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Hitler gives a Mein Kampf speech.
Hitler the book Mein Kampf (My Struggle) during jail. He outlined his fascism political ideas in the book, when he gave his speech at first it was not taken seriously, but it included many of the ideas the Nazis put in practice in the 1930s and 1940s. -
Germany Anschluss with Austria
Hitler went ahead with his plans to unify all German-speaking people. He annexed Austria then demanded the liberation of German people in the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia. Neville Chamberlain flew to Germany to attempt a settlement before war broke out. -
Treaty of Munich
Hitler, Chamberlain, Daladier of France and Mussolini of Italy met in Munich and agreed that Hitler should have the Sudetanland of Czechoslovakia. -
Beginning of WWII
Germans dressed a German criminal in Polish clothing and sent him to cross to Poland lines. -
Blitzkrieg on Poland
“Lightning war” the German attack on Poland. A new style of warfare; includes planes dropping bombs, followed by tanks & artillery, followed by foot soldiers -
Sitzkrieg
The months following Britain's declaration of war are referred to as the 'phoney war' because Britain saw no military action. Germany invades France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. -
Dunkirk
340,000 Allied troops escapes. Greatest escape in the history of warfare; as Germany defeated British and French forces, they were forced to retreat across the English Channel in numerous small boats. -
Italy enters war on side of Axis powers.
During the course of the war Italy sided with the axis powers at the side of Germany. The sole purpose for entering the World War II was not to aid Germany in becoming the next superpower of the world. Mussolini decided to enter the war after observing how Germany was being able to crush the French as well as the allied forces in all of Western Europe. -
Battle of Britain.
Beginning of the battle of Britaing that lasted months of bombing by the Germans on English cities in preparation for an invasion of the island; first time the Germans were not victorious. The RAF defended the skies and by October 31 the enemy had ceased. -
Lend-Lease
Congress establishes the lend-lease program to deliver arms to Great Britain on Credit. -
Operation Barbarossa
Hitler sent 3 million soldiers and 3,500 tanks into the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union were taken by surprise as they had signed a treaty with Germany in 1939. Stalin immediately signed a mutual assistance treaty with Britain and launched an Eastern front battle that would claim 20 million casualties. The USA, which had been supplying arms to Britain under a 'Lend-Lease' agreement, offered similar aid to Soviet Union. -
Japanese bomb the U.S. Navy 's fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
The Japanese, who were already waging war against the Chinese, attacked the US pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, as a preliminary to taking British, French and Dutch colonies in South East Asia. -
Bataan Death March
The Japanese were unprepared for the number of prisoners that they were responsible for, and there was no organized plan for how to handle them. Prisoners were stripped of their weapons and valuables, and told to march to Balanga the capital of Bataan. Many were beaten, bayoneted and mistreated. -
Battle of Coral Sea
A major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II between the Japanese Navy and Allied naval and air forces from the United States and Australia. The battle was the first action in which aircraft carriers engaged each other, as well as the first in which neither side's ships sighted or fired directly upon the other. -
Battle of Midway
Fought near the Central Pacific island of Midway, is considered the decisive battle of the war in the Pacific. Before this battle the Japanese were on the offensive, capturing territory throughout Asia and the Pacific. By their attack, the Japanese had planned to capture Midway to use as an advance base, as well as to entrap and destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Because of communication intelligence successes, the U.S. Pacific Fleet surprised the Japanese forces, sinking the four Japanese carriers -
Soviet Union defeats Germany in the Battle of Stalingrad
Last German offensive on the eastern front; important Soviet city because of its location on the Volga River and proximity to Soviet oil fields. (Major industialized center in the Volga River. 43. 250,000 Axis forces trapped (about 200,000 die, remainder surrender). -
Operation Torch
Stalin wanted U.S. invasion of Europe. U.S invades North Africa under direction of General Dwight D. Eisenhower. May 1943- Rommel’s forces defeated. 20,000 U.S. soldiers killed or wounded in six months. (code name for the American invasion of North Africa.) -
Allies defeat Sicily
The allied troops had won the island of Sicily. -
Battle of El Alamein
British victory in which they stopped the Axis advance toward the Suez Canal and access to Middle Eastern oil fields. -
D-Day(Operation Overlord)
101st Airborne parachuted behind enemy lines. 150,000 Allied troops carried across the English Channel. They were led by Omar Bradley. Hitler refused to send reinforcements for precious days because he feared the invasion was a trick. After a week of fighting, the Allies gained control of a 60-mile strip. 10,000- The Allies casualties-successful! -
Battle of the Bulge
Last German offensive attack on the western front; near the northern portion of the French border with Belgium and Germany; 101st was surrounded at Bastogne but refused to surrender to the Germans. -
Adolf Hitler commits suicide
Hitler in his private quarters with Braun poisoned themselves and their dogs, before Hitler then also shot himself with his service pistol. -
Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day)
The public holiday celebrated to mark the date when the World War II Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich, -
Japan Formally Surrenders to End World War II
Having agreed in principle to unconditional surrender on August 14, 1945, Japan formally surrenders, ending World War II.
