-
Germany invades Poland
German forces bombard Poland on land and from the air, as Adolf Hitler seeks to regain lost territory and ultimately rule Poland. WWII begins -
Stalin attacks Finland
To defend the approach to Leningrad, Stalin wanted Finnish islands in the Gulf of Finland, including Suursaari Island, handed over to Russia; he wanted to lease Hanko as a military base and to establish a garrison of 5,000 men there and he demanded more Finnish land on the Russian border to be ceded to Russia. -
Germany attacks France
Germany invaded France officially because France had declared war upon Germany when Germany invaded Poland. -
Winston Churchill becomes prime minister of Britain
Winston Churchill lead Great Britain for most of WWII. -
battle of Britain
The WWII air campaign waged by the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940. -
Hitler takes over the Balkans
Hitler wanted to take the Balkans to expand the amount of area available for his invasion of the USSR in 1941. He believed a larger area to invade would increase success plus he wanted to make it easier to bring more supplies across the USSR instead of just in Poland. -
Lend-Lease Act
The law that started a program under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the USSR, Republic of China, France, and other Allied nations with materiel between 1941 and 1945. -
German Blitzkrieg on Soviet Union
German forces invaded the Soviet Union. At first, the german blitzkrieg seemed to succeed. However, the Soviet Union launched a counteroffensive in November 1942 trapping and destroying an entire German army at Stalingrad. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
the Japanesse launched a surprise attack on the us in Hawaii. The us declared war on japan the next day- officially bringing the US into WWII -
Formation of the U.N.
The name "United Nations" was coined by United States' president Franklin D. Roosevelt, when representatives of 26 nations pledged their Governments to continue fighting together against the Axis Powers -
Holocaust
The mass murder or genocide of approximately six million Jews during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, throughout German-occupied territory. -
Japanese internment camps
The WWII internment in "War Relocation Camps" of about 110,000 people of Japanese heritage who lived on the Pacific coast of the United States. The U.S. government ordered the internment in 1942, shortly after the Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. -
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was fought over and near the U.S. mid-Pacific base at Midway atoll and it represents the strategic high water mark of Japan's Pacific Ocean war. -
Battle of El Alamein
The Battle of El Alamein, fought in the deserts of North Africa, is seen as one of the decisive victories of WWII. it was fought between Montgomery and Rommel. -
Guadalcanal
The Guadalcanal campaign was the 1st major Allied offensive against Japan. It lasted from August 1942 until February 1943, it consistd of a series of balltles at sea, in the air, and on the grround. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The German commander of the Sixth Army, General Paulus' primary task was to secure the oil fields in the Caucasus and to do this, he was ordered by Hitler to take Stalingrad. The battle was one of the most brutal battlees of WWII. -
Tehran Conference
FDR, Churchill, and Stalin in Iran. How do we get Germany? -
D-Day
Attack German occupied France. The Allies attacked via air and sea. Heavy casualties -
Yalta Conference
Plan final defeat/occupation of Germany. -
F.D.R's death
FDR passes away after four terms in office in Warm Springs, Georgia. -
Mussolini’s assassination
Mussolini was killed by partisansn along with his mistress, Clara Petacci, and some other associates. He was arrested and executed while trying to escape to switzerland. -
Hitler’s suicide
Holed up in a bunker under his headquarters in Berlin, Adolf Hitler commited suicide by swallowing a cyanide capsule and shooting himself in the head. Soon after, germany surrendered to the Allied forces, ending Hitler's dreams of a "1,000-year" Reich. -
Potsdam Conference
The goals of the conference included the establishment of post-war order, peace treaties issues, and countering the effects of the war. -
Atomic bomb on Hiroshima & Nagasaki
The atomic bombings of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan were conducted by the United States during the final stages of World War II in 1945 after Japan's attack on pearl harbor. -
McArthur’s plan for Japan
He wanted to rebuild Japan's economy as quickly as possible and discourage the Soviet Union from making advances. -
Cold War
The Cold War was a long period of tension between the democracies of the Western World and the communist countries of Eastern Europe. The west was led by the United States and Eastern Europe was led by the Soviet Union. These two countries became known as superpowers. Although the two superpowers never officially declared war on each other, they fought indirectly in proxy wars, the arms race, and the space race. -
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders were conducted by a tribunal of military representatives from the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. In the Nuremerg trials many nazi leaders were tried for their crimes aganist humanity during WWII. -
The Marshall Plan
A U.S sponsored program to aid Europe after WWI. The United States gave economic support to help rebuild Europe's economy after WWI in order to prevent the spread of Souviet communism. -
Berlin Airlift
After WWII, Germany (and Berlin) was split between several countries of the Allied forces. United States, England, and france controlled one side (west) and the Soviet Union controlled eastern germany (Berlin). The soviet union ended up blocking easter Berlin, and the German people living in the city were left without food or supplies. The Berlin airlift was a solution in that the provisions were flown in to the people by aircraft to prevent their starvation. -
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was both the physical division between West Berlin and East Germany from 1961 to 1989 and the symbolic boundary between democracy and Communism during the Cold War. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Soviet Union worked quickly and secretly to build its missile installations in Cuba. it was a 13-day confrontation between the Soviet Union and Cuba on one side, and the United States on the other.
