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Period: to
WWII
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Hitler Invades Poland
On September 1, 1939, Adolf Hitler ordered the German troops to invade Poland. His plan of world domination started here. Immediately when France and Britain heard of the invasion, they declared war on Germany. Thus, World War II had begun. -
Blitzkrieg of Holland/Belgium
After the invasion of Poland and the declaring of war, Hitler's next move was to invade Holland. To set this up, he first bombed Holland in a Blitzkrieg technique(lightning war). This bombing greatly weakened Holland and made it easy to invade and conquer. -
Battle of Britain
Hitler decided that he wanted to invade Britain next. He first sent his luftwaffe(air force) to bomb British ports and major cities. Then he bombed the British airfields to hinder their airforce. They continued to bomb London and the airfields until October 31. The RAF(British air force) had done their best to defend Britain, and Germany finally backed off. -
Operation Barbarossa
Hitler sent 3 million troops and 3,500 tanks into Russia on June 22, 1941. This action broke the treaty between Russia and Germany signed in 1939. Russia then signed a treaty with Britain and started the front against Germany on the east side. -
Pearl Harbor
Afraid of a possibly advancing U.S. force, Japan lauched an air attack on Pearl Harbor(Hawaii), destroying 8 battleships and 350 aircraft. After this event, the U.S. declared war on Japan -
Battle of Midway
In an attempt to gain the advantage against Japan, the U.S. attacked the Island of Midway. The U.S. defeated Japan, and gave them the upper hand in land control. After controlling this Island, the U.S. was able to reach all other Japanese controlled islands with their navy and airforce. -
Battle of Stalingrad
With the Germans wanting to invade and control Russia, they continued forward into Russia. They were on a steady path until they hit Stalingrad. After long fighting, the Russians defeated Germany, making Stalingrad Russia's first victory. -
D-Day
On the sixth of June, the allies launched an all out attack on Normandy, France. The Germans had been fed false information about the attack, and were unprepared when they came. With the supreme command of General Eisenhower, the allies were victorious. -
Battle of the Bulge
In a last ditch effort, Germany sent an attack through the ardennes of Belgium in an attempt to gain back land. Although the attack was effective at first, the allies pushed them back into Germany. -
V.E. Day
After Hitler commited suicide, the German officers left in charge of Germany agreed to surrender to the allies. This surrender ended the war in Europe, and was remembered as V.E. Day: Victory in Europe Day.
