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Battle of Britain
In July 1940, Hitler ordered his forces to invade Britain. As a prelude to the cross-Channel invasion, the German Air Force (the Luftwaffe) was to overpower Britain's air defenses. In the ensuing Air War between the German and Allied Air Forces, which lasted through the end of October 1940 and resulted in the defeat of the Luftwaffe. -
Leon Trotsky Assassinated
Trotsky was sitting at his desk in his study, helping Ramon Mercader edit an article. Mercader waited until Trotsky started to read the article, then snuck up behind Trotsky and slammed a mountaineering ice pick into Trotsky's skull. Trotsky died at the hospital on August 21, 1940, just over 25 hours after being attacked. Trotsky was 60 years old. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The Japanese launched a surprise air attack on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. After just two hours of bombing, more than 2,400 Americans were dead, 21 ships had either been sunk or damaged, and more than 188 U.S. aircraft destroyed.
The attack at Pearl Harbor so outraged Americans that the U.S. abandoned its policy of isolationism and declared war on Japan the following day -- officially bringing the United States into World War II. -
The Bataan Death March
The Bataan Death March was the forced march of American and Filipino prisoners of war by the Japanese during World War II. The 63-mile march began with 72,000 prisoners from the southern end of the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines on April 9, 1942. The horrible conditions and harsh treatment of the prisoners during the Bataan Death March resulted in an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 deaths. -
Anne Frank Goes Into Hiding
Thirteen-year-old Anne Frank had been writing in her red-and-white-checkered diary for less than a month when her sister, Margot, received a call-up notice around 3 p.m. on July 5, 1942. Although the Frank family had planned to go into hiding on July 16, 1942, they decided to leave immediately so that Margot would not have to be deported to a "work camp." -
Italy Joins the Allies
With Mussolini deposed from power and the collapse of the fascist government in July, Gen. Pietro Badoglio, Mussolini's former chief of staff and the man who had assumed power in the Duce's stead by request of King Victor Emanuel, began negotiating with General Eisenhower regarding a conditional surrender of Italy to the Allies. It became a fact on September 8, with the new Italian government allowing the Allies to land in Salerno, in southern Italy. -
D-Day
During World War II, the Allied powers planned to create a two-front war by continuing the Soviet Union's attack of Nazi-occupied lands from the east and by beginning a new invasion from the west. In June 1944, the United States and the United Kingdom (with help from many other western countries) began the long-awaited attack from the west, the Normandy Invasion (Operation Overlord). June 6, 1944, also known as D-Day, was the very first day of this massive amphibious invasion. -
Slinky Toy Hits Shelves
In 1943, the idea for the Slinky toy originated when engineer Richard James dropped a tension spring on the ground and saw how it moved. Thinking he might be on to something a bit more fun and universal than a tension spring, he took the spring home to his wife, Betty, and the two of them tried to come up with a name for this potential toy. After searching and searching, Betty found the word "slinky" in the dictionary which meant sinuous and stealthy. -
Winston Churchill Gives His "Iron Curtain" Speech
Winston Churchill spoke at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. This speech, commonly called the "Iron Curtain" speech but officially called "The Sinews of Peace," described the split of Europe into democratic and Communist spheres. -
Dr. Spock's "The Common Book of Baby and Child Care" Is Published
Dr. Benjamin Spock's revolutionary book about how to raise children was first published on July 14, 1946. The book, The Common Book of Baby and Child Care, has become one of the best-selling non-fiction books of all time. -
"Dewey Defeats Truman" in the Newspaper
On the morning after the 1948 presidential election, the Chicago Daily Tribune's headline read "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN." That's what the Republicans, the polls, the newspapers, the political writers, and even many Democrats had expected. But in the largest political upset in U.S. history, Harry S. Truman surprised everyone when he, and not Thomas E. Dewey, won the 1948 election for President of the United States.
