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Alliance System
In 1879 Germany and Austria-Hungary made an alliance to protect themselves from Russia. Then in 1908 the British, France, and Russia formed alliances and this was known as the Triple Entente. This event was important because it eventually led to the beginning of WWI, because when two countries went to war it would bring in at least two other countries which led to full scale war. -
Trench Warfare
Trench Warfare was a new tactic in fighting. The Allies used four different types of trenches to fight the Germans. They often used communication trenches to help move supplies, men, and messages. The German trenches were much more sophistacated and took a lot longer to build.Rats were a huge problem for soldiers in the trenches because of the dieseases they carried and the quantity of them in the trenches. This was important because it changed the way wars were fought. -
Assassination of Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand was the heir to Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was very unpopular with the people because he made a lot of unwanted changes like annexing Bosnia in 1908 which made some people very upset. Then in 1914 Franz was assassinated by a Serbian terrorist group called the Black Hand. This was huge event because it made the Austro-Hungarians very unhappy and eventually helped lead to WWI. -
Sinking of Lusitania
Lusitania was a British Passenger Liner that was traveling from New York to Liverpool. The ship cossed paths with a German U-Boat, and the U-Boat fired a torpedo without warning and sunk the ship. Around 1,201 people died and 128 were American. When this occured a lot of anti-German riots occured when they learned they sunk a passenger ship without warning. This was an important event because it made a lot countries furious with the Germans especially the U.S. -
U-Boats
U-Boats were submarines the Germans created for WWI. They were used to destroy the Allies shipping during the war. There were never more than 60 of them in the water at the same time. The U- Boats were important because in a span of four years they destoyed over 10,000,000 of freight which was amazing because of their small numbers. -
The Zimmerman Telegram
In 1917 British cryptographers decoded a telegram from the German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmerman that was sent to Mexico offering them U.S. land if they joined the Gemran cause. This message played a key role in drawing the U.S. into war. This helped change the course of the war when the telegram was decoded. -
Bolshevik Revolution
The Bolshevik Revolution was led by the revolutionary party known as the Bolsheviks who believed in a communist government. The Bolsheviks were led by Lenin who was manipulative and cruel. He got the Soviet people on his side by telling them that they should rule Russia and they liked him because of this, but he actually meant that Soviets should rule Russia, with the Bolsheviks in total control. Lenin also turned the people against the provisional gov't by blaming the economic crisis on them. -
Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
When Germany announced it would go to unrestricted submarine warfare it was one of the reasons America was provoked to come into the war. Germany was desperate and thought if they showed how powerful their U-Boats were that the U.S. would stay away. This tactic was important because it was a big reason that America entered the war. -
American Entry in WWI
Woodrow wilson declared the U.S. would enter the war because Germany broke its pledge to suspend unrestricted warfare in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean. They were also angry at Germany for trying to turn Mexico against them. Then a couple days later the U.S. declared war on Austro- Hungary. This event was important because this brought a great deal of help for the Allies in fighting. -
League of Nations
The League of Nations was created shortly after the war ended. The League of Nation's mission was to make sure that a war like taht never broke out again. People hoped that the League would bring peace to the world. There was a lot of support for the idea except in America where people thought that the U.S. shoul stay out of international problems. Germany wasn't allowed to join because they started WWI and Russia couldn't join because they had a communist government. -
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was peace settlement signed after the war ended. The treaty was between the Germans and the Allies. However the Germans weren't allowed to negotiate because they started the war. They also had to pay for the war. The most important politicians in this agreement were David Lloyd George, Georges Clemenceau and Woodrow Wilson. George and Clemencau believed germany should pay for what they did, but Wilson believed they should be punished but in a way so that Europe recovered -
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Hitler's Rise to Power
The Nazi Party started right after WWI. They were very opposed to the Treaty of Versailles and Communism. They were furious on how the Allies treated them in the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler first joined the party as a spy but he showed great leadership and became the leader soon enough. In 1929 Hitler caught a big break with the Stock Market Crash. This threw Germany into a huge economic crisis and people were in panic mode so they began to listen to Hitler and saw him as the best choice tolead -
Mussolini and the Rise of Fascism
Benito Mussolini formed the Fascist Party in 1919 in Italy. Fascism is a government with a Dictator with a strong belief in nationalism. In 1925 while Italy was in political choas Mussolin declared himself Dictator of Italy. In the 1930's Mussolini joined forces with Nazi Germany and Japan. In 1940 Mussolini declared war on Britan and France and was easily defeated. Then in 1943 the Allies landed in Italy and overthrew Mussolini and he was then imprisoned by his colleagues. -
Stalin's Rise to Power
Joseph Stalin came to power in Russia because he was very clever and manipulative and he told Leon Trotsky the wrong date Lenin's funeral and becasue of this Trotsky was dismissed, exiled, and later murdered. Stalin's rise was different than Lenin's because Lenin got people on his side by telling them he could unite Russia. Stalin took over Russia by force and told them he could make it way better. Stalin promised a utopia but he never could deliver what he guaranteed Russia. -
The Great Depression
