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Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
After the battle for Britain stalls, Nazi German turns to the East in Soviet Russia to increase their lebensraum (living space). This would eventually be viewed as a blunder much like Napoleon's invasion of Russia. The retreating Soviets, who were surprised by Hitler's violation of the Nazi-Soviet Pact, practiced a scorched earth policy burning any supplies the Nazi could have salvaged. -
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Battles of World War II: The Tide begins to turn
This timeline explores CA Standard 10.8.3
10.8:Students analyze the causes and consequences of World War II.
3: Discuss the major turning points of the war, the principal theaters of conflict, key strategic decisions. -
The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor
The Sleeping giant is awoken. With the Japanese surprise attack the US enters the war. The Japanese lost 29 planes and 55 troops. By contrast, The US lost 2,403 men, 188 planes and a crippled Pacific Fleet that included 8 damaged or destroyed battleships. Shortly after this attack the US declared war. Here you see actual footage of the Pearl Harbor attack and FDR's speech. -
Battle of Midway
Battle of Midway - After the first US victory over Japan at the Coral Sea, the US strikes a larger victory at Midway. This is the first in many battles the US wins that will eventually lead to Japan's defeat. "The Battle of Midway, fought over and near the tiny U.S. mid-Pacific base at Midway atoll, represents the strategic high water mark of Japan's Pacific Ocean war. Prior to this action, Japan possessed general naval superiority over the United States and could usually choose where and when to attack." -
Gerrmans surrender at Stalingrad
For more information on Stalingrad click here
After the boloodiest and costliest battle of the War, the Germans surrender at Stalingrad. The soviets astilll fightin Leningrad until 1944. But the Soviets start to push back the Germans.
Click here for actual maps of the battle! -
German and Italian troops surrender in North Africa.
The North African Campaign After losing a string of battles starting at El Alamein in November 1942, the last German and Italian armies surrender to the allies, the British and US, at Algeria in North Africa. North Africa was a strategic region for the Italians and the Germans because of its rich supply of oil—the oil in this region is still sought after today. -
D-Day
D-Day
The largest amphibiuous assault in World History, D-Day allowed the allies to open up a foothold on Western Europe opening a second front on the war putting even more pressure on the Nazis. The Nazi reign of power is at the point of collpase.
Click here for the most comprehensive D-Day descriptions. -
VE-Day
After Berlin and Germany endures defeat after defeat, Hitler commits suicide in his underground bunker. On May 8, 1945 Nazi Admiral Alfred Jodl surrenders unconditionally to the allies, ending Hitler's thousand years Reich in a matter of 12 years. The Nazi surrender ended the war in Europe. But the war in the Pacific continued. -
Hiroshima
Hiroshima"In the early morning hours of August 6, 1945, a B-29 bomber named Enola Gay took off from the island of Tinian and headed north by northwest toward Japan. The bomber's primary target was the city of Hiroshima... The city was hidden by that awful cloud . . . boiling up, mushrooming, terrible and incredibly tall. Some 70,000 people probably died as a result of initial blast, heat, and radiation effects." -
Nagasaki
Nagasaki "At 11:02 a.m., at an altitude of 1,650 feet, the atom bomb 'Fat Man' exploded over Nagasaki. The yield of the explosion was later estimated at 21 kilotons, 40 percent greater than that of the Hiroshima bomb...The best estimate is 40,000 people died initially, with 60,000 more injured...The day after the attack on Nagasaki, the emperor of Japan overruled the military leaders of Japan and forced them to surrender." -
World War II ends: VJ-day
After the two devastating atom bomb attacks, Japanese Emperor Hirohito intervenes (a rarity in Japanese history) and forces the Japanese government and military commanders to surrender. The Japanese surrender on the Battleship USS Missouri, the only condition was that the emperor would remain the head of state.
