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Totalitarianism Governments Rise
Beginning with Russa in 1917, totalitarianism governments started sprouting up in Europe and in Asia. Soon after the communists took over Russia, the facists in Italy rose to power; and then in1935, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler took control over Germany. Lastly, military leaders rook power in Japan in the 1930s. The United States felt uncomfortable with these uprisings, and tension between countries began to heat up. -
France Falls
After the totalitarianism governments began to grow stronger they went after other countries to gain more territory. Germany blitzkreiged Poland and had its eyes set on France. The Nazi's formed the Maginot Line, a series of forts, and began to attack all of France and headed twoards the English Channel. The English luckily escaped France; but unfortunately, North France fell to the Germans. South France, Vichy France, remained under "French" control, but collaborated with the Nazis. -
Pearl Harbor
Tensions had been brewing between the US and Japan for a while because of the American presence in the Philippines and the embargo the US placed on Japan. On this "day of infamy," Japan attacked the US Navy's main Pacific base in Pearl Harbor in two waves. Forunately, many ships were on patrol and not hurt, but it did kill and wound thousands and hampered the Navy for 6 months. The day afer, FDR asked congress to declare war on Japan. -
Battle of the Coral Sea
Since FDR declared war on Japan, Japan had been in the lead for this war in the Pacific. Japan wanted to dominate the Indian Ocean, Australia, and the rest of the Pacific. At this time, Japan had moved towards New Guinea which the United States could attack from. We used 2 aircraft carriers to fight even though our ships never saw Japan's ships. The battle was a draw, but it caused Japan to call of their attack on New Guinea which shifted the gears of the war to the US for the first time. -
Battle of Midway
The Japanese were becoming successful in taking over the Pacific. The United States was aware of this and need to make sure that the Japanese doesn't take control of Midway, a vital airbase for the US. Admiral Chester Nimitz knew Japanese's plans and concentrated his forces there. US lost 1 aircraft carrier while the Japanese lost four, countless number of planes, and lost some of their best pilots. This was the turning point of the war in the Pacific and the US went to the offensive. -
Stalingrad
In 1941, Germany decided to break the nonagression pact and invade Russia. He sent 3 armies into Russia and killed many civilians, but could not defeat the Soviet's army. Hitler began to focus strictly on Stalingrad, but things went downwards quickly for his army. Hitler would not let them surrender, bu his army went against him. 91,000 Nazi soldiers surrendered, but 5,000 made it back to Germany. Russia now began to play on the offense and now any plan of Hitler domianting Europe was over. -
D-Day
The British and the US finally decided to open a second front to the war and enter France to eventually reach Germany.Operation Overlord planned to attack 5 beaches, the worst would be Omaha. While soldiers came up to the beach, they were being shot at by the Germans. It was a gruesome scene. However, at the end of this day, the Allies had a foothold in France and were headed to march towards Berlin. -
Battle of the Bulge
At this point of the war, Hitler knew he needed a counter attack if he was going to continue his plan to dominate Europe.While the Allied troops were all over Europe, the German soldiers were sent out to change road signs, cut telephone lines, and cause confusion. It was almost successful, but Allied bombers came on the 23rd and pushed the Germans out of France. -
Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombings
FDR had passed away by this point of the war, and Truman took his place. Truman was aware that attacking Japanese's main land would require the loss of many Americans' lives because the Japanese never gave up. He knew that the use of the two atomic bombs from the Manhattan Project were needed to be used. After the second bomb, the Japanese surrendered due to the tremendous loss their country faced from these warheads dropped. -
Nuremberg Trials
Now that Hitler and Mussolini had died and the holocaust camps were being discovered, the Allies decided to punish the Nazis for what they had done. Though the Allies could have prevented some of the holocaust, it was the Nazis who put these innocent people through a living nightmare and broke the Nuremberg Laws. Many trials took place over the next year exposing all the Nazi war criminals for the horrendous actions they had taken during World War II.
