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Mussolini becomes Prime Minister of Italy
Benito Mussolini usurps the Italian government and becomes replaces the power. Now becomes the Prime Minister of Italy and places the country under fascist and totalitarian control. -
Stalin Comes into Power
Joseph Stalin comes into power by establishing himself as the dictator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic. -
Hitler Becomes Chancellor of Germany
Hitler is given a government office and becomes the Chancellor of Germany. -
The Holocaust
The Holocaust was a genocide in which about six million European Jews were killed by Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany. The victims included 1.5 million children, and represented about two-thirds of the nine million Jews who had resided in Europe. A broader definition of the Holocaust includes non-Jewish victims of the Nazi campaign of mass murder, based on biological factors, such as patients who were mentally and physically disabled. -
Non-Aggression Pact
A pact signed between Stalin and Hitler that Russia and Germany are to not take any military actions against each other whatsoever in order to take Poland without any repercussions. -
Invasion of Poland and Start of WWII
Germany launches a blitzkrieg against Poland with Russia coming in from the other side of the country. The country falls easily and marks the start of WWII. -
Phony War "SitzKreig"
An eight month period in which no major military operations were being executed in the Western Front- although there were little battles. -
Battle of the Atlantic
Largest battle of WWII and spanned for 6 years.
Thousands of ships and U-boats constantly battled one another. Shifting and creating new tactics in order to overcome one another. In the end, the allies won by destroying the German U-boats and surface raiders. -
Battle of Britain
A massive dogfight between British Royal Air force against the German Luftwaffe over Britain. Successfully repelled the German force and gave Hitler his first major defeat. -
Lend-lease Act Passed in the US
Was an act created to give military aid to countries that were vital to the defense and security of the United States. This allowed the US to make a move into the war. -
Hitler Invades the Soviet Union
Also called," Operation Barbarossa".
German commences a blitzkreig against the Soviet Union and is considered the greatest German operation in WWII. This caused Stalin to retaliate and place himself with the allies on terms of a common threat. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The Japanese planned a surprise bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack destroyed the US naval fleet, killed 2,403 people and injured 1,178 others. -
America Declares war on Japan and enters WWII
On December 8, 1941, the United States Congress declared war on the Empire of Japan in response to that country's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor the prior day. -
War Production Board
The War Production Board (WPB) was an agency of the United States government that supervised war production during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established it with Executive Order 9024. -
Executive Order 9066
Executive Order 9066 was a United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This order authorized the Secretary of War to prescribe certain areas as military zones, clearing the way for the internment of Japanese Americans, German Americans, and Italian-Americans to concentration camps in the United States. -
The Battle of Coral Sea
The Battle of the Coral Sea, fought during 4–8 May 1942, was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II between the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and naval and air forces from the United States and Australia. The battle was the first action in which aircraft carriers engaged each other, as well as the first in which neither side's ships sighted or fired directly upon the other. -
The Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was a decisive naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II. Between 4 and 7 June 1942, the United States Navy under Admirals Chester Nimitz, Frank Jack Fletcher, and Raymond A. Spruance decisively defeated an attacking fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy near Midway Atoll, inflicting devastating damage on the Japanese fleet that proved irreparable. -
Operation Torch (North Africa)
A military joint operation between Britain and the United States that was focused on reclaiming French North African land that was taken. By taking the land, they would rid the axis powers from Africa and clear up a supply route in the Mediterranean. -
Office of War Mobilization
The Office of War Mobilization (OWM) was an independent agency of the United States government formed during World War II to coordinate all government agencies involved in the war effort. It was formed by Executive Order 9347. -
Invasion of Sicily/ Italy
Known as Operation Husky. This was an ally joint effort to take over Sicily from axis powers, cutting their range of influence by a significant amount. Six weeks in total and troops were deployed by land, air, and sea. -
D-Day
Known as Operation Overlord.
When allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy and defeated Germany through bloody battle. Known for its amount of deaths, this battle was a decisive victory for the allies that turned the war in their favor. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima was a major battle in which the United States Marine Corps landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. The American invasion, had the goal of capturing the entire island, including the three Japanese-controlled airfields, to provide a staging area for attacks on the Japanese main islands. This five-week battle comprised some of the fiercest and bloodiest fighting of World War II. -
The Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa, was a series of battles fought in the Japanese Ryukyu Islands, centered on the island of Okinawa, and included the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War during World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from 1 April until 22 June 1945. After a long campaign of island hopping, the Allies were planning to use Okinawa, as a base for air operations for the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands. -
Battle Berlin
The final offensive that took place in the European theater spear headed by the Soviet Union. Basically marked the end of WWII in Europe and placed Germany on their knees. -
Hitler commits suicide
Adolf Hitler killed himself by gunshot on 30 April 1945 in his Führerbunker in Berlin. His wife Eva Braun committed suicide with him by taking cyanide. That afternoon, in accordance with Hitler's prior instructions, their remains were carried up the stairs through the bunker's emergency exit, doused in petrol, and set alight in the Reich Chancellery garden outside the bunker. Records in the Soviet archives show that their burnt remains were recovered, cremated and ashes scattered. -
V-E Day
Victory in Europe Day, generally known as V-E Day, was the public holiday celebrated on 8 May 1945 to mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces. It thus marked the end of World War II in Europe. -
Dropping of the Atomic Bombs
On August 6, 1945, an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90% of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Japan’s Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s unconditional surrender in World War II. -
End of WWII
The surrender of Imperial Japan was announced on August 15 and formally signed on September 2, 1945, bringing the hostilities of World War II to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy was incapable of conducting major operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent. Together with the British Empire and China, the United States called for the unconditional surrender of the Japanese armed forces in the Potsdam Declaration on July 26, 1945.
