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Germany Invades Poland
Who: Germany
What: German Forces invaded Poland and German planes bombed Warsaw and other cities in Poland
Where: Poland
Why Significant: This was basically the start of WWII -
Battle of Britain
Who: Germany
What: Hitler ordered an invasion of Britain. The Germans bombed not only military bases but cities as well
Where: Britain
Why Significant: This was the first ever open attack on civilians -
Lend-Lease Act Signed
Who: President Roosevelt
What: An act set up to allow the United States to lend war suplies to any nation deemed "vital to the United States defense"
Where: Washington DC
Why Significant: This allowed the United States to prepare for war while remaining officially neutral -
Germany Declares War on United States
Who: Adolf Hitler
What: Hitler declares war on Britain and the United States, partly because of Churchill's refusal of Hitler's peace treaty in January of 1940
Why significant: It becomes clear that Hitler intends on a war to the death -
Battle of Stalingrad
Who: Germany and the Soviet Union against the Allies
What: this was one of the longest battles in history. It lasted 199 days and had more casualties than historians coulod really account for. The German Army was not prepared for the cold climate of the Soviet Union and were defeated partly because of that fact
Where: Stalingrad, Soviet Union
Why Significant: This battle was said to be the turning point of the war Battle ended on Febuary 2, 1943 -
Battle of El Alamein
Who: Britain, Austrailia, New Zealand, South Africa, Indian, and French forces against German and Italian forces
What: After a ten day artillery battle the Allies broke through enemy lines and the Axis powers retreated to Tunisia
Where: El Alamein, dersert of North Africa right outside of Egypt Battle ended on November 3rd, 1942
The battle before this one was in July of 1942 and had ended in a stalemate -
Allies Land in Italy
Who: AMericans and Britain against Italy and Germany
What: Mussolini surrendered to the Allies, after they invaded Italy which was defended by the Germans who were living there
Where: Italy
Why Significant: After this Italy is now out of the war -
D-Day Invasion
Who: 160,000 Allied troops against Nazi Germany
What: Allies crushed the Germans and gained a foothold in France
Where: Beaches of Normandy, France
Why Sinificant: This was the start of freeing France from Hitler's rule -
Battle of the Bulge
Who: Germany
What: Hitler sent three armies to try and overwhelm the Allies into surrender.
Where: Antwerp, Center of American forces, and the Allies' southern flank
Why Significant: It was the last major offensive move of the nazis to try and break up the allies -
Yalta Conference
Who: Franklin D Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin
What: A meeting to settle the war
Where: Black Sea Resort, Yalta
Why Significant: This allowed for "the big three" to come to a compromise to end this war -
Franklin Roosevelt Dies
Who: Franklin D Roosevelt
What: He died of a Cerebral Hemorrhage
Where: White House in Washington DC
Why Sigificant: The president's death devastated the country and the enemy thought that we had become weak and might drop out of the war -
Hitler Commits Suicide
Who: Adolf Hitler
What: He swallowed a cyanide capsule and shot himself in the head instead of admitting defeat
Where: His headquarters in Berlin, Germany
Why Significant: This act showed Germany that their leader had given up on them and it allowed the war to finally end -
Germany Surrenders (VE Day)
Who: Germany
What: The Unconditional surrender of the Germans is ratified
Where: Berlin, Germany
Why Significant: This marks the final end of WWII
