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Attack on Manchuria
Despite objections from the Japanese parliament and the League of Nations, the Japanese army seized Manchuria, a region rich in iron and coal, in 1931. They proceeded to set up a puppet government in the region and built mines and factories there. -
Nuremberg Laws
The Nuremberg Laws were antisemetic laws established by the Nazis in Germany to enforce the excessively nationalistic idealogy that Hitler created. They institutionalized prejudice against German Jews and discriminated against them. -
Japanese Alliance with Italy and Germany
Hitler and Mussolini reached an agreement called the Rome-Berlin Axis in October 1936. One month later, Germany also allied with Japan. Germany, Italy and Japan became known as the Axis Powers. -
Kristallnacht
Nazi storm troopers launched a violent attack on German Jews, murdering them and destroying their homes, businesses, and synagogues. This night is called Kristallnacht, "the night of broken glass", because the streets were littered with the glass shards from the windows of Jewish businesses. -
Invasion of Poland
Once the Nonagression Pact ensured that the Soviets weren't an eastern threat to Germany, Hitler executed a surprise attack on Poland. The Germans began a horrific bombing on Poland's capital, Warsaw, as well as using the new military strategy Blitzkreig to conquer Poland. Hitler then annexed western Poland. -
Soviet Union Invades E. Poland
After Stalin's secret agreement with Hitler (the Nonagression Pact), Stalin sent Soviet troops to occupy the eastern half of Poland. After Poland fell, the Soviets went on to conquer Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland. -
Battle of Britain
In summer 1940, Germany's air force began to bomb Great Britain. By September the Germans moved on from bombing airfields to bombing major cities, especially London. However, in October 1940 when the British started getting a leg up in the fight, the Germans began night raids. On May 10, 1941,
the battle ended and Hitler called off his attacks on Britain. -
France Surrenders
After the Battle of Dunkirk, Italy's Mussolini joined forces with Hitler to declare war on Britain and France. Italian forces attacked France from the south and Paris fell to the Germans. The French surrendered after Henri Pétain became Prime Minister. The Germans then controlled northern France, leaving the south to a puppet government led by Pétain. -
Lend Lease Act
Passed by President Roosevelt, the Lend Lease Act stated that the president of the United States could lend or lease arms and other supplies to any country vital to the U.S. By summer 1941, the law was put in to action as the U.S. Navy began escorting British ships loaded with U.S. arms. -
German Invasion of Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa, Hitler's blitzkreig plan to invade the Soviet Union, did not end successfully. As the weeks passed, the German forces pushed hundreds of miles in to Leningrad; because the Russians used the Scorched Earth strategy, this was a difficult task. Despite a million deaths due to starvation, the city didn't fall. Hitler turned to Moscow on October 2nd; by December, the Germans faced a Russian counterattack and were defeated from there, despite orders to push on. -
Atlantic Charter
U.S. President Rooselvelt and British Prime Minister Churchill secretly met and issued the Atlantic Charter, which upheld free trade among nations as well as the right of people to choose their own government. At the end of WWII, the charter became the Allies' peace plan. -
Pearl Harbor
The Japanese Navy executed a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, a naval base in Hawaii. To eliminate the threat of the U.S. Pacific fleet, the Japanese destroyed nearly all of the fleet and caused thousands of casualties.The next day, President Roosevelt declared war on Japan. -
Japanese Internment in the U.S.
Beginning in March 1942, U.S. President Roosevelt ordered the military to round up all of the Japanese living in America, two thirds of whom were American born, and sent them to relocation camps. Until 1946, the U.S. wrongfully imprisoned 31,275 of the American Japanese. Much of this was driven by racism. -
Battle of Midway
The magnificient Japanese navy ambushed the Americans at Midway Island. However, the Japanese didn't know the Americans were waiting on their arrival; in a stealthily executed strategy, the Americans crippled the Japanese fleet. It was said that America had avenged Pearl Harbor. -
Allied Invasion of Italy
Roosevelt and Churchill decided to execute an attack on Italy. Allied forces took Sicily and transitively toppled Mussolini from power. For a short amount of time, the Germans took control of northern Italy and put Mussolini back in power, but by June 4, 1944, the Germans retreated and the Allies successfully took Italy. However, fighting in Italy continued until Germany fell in May 1945. -
D-Day
Operation Overlord, otherwise known as the invasion of Normandy or D-Day, was the greatest land and sea attack in history. British, American, and Canadian troops punched through Germany's defenses at the coast of Normandy.Though the fight was gruesome and there were hundreds of casualties, this battle was followed by the Germans retreating and the Allies going on to liberate other European countries. -
German Surrender
General Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender of Germany on May 7th,and the surrender was officially signed in Berlin the next day. Allied forces celebrated because the war in Europe was finally over. -
Bombing of Hiroshima
The U.S. dropped their first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing 73,000 people and leaving the rest to be affected by the powerful radiation and horrific destruction it caused. -
Bombing of Nagasaki
Three days after the U.S. bombed the Japanese city of Hiroshima, a second atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. It killed 37,500 Japanese citizens; the radiation-caused diseases that followed killed many more. -
Japanese Surrender
The Japanese surrendered to American General Douglas MacArthur on the battleship "Missouri"at Tokyo Bay. This led to the official end of World War II.
