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Japanese Invasion of Manchuria
Japanese troops invaded Manchuria without initial orders from the central government. This shocked Tokyo but as reports of quick success arrived in Tokyo the government decided to send even more troops. -
Adolf Hitler Becomes Chancellor
Hitler's emergence as chancellor marked a crucial turning point for Germany and, ultimately, for the world. His plan, embraced by much of the German population, was to do away with politics and make Germany a powerful, unified one-party state. -
The Munich Pact
The Sudetenland was ceded to Germany when Great Britain, France, Italy, and Germany signed the agreement. It it often cited as an instance of unwise and unprincipled appeasement of an aggressive nation -
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht referred to the Night of Broken Glass, or Reichskristallnacht was a series of coordinated attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria.It was carried out by SA paramilitary forces and non-Jewish civilians. German authorities looked on without intervening. -
Invasion of Poland
At 4:45 a.m., some 1.5 million German troops invade Poland all along its 1,750-mile border with German-controlled territory. Simultaneously, the German Luftwaffe bombed Polish airfields, and German warships and U-boats attacked Polish naval forces in the Baltic Sea. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler claimed the massive invasion was a defensive action, however Britain and France were not convinced. War was declared on Germany on September 3, initiating World War II. -
Battle of Dunkirk
The battle of Dunkirk ended in the British forces retreating via sea from the town of Dunkirk. It is seen as the point where Germany gained control of mainland Europe. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack led to the United States' entry into World War II. -
Bataan Death March
After the April 9, 1942, U.S. surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on the Philippine island to the Japanese during World War II, the approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make a greuling 65-mile march to prison camps, which usually lasted 5 days. The marchers made the trek in intense heat and were subject to harsh treatment by Japanese guards. Thousands died in what became known as the Bataan Death March. -
Battle of Midway
Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States defeated Japan in one of the most decisive naval battles of World War II. Major advances in code breaking allowed the United States to preempt and counter Japan’s planned ambush on its few remaining aircraft carriers, causing permanent damage to the Japanese Navy. An important turning point in the Pacific campaign, this victory allowed the United States and its allies to move into an offensive position. -
D-Day
D-Day was when British, French, and American troops assaulted the mainland of Europe in an effort to free the people that lived there from the tyranny of Nazi oppression. -
Battle of the Bulge
German armies (more than a quarter-million troops) launched the deadliest and most desperate battle of the war in the west in the heavily forested Ardennes. The line of the Allied front took on the appearance of a large protrusion or bulge, from which the battle got its name. A German shortage of fuel and the gallantry of American troops fighting in the frozen forests of the Ardennes proved fatal to Hitler’s ambition to obtain a victory over the Allied forces' troops. -
Yalta Confrence
The Yalta Conference was a meeting between the big three Allies which included the United States, Great Britian, and The Soviet Union. -
V-E Day
V-E Day is the day that the Allies accepted the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany's armed forces, thus ending the war in Europe. -
The Bombing of Hiroshima
The atomic bombing of Hiroshima was conducted by the United States During the final stages of the war. This bombing effectivly forced the Japenese to surrender. -
V-J Day
Japanese repersentatives surrender Japan aboard the USS Missouri.
