-
Appeasement
Hitler wanted to unite the all of the Germanic countries in Europe into one nation: he lied about a police attack in Czechoslovakia (said they'd killed 300 Germans) in order to place troops on the border with the intent of taking over. Chamberlain (British P.M.) tried coming up with a plan to appease Hitler by allowing him to occupy Sudetenland--the German part of Czechoslovakia. Obviously, Hitler doesn't just stick to Sudetenland, but this law was seen as reasonable to many Brits at the time. -
Japanese Invasion (Manchuria)
Japan used to rule over the Manchuria railway in China. They made a claim that China sabotaged the railway as ammunition to attack the Chinese army and extend their empire. -
The Night of the Long Knives
A night Hitler spends knocking off all of his potential political enemies--members of his own Nazi party. -
Anschluss
Hitler wanted to unite all German-speaking countries. Austrians speak German. It's a different dialect, but they speak German. So, Hitler took over, despite what the Treaty of Versailles said. Austria's pres wasn't too thrilled with all of this, especially since Hitler's Nazis were setting buildings on fire and organising attacks and such, so he tried to ban them. Well. Hitler threatened to invade unless he gave Nazis important govt. jobs, and France and England didn't want to help Austria out. -
Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass)
This was the first government-organised attack on Jewish people in Germany. Nazis went around at night burning synagogues down, vandalizing Jewish homes, schools, and businesses, and killing Jewish people. They murdered nearly 100 Jewish people, and 30,000 were arrested in the aftermath. -
Non Aggression Pact
A pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union stating that neither nation would attack the other. Heh. -
German Invasion (Poland)
So, Germany lost a lot of land after WWI, and Hitler wanted it back. Poland is included among that lost land. He was able to regain Poland by using Blitzkrieg, and once in control, he began murdering anyone left who wasn't a Nazi. -
France Surrenders to Germany
Alright so Hitler really really really really really wanted to control the world. I mean Eastern Europe. England and France specifically. France was still a little mad about everything Germany did during WWI, so they had concrete fortifications put on their German border (the Maginot Line). They didn't account for the fact that Belgium exists (whoops). To make a long story short, the Nazis swiftly made their way through Belgium into Paris, and France had no choice but to surrender. -
The Battle of Stalingrad
Germany got greedy (Hitler got stupid) and decided to take advantage of their new alliance with Russia by trying to take over. It didn't work. Note: Stalin decided to keep being a wonderful and sympathetic leader by leaving civilians in Russia to inspire his troops to win. So there's that. -
The Final Solution
The Nazi's decision that Jewish people must be eradicated. It was a slow progression to get to that point. Jewish people had already been getting discriminated against, eventually they were sent to 'ghettos' in droves. It all really started going downhill after Germany stole control of Poland, where camps were built with the purpose of murdering mass amounts of Jewish people at a time. -
Japan Bombs Pearl Harbour
One day, Japan decided they should bomb a U.S. naval base. Nearly 20 naval vassals were destroyed, as well as more than 300 airplanes. Over 2,400 Americans died in this attack--including civilians. 1,000 others were wounded. The day after (12-08-1941), FDR declared war on Japan. -
D-Day
Troops from the U.S., Canada, and Britain arrived on the coast of the German-occupied Normandy region. By the end, all of Northern France had been freed from German invasion. -
The Liberation of Auschwitz
The Soviet Union evacuated nearly 7,000 prisoners from these death camps. The march from Auschwitz is described as a death march, as many died from already existing illness, or they were shot by SS soldiers.
The article I read described this as a paradox of history, considering the Soviet Union itself was under control of a ruthless dictator.
