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The Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was an important peace treaty because it ended World War 1 and ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. Some of the punishments on the treaty were that they had to have a specified amount of troops. The Treaty of Versailles, which ended WWI, led to the start of WWII, less than 20 years later, because of how harshly it treated Germany and how angry Germans were about this. The treaty also lead to other major events such as The Great Depression. -
The Great Depression
The Great Depression was a period of time where there was a long-lasting economic downturn in the history of the Western world. It started soon after the stock market crash in of October 1929. -
Germany declaring war on Poland
Germany bombs Poland as Hitler seeks to bring back lost territory and ultimately rule Poland. This is how World War 2 began. The day before the war, Nazi operatives had posed as Polish military officers to stage an attack on the radio station in Silesian City. The Germans used this as the pretext for its invasion of Poland. This event was a significant event in WW2 because it started the whole conflict in World War 2. This event led to Britain and France declaring war on Germany. -
Allied nations declare war on Germany
On this day, the Allied nations that consisted of France and Britain, declared war on Germany -
Japanese start occupying bases in Indo-China
In this month, the Japanese invaded Indo-China to prevent the Republic of China from importing arms and fuel through French Indochina along the Sino-Vietnamese Railway. The fighting, which lasted several days before the French authorities reached an agreement with the Japanese, took place in the context of the ongoing Sino-Japanese War and World War II. The Japanese were able to occupy some areas of Indochina. -
Germany invades USSR; USSR joins the Allies in war against Germany
Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22 of 1941 in the largest Germany military operation of World War 2. In a pre-dawn offensive, German troops moved into the USSR from the south and west, with a third force making their way from the north towards Leningrad. This event was important because Germany needed food, the military needed raw materials and oil reserves which western Europe doesn't have much of. -
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour
In the morning at Pearl Harbour, Honolulu, Hawaii, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base. The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships, and more than 300 airplanes. The long-term significance of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is that it eliminated isolationism from American political thought, and was the event that propelled the USA into the dominant super-power position. -
Japanese midget submarines attack Sydney Harbour
In May and June of 1942, Sydney Harbour was attacked by five Japanese midget submarines. The five Japanese fleet submarines that carried the midget submarines to Australia embarked on a campaign to disrupt merchant shipping in eastern Australian waters. During this period, two of the submarines bombarded the ports of Sydney. -
Japanese decide to take Port Moresby by land invasion
The Battle of Port Moresby was an aerial battle fought between the RAAF and USAAF on one side and the Japanese army on the other.
Port Moresby was important because any Allied attack north through New Guinea towards Rabaul required Port Moresby as a base. Similarly, for any attack south towards Australia, the Japanese required Port Moresby -
Japanese begin their retreat along the Kokoda Trail
The Kokoda Track campaign was part of the Pacific War in WW2. It consisted of series of battles fought between the Japanese troops and the Allied forces. The Japanese forces attempted to travel south through the Owen Stanley Range to seize Port Moresby as part of a strategy of isolating Australia from the US. Firstly, the Kokoda campaign saved Australia from possible invasion, or more precisely from being isolated. This campaign also helped improve on military operations. -
Allies invade German-occupied France (D-Day)
The Battle of Normandy resulted in Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany's control. The battle, also known as D-Day, when some 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region. The significance of this event is that it marked the first time in the war that Allied troops threatened Germany's control of Europe. -
Plot to assassinate Hitler fails
On this day, Hitler cheats death as a bomb planted in a briefcase goes off, but fails to kill him. German officials had discussed that Hitler must die. He was leading Germany in a suicidal war on two fronts, and assassination was the only way to stop him. -
Hitler commits suicide in Berlin bunker
On this day, Adolf Hitler commits suicide in a bunker in Berlin by swallowing a cyanide capsule and shooting himself in the head. Soon later, Germany surrenders to the Allied forces. In 1943, it was becoming increasingly clear that Germany would fold under the pressure of the Allied forces. -
Germany forces surrender to the Allies
Soon after Hitler has committed suicide, the Germans surrender to the Allies. Germany officially surrendered to the Allies, bringing an end to the European conflict in World War II. General Alfred Jodl signed the unconditional surrender of both east and west forces in Reims, France. Germany surrendered in WWI because they knew they had lost and, unlike Hitler, Kaiser Willhelm II could admit it. -
Victory in Europe (VE) day
This day was very special to Europe because it marked the day that the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces. The eighth of May signifies the day when the German troops throughout Europe finally laid down their arms. This important victory was critical to ensure that the final Allied offensives went forward in full strength and on time in early 1945. -
Atomic Bomb dropped on Hiroshima
The United States dropped a nuclear bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, during the final stage of WW2. President Harry Truman ordered for the Americans to drop the bomb on Hiroshima. The significance of this event was that it led to the Japanese surrendering and the end of World War 2. The Japanese didn't take the territory that was agreed. If they had won the war, they would've taken most of Australia and other parts of Asia, so this event prevented that. -
Victory in the Pacific - Japan surrenders
This date signifies and remembers Japan’s acceptance of the Allied demand for unconditional surrender on the 15th of August, 1945. A few days after the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered to the Allied powers.
