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Russia and Germany sign a pact
Hitler and Stalin signed a non-aggression pact which included secret clauses for the divisions of Poland. The two countries agreed to take no military action against each other for the next 10 years. -
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World War 2
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Hitler Invades Poland
Hitler sought the nonaggression pact so French-Polish military couldn't attack Germany while they got up on their feet. Germany and the Soviet Union joined forces and signed a Pact so they could invade Poland without the other one stopping them. They invaded Poland on Sept. 1. Britain and France declared war on Germany on Sept. 3. The polish was defeated and remained under German occupation until Jan. 1945 -
Britain and France declared war on Germany
Britain and France were at war with Germany following the invasion of Poland two days before. The Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, announced the British deadline for the withdraw of German troops from Poland has expired. -
Blitzkrieg
Hitler launched his Biltzkrieg (lighting war) against Holland and Belgium. Rotterdam was bombed almost to extinction. Both countries were occupied. -
Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo)
The evacuation of Allied soldiers on the coast at Dunkirk, France. More than 338,000 men were rescued. The soldiers rescued had been surrounded by German troops for over six weeks in the Battle of France. -
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Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain happened when the Royal Air Force defended the United Kingdom against the German Air Force. Wikipedia described it as "the first major military campaign fought entirely by air forces. The result ended in a British Victory. -
Hitler attacks Russia – Operation Barbarossa
On June 22, 1941, Adolf Hitler launched his armies eastward in a massive invasion of the Soviet Union. 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 Harbor
This was a surprise attack by the Japanese on the U.S naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Japanese fighter planes managed to destroy 20 American naval vessels and over 300 airplanes. Over 2,400 Americans were injured and at least 1,000 more were wounded. This event caused the United States to declare war on Japan. -
Japanese take Singapore
On January 8th, 5,000 Japanese troops arrived in Singapore. The British had a military base there but they were still greatly outnumbered. After trying to fight off the Japanese, the British finally surrendered in February. This caused the British to lose their foothold in the East and over 60,000 allied soldiers were taken as prisoners of war. -
Battle of Stalingrad
This battle was a major battle during World War II, between Germany and its allies fighting the Soviet Union for the city of Stalingrad. It is often known as the "single largest and bloodiest" battles in history. After killing almost 3 million people, the result was a "decisive Soviet victory". The battle lasted almost 6 months. -
Allies take Sicily
The allies invaded Sicily in July of 1943 under the codename Operation Husky. After fighting for a month, the American and British forces forced the Italian soldiers to surrender. -
Axis surrender in North Africa
When the Axis powers surrendered in North Africa they yielded over 275,000 prisoners of war. The Allied powers had been wanting to take control of North Africa so they landed in November of 1942 and gradually closed in on the Germans until they surrendered. -
Italy Surrenders
Mussolini had been thrown out of office and the new government of Italy surrendered to the British and the USA. They then agreed to join the allies. The Germans took control of the Italian army, freed Mussolini from imprisonment and set him up as head of a puppet government in Northern Italy. This blocked any further allied advance through Italy. -
D-Day
D-Day was when the allied forces invaded northern France by beach landings in Normandy. This became known as the largest seaborne invasion in history and the result was a decisive allied victory. -
Battle of the Bulge
The British and American army's offense was called the "Operation Autumn Mist" which didn't quite reach it's goal but created a bulge 50 miles wide and 70 miles deep. The battle got its name from that. A month after the battle began, the Germans lost 100,000 men and hundreds of tanks and aircraft. The American forces lost a lot too but they could re-enforce their losses. After the British came into the battle, the Germans started to lose badly. The Americans and British won the battle. -
Hitler Commits Suicide
Hitler burrowed away in a refurbished air-raid shelter, consumed a cyanide capsule, then shot himself with a pistol. it was a double suicide including his newly wed wife (name) and they're dogs. -
V-E Day
V-E day, short for Victory in Europe Day, is a public holiday marking the day Germany's armed forces surrendered to the allied forces. Or how Coach Clinton rephrases it, "Basically the day we kicked Germany out of Europe". They were occupying the Channel Islands and the formal surrender did not occur until May 9, 1945. -
Bombing of Hiroshima
On August 6, an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. -
Bombing of Nagasaki
An American B-29 dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Japan’s Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s unconditional surrender in World War II in a radio address on August 15 -
MacArthur Accepts Japan's Surrender
This day was announced as bringing World War II to a close. By July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy was incapable of conducting major operations and practically gave up which made the Allied invasion of Japan imminent.
