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German Blitzkrieg
In June 1940, French President Marshall Philippe Pétain sued for peace with Adolf Hitler's Third Reich, agreeing to cede three-fifths of French territory to Germany. Hitler insisted the armistice be signed in the same railway car where Germany admitted defeat at the end of World War One. The German army, under Pétain's control, crushed the French Third Republic and caused France's Allies to retreat from continental Europe. -
Operation Barbarossa
Nazi Germany and its Axis allies launched Operation Barbarossa, a massive invasion of the Soviet Union. Despite signing a non-aggression pact in 1939, the Soviets were unprepared for the sudden attacks, leading to horrific losses. German forces advanced 200 miles into Soviet territory, destroyed 4,000 aircraft, and killed 600,000 Red Army troops. By December, they were near Moscow, but the notorious Russian winter halted German advances, resulting in 775,000 casualties and over 800,000 deaths. -
Peral Harbor
On December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, bombing warships and military targets. The attack lasted 90 minutes, resulting in 2,400 American deaths and 1,250 injuries. Japan declared war on the US, leading to President Roosevelt's "infamy" speech and subsequent declarations by Nazi Germany and Italy. The US reciprocated the declarations. -
Wannsee Conference
Heydrich met with Adolf Eichmann and 15 Nazi officials at Wannsee to devise a plan to solve the Jewish question in Europe. Proposals included mass sterilization and deportation to Madagascar. Heydrich proposed transporting Jews to concentration camps in Poland and working them to death, but objections included time-consuming conditions and the treatment of survivors. -
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Bataan Death March
After the U.S. surrendered the Bataan Peninsula in 1942, 75,000 Filipino and American troops were forced to march 65 miles to prison camps, where 17,000 men died during and after the Bataan Death March. -
Battle of Midway
After Pearl Harbor, Japan planned to destroy U.S. aircraft carriers and occupy Midway Atoll. American codebreakers deciphered plans, leading to the Battle of Midway, resulting in over 3,000 deaths and Japanese occupation of Alaska. -
Battle of Stalingrad
major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in Southern Russia. -
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Allied invasion of Italy
Having driven the German and Italian troops from North Africa and Sicily, the Allies decided to invade Italy in September 1943. Landing in Calabria and south of Salerno, British and American forces pushed inland. -
D-Day
brought together the land, air, and sea forces of the allied armies in what became known as the largest amphibious invasion in military history. The operation, given the codename overlord, delivered five naval assault divisions to the beaches of Normandy, France. -
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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. -
Liberation of concentration camps
As Allied troops moved across Europe against Nazi Germany in 1944 and 1945, they encountered concentration camps, mass graves, and other sites of Nazi crimes. The unspeakable conditions the liberators confronted shed light on the full scope of Nazi horrors. Soviet, American, and British forces liberated concentration camps in January 1945, included Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Dora-Mittelbau, Flossenbürg, Dachau, Mauthausen, and Neuengamme in northern Germany. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
World War II conflict between the United States and the Empire of Japan. The United States mounted an amphibious invasion of the island of Iwo Jima as part of its Pacific campaign against Japan. A costly victory for the United States, the battle was one of the bloodiest in the history of the U.S. Marine Corps and was cited as proof of the Japanese military’s willingness to fight to the last man. -
VE Day
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. -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
The United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As a result, approximately 120,000 civilians died. Japan formally surrendered in September 1945. -
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VJ Day
The Allies declared victory over Japan in August 1945, but the Japanese administration surrendered on September 2. Japan's significant Pacific victories drained the economy, and the US dropped atomic weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, forcing Japan to surrender. The Soviet declaration and nuclear attacks ended the Pacific war and World War Two.