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The Rise of Adolf Hitler
On this day, the German Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler Chancellor of Germany. Although Hitler had been around before and had some power within the Nazi party, this is the moment where he is nearly unstoppable. Soon after this day Hitler begins to break rules from the Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty of Versailles was the treaty conjured up by Britain and France that severly punished Germany after World War I. -
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
This was a non-aggression treaty signed between Germany and the Soviet Union. This was simply buying time to hold off on an eastern front between the two nations. Since Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler were ideological enemies a war between the two countries was destined to happen eventually. -
Germany Invades Poland
Here was the final straw that Hitler and his Germany had broke. After the allies (Britain and France) had given in to his requests to avoid conflict they realized the "appeasement policy" would not work. On September 1st, 1939, Hitler invaded Poland after the allies had denied him the territory and the allied nations declared war. -
Lend-Lease Act of 1940
In 1940 the Battle of Britain was raging. It is the biggest air battle ever to be fought and Britain had defended itself from the Germans who wished to bombard large British cities. Although Britain had defended itself it was left in a world of hurt. Many of its ships had been sunk. Winston Churchill wrote a letter to President Franklin Roosevelt saying that it needed assistance. FDR convinced congress assisting Britain was vital so we gave them fifty of our old destroyers for support. -
The Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a project that was originally created to see if atomic weapons were possible to create. It actually was started in 1939 but when the scientists found that it was possible the approval for the creation of the atomic program was granted on this day. -
The Attack on Pearl Harbor
This was one of three attacks that the Japanese had carried out that day. Japan thought by bombing the American base while it was not expecting it they could do enough damage to completely knock their Pacific fleet in a single blow. However, in nearly six months recovered and began its Pacific campaign fighting the Japanese. -
The Battle of Stalingrad Begins
On July 17, 1942, the epic battle of Stalingrad began. There have only been five wars were there have been one million deaths or more. The battle of Stalingrad alone had one million deaths. The german army went hard at the city bearing Stalin's own name. The Soviet Army literally defended it with their lives and drove the Germans back. This was a huge loss for the German army and was the first time the German advance had been halted. -
D-Day
D-Day was "the day of all days" as General Dwight D. Eisenhower had said it. Its technical name was Operation Overlord and it was the plan to execute a cross-channel invasion into Normandy, France were the Germans had dug in. A cross-channel had only succeeded once before June 6, 1944, in all of human history. The Americans, British, and Canadians stormed the beaches that day and had executed the last successful cross-channel invasion to this day. -
Battle of the Bulge
This was Hitler's once last shot at turning the war around and having a chance at victory. Hitler threw everything he had at the American, British, and Canadian troops on the western front and hoped that he could drive them back into the sea. Hitler made good progress early on but was quickly stopped. After the failure of his last roll of the dice, he killed hiself in a bunker and the war essentially ended. -
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
These were the first (and only) two cities to ever have nuclear weapons used on them in war. Hiroshima was bombed on August 6, 1945 and Nagasaki was bombed on August 9, 1945. These bombs were not only a testament to human intellect but that we now have more responsibility on us than ever before.
