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Nazi Germany Invaded Poland
On September 1, 1939, German tanks and planes began a full-scale invasion of Poland -
Sitzkrieg
A sit down war, where German troops sat and waited while French forces held their defenses. -
France Fell to Germany
After a relatively inactive winter, the war was resumed in the spring of 1940 with Germany attacking its Scandinavian neighbors to the north and its chief enemy, France, to the west," who surrendered in a week. -
Destroyers-for-Bases Deal
Britain was under attacked by Germany, so "Britain received 50 older but still serviceable U.S. destroyers and gave the United States the right to build military bases on British islands in the Caribbean -
America First Committee Launched
To mobilize American public opinion against war, they formed
the America First Committee and engaged speakers such as Charles Lindbergh to travel the country warning against reengaging in Europe's troubles -
Battle of Britain
an aerial battle fought in World War II in 1940 between the German Luftwaffe (air force), which carried out extensive bombing in Britain, and the British Royal Air Force, which offered successful resistance -
Congress Instituted the Draft
The Selective Training and Service Act of September 1940 provided for the registration of all American men between the ages of 21 and 35 and for the training of 1.2 million troops in just one year. -
Four Freedoms
Addressing Congress on January 6, 1941, the president
delivered a speech that proposed lending money to Britain for the purchase of U.S. war materials -
Lend-Lease
Roosevelt proposed ending the cash-and-carry requirement
of the Neutrality Act and permitting Britain to obtain all the U.S. arms it needed on credit -
USS Kearny Attacked
A warship attacked by Germany, where eleven men died in the attack -
Reuben James Sank
First US naval warship sunk in WWII by a German naval U-Boat -
Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor
On Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, while most American sailors were still asleep in their bunks, Japanese planes from aircraft carriers flew over Pearl Harbor bombing every ship in sight -
Battle of Bataan
In January 1942, forces of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy invaded Luzon along with several islands in the Philippine Archipelago after the bombing of the American naval base at Pearl Harbor -
Bataan Death March
After the Japanese landed in the Philippines in May 1942, nearly 75,000 American and Filipino prisoners were forced to endure a 60-mile forced march; during the ordeal, 10,000 prisoners died or were killed -
Island Hopping Campaign Begins
commanders bypassed strongly held Japanese posts and isolated them with naval and air power; Allied forces moved steadily toward Japan -
Battle of Coral Sea
Naval battle between Japan and the US which halted the Japanese movement towards Australia, but resulted in heavy losses for the US -
Battle of Midway
Intercepting and decoding Japanese messages enabled U.S. forces to destroy four Japanese carriers and 300 planes in the decisive Battle of Midway on June 4-7, ending Japanese domination -
Manhattan Project Began
Directed by the physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the project employed over 100,000 people and spent $2 billion to develop a weapon whose power came from the splitting of the atom -
Battle of Stalingrad
Unsuccessful German attack on the city of Stalingrad during World War II from 1942 to 1943, that was the furthest extent of German advance into the Soviet Union -
Battle of Alamein
British general Montgomery attacked El Alamein with help of american tanks and drove the enemy back to Tunisia -
Casablanca Conference
In January 1943, Roosevelt and Churchill agreed on the grand strategy to win the war, including to invade Sicily and Italy and to demand "unconditional surrender" from the Axis powers -
Tehran Conference
The Big Three-Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin-met for the
first time in the Iranian city of Teheran in November 1943, where they agreed that the British and Americans would begin their drive to liberate France in the spring of 1944 and that the Soviets would invade Germany and eventually join the war
against Japan -
D-Day
On D-Day, as the invasion date was called, British, Canadian, and U.S. forces under the command of General Eisenhower secured several beachheads on the Normandy coast -
MacArthur Returned to the Philippines
When General Douglas MacArthur, the commander of army units in the Southern Pacific, was driven from the islands, he famously vowed, "I shall return," and in October 1944, the Japanese navy was virtually destroyed -
Battle of the Bulge
By September, Allied troops had crossed the German border for a
final push toward Berlin, and the Germans launched a desperate counterattack in Belgium in December 1944 in the Battle of the Bulge -
FDR Elected to a 4th Term
Because of the war, "the president sought and received the Democratic nomination for the fourth time," and was elected to a 4th term. -
Yalta Conference
In February 1945, the Big Three conferred again at Yalta.," and "their agreement at Yalta would prove the most historic of the three meetings -
Battle of Iwo Jima
lasted 6 weeks, several thousand marines, and more than 20,000 Japanese soldiers were killed, this battle is also notable for the famous photograph of US marines lifting the American flag to a standpoint -
Battle of Okinawa
The U.S. Army in the Pacific had been pursuing an "island-hopping" campaign, moving north from Australia towards Japan, and on April 1, 1945, they invaded Okinawa, only 300 miles south of the Japanese home islands -
FDR Died / Harry Truman Became President
On April 12, 1945, while resting in a vacation home in Georgia, an exhausted Franklin Roosevelt died suddenly," and "Harry S. Truman entered the presidency unexpectedly to assume enormous responsibilities as commander in chief of a war effort that had not yet been won -
VE Day
Paris was liberated and Allies crossed the German border for the final push toward Berlin, where the Allies were successful and the war came to an end -
Potsdam conference
The three leaders (Stalin, Truman, and Clement Attlee) met in Postsdam, Germany (July 17-August 2, 1945) and agreed (1) to demand that Japan surrender unconditionally, and (2) to hold war-crime trials of Nazi leaders. -
Little Boy Dropped on Hiroshima
On August 6, an A-bomb was dropped on Hiroshima," first nuclear weapon used in a war -
Fat Man Dropped on Nagasaki
on August 9, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki;" About 250,000 Japanese died, either immediately or after a prolonged period of suffering, as a result of the two bombs -
VJ Day
Victory in Japan september 2nd, 1945 treaty signed on S.S. Missour -
Nuremberg Trials
Series of trials in 1945 conducted by an International Military Tribunal in which former Nazi leaders were charged with crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and war crimes -
Japanese War Crime Trials
The trial in which America punished the Japanese leaders for the rape of Nanking. 7 out of the 25 leaders were executed
