
Germany was suffering the loss of territory and was stagnant at Leningrad and Moscow due to the winter. Hitler sent more forces in summer to take Stalingrad, as it was an important industrial center. By August, 1942, they bombed the city. On November it was almost entirely controlled by Germany. Soviet troops decided to take Stalingrad back: they cut all ways to supplies and asked Hitler to surrender, but he did not. German troops diminished from 330.000 to 90.00 -
Allied Invasion of Italy
The Allies decided to attack Italy in 1943 and take it away from Italian and German forces, taking down Mussolini’s power on July 25th. As Germany held power in North Italy, Hitler put Mussolini in charge of the region. Later on, Italian resistance attacked the Germans in the North, finding Mussolini dressed as a German they captured him and killed him, hanging his body in Milan. -
Victory in Europe
Allies were prepared to recover France from Germany through the English Channel. The D-Day Invasion involved thousands of planes, ships, tanks, and more than 3 million troops that invaded Normandy. This began in June 6th, 1944 in the Dawn of that day.
The Allies lost men, but after about a month they won the freedom of France. By September, Allies liberated Belgium and Luxembourg as well. Now they were all looking at Germany. -
Germany Surrenders
The Allies rolled across the Rhine River to reach Germany. By April they were closing Berlin.
Three million allies approached from southwest and 6 million soviets. They started to fire the city.
In April 29 Hitler commits suicide and by May 7, General Eisenhower accepted the Third Reich unconditional surrender.After almost 6 years, the war in Europe ended. -
Japan Surrenders
Due to the Japanese resistance, the US decided to use the atomic bomb to avoid allies losing troops, asking Japan to surrender or else.
By August 6, 1945, and as Japan did not reply, the US ordered the dropping of the bomb with devastating unhuman consequences which the Japanese would remember forever (HIROSHIMA & NAGASAKI)
By September 2, US celebrates victory. But countries now are facing a crisis and the rebuilding of cities that WWII had destroyed. -
Cold War
Differences in the economical and political systems between the US and the Soviet Union led to an icy tension that drove both to be rivals. This Cold War eventually ended in 1991 when the Berlin Wall came down. However, even today there is tension between both powers.
