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Sitzkrieg
a war, or a phase of a war, in which there is little or no active warfare -
Nazi Germany Invades Poland
September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. To justify the action, Nazi propagandists falsely claimed that Poland had been planning, with its allies Great Britain and France, to encircle and dismember Germany and that Poles were persecuting ethnic Germans -
Battle of Britain
commonly given to the effort by the Luftwaffe to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force, before a planned sea and airborne invasion of Britain -
America First Committee Launched
foremost United States non-interventionist pressure group against the American entry into World War II. -
Destroyers-for-Bases Deal
between the United States and the United Kingdom on September 2, 1940, fifty Caldwell, Wickes, and Clemson class US Navy destroyers were transferred to the Royal Navy from the United States Navy in exchange for land rights on British possessions. -
Congress Institutes the Draft
United States instituted the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, which required all men between the ages of 21 and 45 to register for the draft. -
France Fell to Germany
result of a hopelessly divided French political elite, a lack of quality military leadership, rudimentary French military tactics. On the battlefield, France faced a vastly more prepared German army that utilized both more advanced weapons and sophisticated tactics -
Lend-Lease Act
set up a system that would allow the United States to lend or lease war supplies to any nation deemed "vital to the defense of the United States -
Four Freedoms
Roosevelt insisted that people in all nations of the world shared Americans’ entitlement to four freedoms: the freedom of speech and expression, the freedom to worship God in his own way, freedom from want and freedom from fear. -
USS Kearny Attacked
She was noted for being torpedoed by a German U-boat in October 1941, before the U.S. had entered the war. She survived that attack, and later served in North Africa and the Mediterranean. -
Reuben James Sank
first United States Navy ship sunk by hostile action in the European theater of World War II and the first named for Boatswain's Mate Reuben James -
Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor
surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, -
Battle of Coral Sea
major naval battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy and naval and air forces from the United States and Australia, taking place in the Pacific Theatre of World War II. -
Battle of Midway
The United States Navy defeated a Japanese attack against Midway Atoll, marking a turning point in the war in the Pacific theatre -
Island Hopping Campaign Begins
military strategy employed by the Allies in the Pacific War against Japan and the Axis powers during World War II. -
Battle of El Alamein
marked the culmination of the North African campaign between the forces of the British Empire and the German-Italian -
Battle of Bataan
most intense phase of Imperial Japan's invasion of the Philippines during World War II. -
Bataan Death March
forcible transfer by the Imperial Japanese Army of 60,000–80,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war from Saysain Point, Bagac, Bataan and Mariveles to Camp O'Donnell, Capas, Tarlac, via San Fernando, Pampanga, where the prisoners were loaded onto trains. -
Manhattan Project Began
research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. -
Casablanca Conference
plan the Allied European strategy for the next phase of World War II. -
Battle of Stalingrad
largest confrontation of World War II, in which Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in Southern Russia -
Tahran Conference
strategy meeting of Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill from 28 November to 1 December 1943, after the Anglo-Soviet Invasion of Iran. -
D-Day
Normandy landings were the landing operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D-Day, it was the largest seaborne invasion in history -
MacArthur Returned to the Philippines
a few hours after his troops landed, MacArthur waded ashore onto the Philippine island of Leyte. That day, he made a radio broadcast in which he declared, “People of the Philippines, I have returned! -
FDR Elected to 4th Term
FDR was elected President of the United States four times: 1932, 1936, 1940, and 1944. ... As a result of FDR's unprecedented four terms, the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified in 1951, limiting all future presidents to two elected terms. -
Battle of the Bulge
also known as the Ardennes Counteroffensive, took place from 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945, and was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. -
Yalta Conference
brought together the Big Three Allied leaders. During this conference, Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt discussed Europe's postwar reorganization. The main purpose of Yalta was the re-establishment of the nations conquered and destroyed by Germany -
Battle of Iwo Jima
major battle in which the United States Marine Corps landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II -
Battle of Okinawa
codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Marine and Army forces against the Imperial Japanese Army -
FDR Died/Harry Truman Becomes President
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt passes away after four momentous terms in office, leaving Vice President Harry S. Truman in charge of a country still fighting the Second World War and in possession of a weapon of unprecedented and terrifying power. -
VE Day
Victory in Europe Day, generally known as VE Day or V-E Day, was celebrated on Tuesday, 8 May 1945 to mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces. -
Postdam Conference
conference failed to settle most of the important issues at hand and thus helped set the stage for the Cold War that would begin shortly after World War II came to an end. -
Little Boy Dropped on Hiroshima
United States dropped its first atomic bomb from a B-29 bomber plane on Japanese city of Hiroshima. The “Little Boy” exploded with about 13 kilotons of force, leveling five square miles of the city and killing 80,000 people instantly -
Fatman Dropped on Nagasaki
codename for the nuclear bomb that was detonated over the Japanese city of Nagasaki by the United States on 9 August 1945. It was the second of the only two nuclear weapons ever used in warfare -
VJ Day
Victory over Japan Day is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end -
Nuremberg Trials
Nuremberg trials were a series of military tribunals held by the Allied forces under international law and the laws of war after World War II. -
Japanese War Crime Trials
International Military Tribunals for the Far East begins hearing the case against 28 Japanese military and government officials accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during World War II
