-
German Blitzkreig (1939-1940)
After Hitler gained power he abused it. He decided to use his army to take neighboring lands in swift attacks knowns as the Blitzkrieg. These swift battle strategies were vastly different from the recent trench warfare and surrounding countries were still new and not ready to defend them selfs from a great conflict. -
Operation Barbarossa (1941)
Germany started their invasion of the Soviet Union. This attack leads to a strong alliance between the Russian and British governments. Hitler who had assumed it would be an in-and-out fight did not realize that the harsh Russian winter was around the corner. This ultimately caused his army to fail.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/operation-barbarossa -
Pearl Harbor (1941)
On December 7th, 1941, Japan conducted an aerial assault on the U.S. Navy at the base of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Roughly about 300 Japanese aircraft rained down artillery on American ships. About two and half thousand people were killed along with roughly 4000 injured.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor -
Wannsee Conference (1942)
This was the meeting of higher-ups in the German hierarchy to talk about "The Final Solution." They talked about maybe deporting all the Jews to get rid of them. They also talked about maybe making them all work in labor camps. Terminating was not mentioned in the meeting although we all know that is what the Nazis chose as their "solution." -
Bataan Death March (1942)
After the attack on pearl harbor, the U.S. had to surrender around the Philippine island of Luzo leaving some behind. The Japanese used this place for POWs or prisoners of war. On April 9th, the United States and The Philippines army's join to gain back the land as well as save the prisoners. -
Period: to
Battle of Midway (1942)
When the Japanese and Americans continued fighting after pearl harbor the sea and air battles continued. The United States had a heavily armed base on the island of Midway. The Japanese were not prepared for how well its defense was. They had lost turning the power of the Pacific back to the U.S. -
Period: to
Battle of Stalingrad
When the war started and Germany started to gain more power Hitler decided to invade Russia. Generals had told him to make a strong fight all the way to the capital of Moscow. Although Hitler being a show made a long front along the border. This plus the fact that winter was coming in Russia, Nazi Germany eventually lost the Battle. -
Period: to
Allied invasion of Italy (1943)
After Mussolini took over as a fascist and join the Axis powers the Allies had a new enemy. The operation was undertaken by General Sir Harold Alexander's 15th Army Group and followed the successful Allied invasion of Sicily. Mant Allied leaders worked to use their military forces to take Italy from the Mediterranean. Churchhill referred to it as "The Soft underbelly of Europe"
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/italian-campaign -
Period: to
Battle of the Bulge (1945)
Lasting six brutal weeks, from December 16, 1944, to January 25, 1945, the assault, also called the Battle of the Ardennes, took place during frigid weather conditions, with some 30 German divisions attacking battle-fatigued American troops across 85 miles of the densely wooded Ardennes Forest. The battle proved to be the costliest ever fought by the U.S. Army, which suffered over 100,000 casualties.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-the-bulge -
Period: to
Battle of Iwo Jima (1945)
The US wants to use the island as an airbase so they can use it to attack Japan's home islands. Roughly 7,000 U.S. Marines were killed. Also, another 20,000 were wounded in combat. Marines captured only 216 Japanese soldiers while the rest were killed in action.
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/sites/default/files/2020-02/iwo-jima-fact-sheet.pdf -
Liberation of concentration camps (1945)
When Allied and Soviet troops went across Europe against Nazi Germany in 1944 and 1945, they were shocked to find concentration camps, mass graves, and other sites of Nazi war crimes. Bergen-Belsen was first freed when the British forces found them on 15 April 1945. Thousands of unburied bodies lay strewn around the camp, while in the barracks some 60,000 starving and mortally ill people were packed together without food or water. -
VE Day (1945)
On May 8, 1945, both Great Britain and the United States celebrate Victory in Europe Day. Cities in both nations, as well as formerly occupied cities in Western Europe, put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of the Nazi war machine during World War II. All of this comes after a long 5-year battle that has left the world in an utter wreck, yet the fight still continues although the main Axis power was defeated.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/victory-in-europe -
Dropping of the atomic bombs (1945)
On August 6, 1945, during World War II (1939-45), an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion immediately killed an estimated 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Japan had no choice but to surrender.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bombing-of-hiroshima-and-nagasaki -
VJ Day (1945)
After the nuclear devastation that Japan felt, they surrendered. On this day Americans celebrated along with all other Allied members of the war. Although we had used such extreme measures to make an end to the war, it did stop. For better or for worse the killing had stopped. Although not the Japanese people who were affected by radiation poisoning for the rest of their lives. The second world war was officially over and the time to rebuild had started. -
D-Day (Normandy Invasion - 1944)
Canadian and American forces worked to take back France. They approached the beaches of Normandy which were treacherous no-man land. Many Allied troops died during the invasion, however, it came with a battle victory that changed the course of history forever.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day