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Germany's Invasion of Poland
On this day, Germany Invaded/took control Poland. The reasoning for this was because Hitler wanted to expand Germany's territory. He wanted to colonize the territory with Germans and become racially superior. The Polish Army was outmatched. Mant people died and Poland had collasped. -
German Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg was a german term for “lightning war.” It was a military tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile forces and locally concentrated firepower. -
Operation Barbarossa
Hitler sent his armies to invade the Soviet Union: The invasion covered a front from the North Cape to the Black Sea. By this point German combat effectiveness had reached its apogee, Barbarossa was the crucial turning point in World War II, for its failure forced Nazi Germany to fight a two-front war against a coalition possessing immensely superior resources. -
Pearl Habor
This day had a major impact on the United States. Japan sent out many japanese fighter planes to attack the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. Because of this event, the United States joined the war. -
Bataan Death March
U.S. surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on the main Philippine island of Luzon to the Japanese during World War II (1939-45), the approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make an arduous 65-mile march to prison camps. The marchers made the trek in intense heat and were subjected to harsh treatment by Japanese guards. -
Battle of Midway
Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States defeated Japan in one of the most decisive naval battles of World War II. An important turning point in the Pacific campaign, the victory allowed the United States and its allies to move into an offensive position. -
D Day (Normandy Invasion)
The invasion was one of the largest amphibious military assaults in history and required extensive planning. Prior to D-Day, the Allies conducted a large-scale deception campaign designed to mislead the Germans about the intended invasion target. -
Battle of the Bulge
Hitler attempted to split the Allied armies in northwest Europe by means of a surprise blitzkrieg thrust through the Ardennes to Antwerp. Caught off-guard, American units fought desperate battles to stem the German advance at St.-Vith, Elsenborn Ridge, Houffalize and Bastogne. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The battle of Iwo Jima was a major battle for the United States. The US's goal was to capture the entire island, including the three Japanese-controlled airfields to provide a staging area for attacks on the Japanese main islands. -
Battle of Okinawa
It was the largest amphibious landing in the Pacific theater of World War II. Atleast 100,000 Japanese casualties died and also 50,000 casualties for the Allies. -
VE Day
This is a holiday that marks the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces. -
Potsdam Declaration
Harry S. Truman, Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin met in Potsdam to to negotiate terms for the end of World War II. -
Dropping of the Atomic Bomb
President Harry S. Truman ordered an American B-29 bomber to drop the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90% of the city and killed 80,000 people. More people died because they were exposed to radiation. Three days later, he ordered a second B-29 dropped another bomb on Nagasaki, killing 40,000 people. Japan’s Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s unconditional surrender in World War II. -
VJ Day
On this day, the world changed. This was the day that they annonced to the world that Japan had surrendered and the war was officially over.