The main reason for the Great Depression was when Wall Street crashed in 1929. The Americans stopped importing foreign goods which created a worldwide depression. Unemployment rose a great deal during this time period, but it had a tremendous effect in Britan. Nearly 2.5 million people were unemployed and Britan struggled to figure out how to slove the issue. Although some good did come out of the depression like new washing machines, cars, and electricity. -
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German Invasion of Austria, Rhineland, and Czechoslovakia
Hitler invaded these countries to unite the German people. His biggest target was to unify with Austria but after Treaty of Versailles this was forbidden. Hitler wanted to control Czechoslovokia mainly becasue it shared a border with Austria. Although never conquered Austria because of Italy. While Hitler was trying to take over these areas other countries didn't intervene becasue of the term appeasement. They were okay with Germany taking over countries as long as they had German people inthem. -
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War started with a military revolt against the Republican Government. The two sides who were the nationalists who were helped by Italy and Germany, and the Republicans who were helped by Russia, parts of Europe, and the U.S. The Italians and Germans used the war to experiment with new concepts of tank and air warfare. France and Britan were just trying to balance in Europe, but they could not and this eventually led to the start of WWII. -
Invasion of Poland
The Invasion of Poland was the first military engagement of WWII. Hitler invaded Poland when his army was not at full strength yet and the economy was still in bad shape. Hitler thought if he invaded Poland the French and British wouldn't do anyting and would follow the policy of appeasement, but he was wrong becasue this was the fist time Hitler tried to take over a country that wasn't German. Hitler succeed in taking over Poland and Poland stayed under German command until 1945. -
Fall of France
On May 10, 1940 the Germans sent around 2 million soldiers to invade France on land and in the air. Around 2 million French soldiers guarded the Maginot Line but Hitler's new strategy of fighting caught the Allies off guard and France fell after 6 weeks of fighting. Hitler's troops ended up trapping the Allies in the city of Dunkirk. Once they had occupied France they looked to strike Britan next. This marked a very big win for the Axis powers in the war. -
Evacuation of Dunkirk
After the Allies had seriously underestimated the Axis army they were surrounded in the city of Dunkirk and the German army was coming in strong. However more than 300,000 men were evacuated from the shores of Dunkirk. This was a huge low point for the Allies because this meant France would have to surrender and the Axis powers would gain control of France. It also meant that Britan was the last country standing in the way of full German control of Europe. -
Battle of Britan
After the evacuation of Dunkirk and the surrender of France, Britan was leftall alone. The Battle of Britan was one of the biggest battles in the war. The whole battle was fought in the air which had never happened before. The British had the advantage of having radar which helped them see when German planes were coming. After 3 months of fighting Hitler could see that he was losing and he decided to delay the invasion of Britan. In stead he decided to bomb the big cities in Britan. -
Pearl Harbor
Japan launched a suprise attack on the american naval base at Pearl Harbor and declared war on Britain and the U,S. They primarily attacked warships, aircrafts, and military insillations. This is a very important issue from our past -
Battle of Midway
bombers from the USS enterprise went into the air and bombed two Japanese aircraft carriers, both fleets were demolished, This attack destrooyed the dream of an empire. This was one of the most crucial battles in the war it helped the get a little more momentum in beating the Axis Powers -
Battle of Guadalcanal
This long 6 month battle was between america and the Japanese for this canal. This was an air, sea and land battle that was very brutal, This was a very expensive battle for both countires. The opponents sufferred high losses in ships and aircraft, but those that the US lost were regained but Japans' were not, Japan finally retreated resultin in a US victory -
The battle of Stalingard
This battle was considered the turning point of world war II in Europe. This bled the German army dry in Russia and this defeat, the Germany Army was in full retreat. Some say Hitler only attacked Stalingard beacause of its name, he has a lot of hatrid towards Joseph Stalin. This was one of the more violent wars during the time period as well, Satlinggard defeated Germany and its army. -
D-day
A fleet of Allie ships crossed the sea from England to Normandy , the allies stormed the beach and defeated the Axis Powers and this event was a game changer in the war. The Allies had gained a lot of power back fro the Axis Powers. -
Decolonization
Decolonization was the process when colonies would become independent of the country who colonized them. After WWII many European countries were left poor and could not withstand revolts from the countries they colonized so they let them become independent countries. Ever since the creation of the U.N 80 old colonies have claimed their independence. -
Tokyo Bombing
American B-29 bombers dropped bombs on tokyo causing inferno. Many people threw themselves into the sumidia river. These raids were called by General Curtis Lemay. There were many problems with the accuracy with these bombs but they still did much damage. 100,000 people died, 375,000 left homeless and 40% of tokyo was burned -
V-E Day
This was the day of victory in Europe and it marked the end of HItler''s war, -
Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The worlds first ever deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. It wipped out over 90% of the city and killed over 90,000 people. Three days later a bomb was also dropped over Nagasaki and killed roughly 40,000 people -
V-J Day
this is the day when the Japs surrendered to the allies -
United Nations
The United Nations was created on October 24, 1945. Over 50 countries came together to create the United Nations Charter. The United Nations was made to replace the League of Nations which had failed to do its job. The main purpose of the U.N. was to help countries communicate with each other and try to stop future wars from occuring.
