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The Holocaust
This was a period when Hitler became the chancellor of Germany to when the war in Europe ended. Jews were brutally persecuted and this led to the murder of 6,000,000 Jews, The Holocaust was started when the Mazi's started the propaganda assault towards the Jews. Hitler had absolute control of Germany and the Germans were destined to rule whuile the weak and racially adulterated Jews were doomed to extinction. -
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Japan invades China
in 1931, Japan was eager for the vast natural resources to befound in China so they invade and occupied Manchuria. China appealed to the League of Nations and this outraged Japan. They got into a war called the Sino-Japanese War for a couple of years but slowly descended into stalemate. The Japanese seemed unable to force victory, and this led into Japans decision to attack America at Pearl Harbor. -
Munich Conference
British and French prime ministers united together to sign the Munich Pact with Adolf Hitler. This agreement avoided the outbreak of war but gave Czechoslovakia away to German conquest. Hitler began openly to support the demands of German-speakers living in the Sudeten region. This is when Hitler had recently annexed Austria into Germany. German army divisions invaded Poland despite British and French threats to intervene. -
Non-Aggression Pact
Shortly before World War II broke out in Europe, Nazi Germany and the Soviet union signed the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact. These two countries agreed to take no military actions against each other for the next 10 years. Stalin viewed the pact as a way to keep his nation on peaceful terms with Germany, thus giving him time to build up the Soviet military. -
Germany invades Poland
Hitler seeks to regain lost territory and ultimately rule Poland. On this day, German forces bombard Poland on land and from the air, causing World War II to begin. This invasion became known as the "blitzkrieg" strategy. This was extensive bombing early on to destroy the enemy's railroads, communication lines, followed by a massive land invasion with tanks and artillery. The Polish army made several attempts to take the Germans head-on, but it was no match for the German forces. -
Blitzkrieg
This German term is also called "lightning war". Blitzkrieg is a military tactic designed to create disorganization among the enemies. The Germans used mobile forces and locally cocentrated firepower. Blitzkrieg was first tried out in Poland in 1939. -
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Battle of Brtitain
After the Germans decided that they wanted to invade Britain, the Luftwaffe attempted to gain control of the Straits of Dover. From August 23 to September 6, the Luftwaffe started bombing the cities during the night. On the last day of the battle, Hitler postponed the invasion of Britain. His attention was now focused on the invasion of the Soviet Union. The Luftwaffe still continued to bomb Britain until the end of the war. -
Lend-Lease Act
The Lend-Lease Act was passed in order to provide U.S. military aid to foreign nations during World War II. This authorized the President to transfer arms or nay other defense materials to the "government of any country whose defense the Presidnet deems vital to the defnese of the United States". This act brought the U.S. one step closer to entry into the war. -
Operation Barbarossa
On this day, Adolf Hitler launched his armies eastward in a massive invasion of the Soviet union. This invasion covered a front from the North Cape to the Black Sea (2,000 miles). Barbarossa was the crucial turning point in World War II. The Germans had serious deficiencies. They had underestimated their opponent and their logistical preparations were inadequate for the campaign. -
Pearl Harbor
Before 8 am on this day, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. This lasted two hours and was devastating. The Japanese destroyed nearly 20 American naval vessels and almost 200 airplanes. After this attack, FDR asked Congress to declare war on Japan and they approved, enlisting American into World War II. -
Bataan Death March
After the U.S. surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on the main Pilippine island of Luzon to the Japanese during World War II, 75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make a 65 mile march to prison camps. These hikes were in intense heat and the marchers were subjected to hars htreatment by Japanese quards. -
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Battle of Midway
Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States defeated Japan in a naval battle. In part to code breaking, the US was able to counter Japan's planned ambush on its few remaining aircraft carriers. This was an important turning point in the Pacific campaign, and allowed the US and its allies to move into an offensive psotion. -
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Battle of Stalingrad
In July 1942, the Nazi Army bombs the Soviet city of Stalingrad. This battle is considered to have been the turning point in World War II in Europe. The Germans launched Operation Barbarossa, one of the bloodiest battles in history. By the spring, the Germans had stabilized their front in a line running from Leningrad in the north to the Rostov in the south. After this defeat, the German army was bled dry in Russia. -
D-Day
On this day the Allies invade Western Europe in the largest attack in history. The Battle of Norman began when 156,000 Americna, British and Candaian foreced landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch. The Allies fought their way across the Normandy countryside and by the ned of June, the Allies had seized the vital port of Cherbourg. -
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Battle of the Bulge
On the morning of December 16, 1944, American soldiers encountered one of the bloodiest and single battles in US History. Germans launched the last major offensive of the war. This was to push the front line west from northern France to northwestern Belgium. The Battle of the Bulge gets the name from the Germans creating a "bulge" around the area the area of the Ardennes forest to push through the American ddefensive line. -
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Battle of Iwo Jima
This was a major battle in which the U.S. landed and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese. They had a goal of capturing the whole island, including 3 of the Japanese c ontrolled airfields. This was afive-week battle and had some of the bloodiest fighting of the War in the Pacific. After the U.S. had captured the island, it became useless to the U.S. Navy as a fleet base. They actually rebuilt the landing strips and used them as emergency landing strips for USAAF B-29's. -
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Battle of Okinawa
The last and biggest of the Pacific island battles of World War II was the Okinawa campaign. This involved 287,000 troops of the US against 130,000 soldiers of the Japanese. The Japanese changed their tactics of resisting at the water's edge and began to mount mass air attacks by planes on one-way suicide missions. -
V-E Day
Cities in both Great Britain and the United States celebrate this victory in Europe. German troops throughout Europe laid down their arms in surrender. They lost more than 8,000 soldiers near Berlin. The Germans were trying to avoid being taken prisoner. On this day, the Russians took approximately 2 million prisoners in the period before the German surrender. -
The Bombing of Hiroshima/Nagasaki
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% of the city and killed 80,000 people. Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki. Japan's Emperor Hirohito anounced his country's surrender in World War II. -
V-J Day
On this day, it was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies and this ended World War II. In an attempt to break Japanese resistance before a land invasion became necessary, the Allies were consitently bombarding Japan from air and sea. On August 14, President Truman announced the news of Japan's surrender in a press conference at the White House. Thiswas day that American had been waiting for since Pearl Harbor. -
Warsaw Pact
This treaty was designed to establish a mutual defense organization that put the Soviets in command of the armed forces. The Warsaw Pact was signed in Warsaw, and included the Soviet Union, Albania, Poland, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria as members. This treaty called on the member states to come to the defense of any member attacked by an outside force.
