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The Invasion of Poland
The assault on Poland demonstrated Germany's ability to combine air power and armor in a new kind of mobile warfare. On September 17, 1939, the Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland, sealing Poland's fate. The last operational Polish unit surrendered on October 6. -
Great Britain and France Declare War on Nazi Germany
Germany represented a direct threat to British security and the security of its empire. Accepting German domination of Europe had grave implications for British status and survival. Britain went to war in 1939 to defend the balance of power in Europe and safeguard Britain's position in the world. -
The Invasion of Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands & France
German military strategy involved invading the neutral Low Countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg) in order to invade France. The conquest of western Europe brought hundreds of thousands of Jews under German control. -
The Battle & Great Escape at Dunkirk
The Dunkirk evacuation was an important event for the Allies. If the BEF had been captured, it would have meant the loss of Britain's only trained troops and the collapse of the Allied cause. -
The Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain was important because it kept Nazi materials of war focused on Britain, steeled the will of the British people to find the war to the end, and demonstrated that the Nazis were not invincible. By denying the Germans the ability to invade, the British were able to keep the war in mainland Europe. -
Selective Service & Training Act
On September 16, 1940, the United States instituted the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, which required all men between the ages of 21 and 45 to register for the draft. This was the first peacetime draft in United States' history. -
Lend-Lease Assistance Act
This system served a dual purpose: it enabled Roosevelt to send material support to the anti-Nazi allies while allowing the U.S. to avoid direct involvement in the widening war. -
The Battle of Midway Island
This critical US victory stopped the growth of Japan in the Pacific and put the United States in a position to begin shrinking the Japanese empire through a years-long series of island-hopping invasions and several even larger naval battles. -
The Attack on Pearl Harbor
This unprovoked attack brought the United States into World War II, as it immediately declared war on Japan. Pearl Harbor was, and still is, the most important American naval base in the Pacific and home to the US Pacific Fleet.Mar 29, 2023 -
America Enters WW2
The U.S. entry into the war helped to get the nation's economy back on its feet following the depression. Although just ten years earlier, jobs were very difficult to come by, there were now jobs for nearly everyone who wanted one. -
Germany and Italy Declare War on the US
On December 11, 1941, Italy declared war on the United States. The declaration followed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor four days earlier, and was made the same day as Germany's declaration of war against the United States. Benito Mussolini publicly gave the announcement in Rome on December 11. -
The Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge marked the last German offense on the Western Front. The catastrophic losses on the German side prevented Germany from resisting the advance of Allied forces following the Normandy Invasion. Less than four months after the end of the Battle of the Bulge, Germany surrendered to Allied forces. -
The Battle of the Coral Sea
In the end, the Battle of Coral Sea has often been overshadowed by the events a month later at Midway. Yet it stands on its own as a very important contest. It was the world's first carrier-vs. -carrier battle, and the first naval battle in which neither side's ships sighted the others -
The Invasion on North Africa
The Allied invasion of French North Africa in November 1942 was intended to draw Axis forces away from the Eastern Front, thus relieving pressure on the hard-pressed Soviet Union -
The Invasion of Sicily & Italy
The mission was designed to divert German attention from the besieged Soviet Union by opening a second front in the Mediterranean. The success of Operation Torch turned the tide of the war, allowing the Allies to gain the offensive for the first time in three years. -
The D-Day Invasion of France
On June 6, 1944, in Operation Overlord, the Allied forces landed troops on Normandy beaches for the largest amphibious assault in history, beginning the march eastward to defeat Germany. In a larger strategic sense, the successful Allied landing in France was a psychological blow to the German occupation of Europe. -
Nazi Concentration Camps Discovered
The German concentration camp in Lublin, called Majdanek, was initiated by Heinrich Himmler’s decision. Visiting Lublin in July 1941, Himmler entrusted Odilo Globocnik, the SS and police commander in the Lublin district, with building a camp “for 25-50,000 inmates who would be used to work in SS and police workshops and at construction sites”. The camp was going to be the source of a free workforce for the Third Reich's expansion in the East. -
The Yalta Conference
At Yalta, Roosevelt and Churchill discussed with Stalin the conditions under which the Soviet Union would enter the war against Japan and all three agreed that, in exchange for potentially crucial Soviet participation in the Pacific theater, the Soviets would be granted a sphere of influence in Manchuria. -
V-E (victory Europe) Day
On Victory in Europe Day, or V-E Day, Germany unconditionally surrendered its military forces to the Allies, including the United States. On May 8, 1945 - known as Victory in Europe Day or V-E Day - celebrations erupted around the world to mark the end of World War II in Europe. -
The Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima
Hiroshima and Nagasaki were experiments in a new kind of warfare, whose full implications were not entirely understood at the time. The bombing of these cities in August 1945 brought an end to the Second World War, but at a terrible cost to the Japanese civilian population, and signalling the dawn of the nuclear age. -
The Atomic Bomb in Nagasaki
The two atomic explosions had the effects desired by the Allies. On 10th August the Japanese government indicated its readiness to accept defeat, subject to certain conditions. On 14th August it finally accepted the demand for unconditional surrender. -
V-J (Victory over Japan) Day
V-J Day, or Victory over Japan Day, marks the end of World War II, one of the deadliest and most destructive wars in history. When President Harry S. Truman announced on Aug. 14, 1945, that Japan had surrendered unconditionally, war-weary citizens around the world erupted in celebration.