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German Invasion: Poland
Germany invaded Poland, with the German Bllitzkrieg; luftwaffe bombed Polish airfields, and German warships and U-boats attacked Polish naval forces in the Baltic Sea, setting off the war in Europe. -
German Invasion: France, Paris
The Germans have captured Paris, France. The collapse of France, just six weeks after Hitler's initial assault, ripped up the balance of power in Europe. -
Battle of Britain
In the summer of 1940, German and British air forces clashed in the skies over the United Kingdom, locked in the largest sustained bombing campaign to that date on the city of London. A significant turning point of World War II, as the Battle of Britain ended when Germany’s Luftwaffe failed to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force despite months of targeting Britain’s air bases, military posts and the innocent civilian population. -
Lend-Lease
During World War II, the United States began to provide significant military supplies and other assistance to the Allies in September 1940. Much of this aid flowed to the United Kingdom and other nations already at war with Germany and Japan through an innovative program known as Lend-Lease. -
German Invasion: Soviet Union
Under the codename Operation "Barbarossa," Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union, in the largest German military operation of World War II. Barbarossa was the crucial turning point in World War II, for its failure forced Nazi Germany to fight a two-front war against a coalition possessing immensely superior resources. -
Pearl Harbor
Early Sunday morning, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes descended on the base, where they managed to destroy or damage nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight massive battleships, and over 300 airplanes. More than 2,400 Americans died in the attack, including civilians, and another 1,000 people were wounded. The day after the assault, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declare war on Japan. -
Germany declares war on the United States
Adolf Hitler declares war on the United States, bringing America, which had been neutral, into the European conflict. -
Battle of Midway
Months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States defeated Japan in one of the most decisive naval battles of World War II. The United States was able to preempt and counter Japan’s planned ambush and hit Japanese Navy hard.It was an important turning point in the Pacific campaign, the victory allowed the United States and its allies to move into an offensive position. -
Liberation of Western Europe: Normandy, France, D-Day
The invasion was one of the largest amphibious military assaults in history and required extensive planning. Prior to D-Day the Allies conducted a large-scale deception campaign designed to mislead the Germans about the intended invasion target.The Normandy landings have been called the beginning of the end of war in Europe.The invasion began to turn the tide against the Nazis. A hit as it prevented Hitler from sending troops from France to build up his Eastern Front against advancing Soviets. -
Surrender of Japan: Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
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 later announced his country's surrender in WWII in a radio address,citing the devastating defeat and the end of World War II.
