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Meeting b/w Churchill and FDR
Churchill and FDR met to create a war policy and agreed to attack from the west in order to open a second front. -
Japanese-American Internment
Roosevelt issued an executive order calling for internment of Japanese-Americans since they were supposedly a "threat" to the country. -
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Battle of Stalingrad
Stalin ordered his army to defend Stalingrad after the Luftwaffe began to bomb it. The Germans took an early advantage, but a Soviet counterattack (along with the Russian winter and a lack of supplies) resulted in their defeat: the first major defeat of Germany, and one that put them on the defensive. -
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Battle of El Alamein
General Montgomery tries to break the German position in a massive frontal attack and wins. -
Fall of Afrika Korps
(Not actual date) Rommel surrounded by Montgomery in the east and Eisenhower in the west was defeated. -
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Invasion of Italy/Surrender of Italy
Allied forces landed on Sicily, leading to the fall of Mussolini and (soon) the surrender of Italy. However, despite the Italian surrender, Germany took control of the country and continued fighting. -
D-Day
The Allies invaded Normandy, opening up a western front against Germany and beginning to push against them in the west. Despite heavy casualties, the invasion was successful and the Allies began to advance. -
Battle of the Bulge
Faced with two fronts, Hitler took a gamble. He sent tanks through a weak part of the Allies lines in the Ardennes, creating a "bulge" - despite this, the Allies eventually counterattacked and pushed them back. From that point onward, the Allies rapidly advanced against Germany. -
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Nuremberg Trials
An International Military Tribunal put Nazi war criminals on trials. 22 were charged with waging a war of aggression and "crimes against humanity". Though Hitler, Himmler, and Goebbels had already committed suicide, Goring, Hess, and other leaders faced charges. -
Iwo Jima
As part of their island-hopping campaign, US marines took Iwo Jima - 760 miles from Tokyo itself. -
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Okinawa
US troops advanced even farther, moving onto Okinawa, 350 miles south of southern Japan. The battle was bloody - the Americans lost 12,000 and the Japanese over 100,000 - but the Americans were still victorious. -
V-E Day
The day after the unconditional surrender of the Third Reich, and the day before its official signing. It is still celebrated as "Victory in Europe Day". -
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Potsdam Conference
Stalin, Churchill, and Truman met in Potsdam in Germany to negotiate the end of the war. They split Germany into occupation zones: the US in the west and the USSR in the east. They also issued the Potsdam Declaration, outlining the terms for Japan's surrender. -
Hiroshima
After the Japanese did not respond to Truman's ultimatum, the US dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima and its nearly-350,000 people. -
Nagasaki
The US dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki and its 270,000 people, killing many. This bombing and the Hiroshima bombing pushed Japan into finally surrendering. -
Surrender of Japan
After the atomic bombings, Japan surrendered to MacArthur onboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay, finally ending the war. -
Japanese Constitution/The Diet
The Japanese accepted a new constitution, drawn up by MacArthur and other American political advisers in February 1946. The constitution reduced the emperor's power and forced him to declare he was not divine. It also created a parliament - the Diet, along with giving voting rights to all people over 20, a parliamentary/prime minister system, a bill of rights, and preventing Japan from waging war.