-
Nazi Germany invades Poland
Nazi Germany invaded Poland in 1939, based on an excuse that German-speakers were being persecuted in Eastern Poland, which caused Great Britain and France to declare war on Germany. -
Sitzkrieg
This beginning era of the war, lasting unitl May 1940, was marked by a lack of aggression and stalemate on part of the British, which led to the British press calling Prime Minister Chamberlain's strategy a "stizkrieg" or a sitting war. -
France falls to Germany
Germany began its invasion of France on May 10, 1940, by going through Holland and the Low Countries, and quickly fell to Nazi Germany forces, resulting in a divided France between Germany and a new Vichy-based puppet regime. -
Battle of Britain
After the fall of France, Hitler attempted to force Britain into signing a peace settlement by attacking the island with his Luftwaffe, igniting a months long battle in the air between German and British Air Forces. -
Destroyers-for-Bases Deal
This deal was a signed between Great Britain and the United States where US destroyers were transfered to the Royal Navy in exchange for land bases in British possesions. -
America First Committee Launched
The America First Committee was the foremost non-interventionist group in the U.S. who opposed any potential U.S. involvement in World War II. -
Congress instituted the draft
The Burke-Wadsworth Act was passed by Congress, markng the first peacetime draft in US history, signing men up for selective service between the ages of 21 and 36. -
Four Freedoms speech given
FDR gave his famous Four Freedoms speech where he proposed four freedoms that everyone in the world should have a right to: Freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, freedom from fear. -
Lend-Lease Act signed
FDR signed the Lend-Lease act which allowed the U.S. to give aid to foreign nations involved in World War II, such as Great Britain, China, and the Soviet Union, and support its war interests without getting involved in battle. -
USS Kearny attacked
On October 17, 1941, the USS Kearny was torpedoed by a German U-boat killing 11 men on board, but the crew managed to contain the flooding and steam to safety in Iceland. -
Reuben James sank
The USS Reuben James was torpedoed and sunk with a crew of 115 by the U-552 while escorting a convoy from Halifax, Nova Scotia, making it the first U.S. vessel destroyed by the Axis Powers. -
Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor
On December 7, 1941, Japanese planes attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, causing the U.S. to delcare war on Japan and enter World War II. -
Battle of Bataan
The Battle of Bataan, fought from January 7 to April 9, 1942, was the most intense phase of Imperial Japan's invasion of the Philippines during World War II, and resulted in American defeat and withdrawal from the island. -
Bataan Death March
After the surrender of the Bataan peninsula by the United States, approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make an arduous 65-mile march to prison camps, where thousands died. -
Battle of Coral Sea
The Battle of the Coral Sea was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II between the Japanese Navy and naval and air forces from the United States and Australia, marking the first air-sea battle in history. -
Battle of Midway
The United States defeated Japan in a decisive victory that permanently damaged Japan's navy and allowed the United States to move into an offensive position. -
Manhattan Project began
The Manhattan Project was a secret effort by the US Government to develop an atomic weapon with the support of Great Britain and Canada, and was successful in establishing the nuclear age. -
Battle of Stalingrad
This major battle on the Eastern Front resulted in a decisive Soviet victory which repelled the German invasion of the Soviet Union and turned the tide of the war from Axis to Allied advantage on the Eastern Front. -
Island Hopping Campaign begins
Instead of directly attacking the Japanese Navy, the US adopted an "island hopping" strategy that captured strategic islands on the way to Japan, bringing bombers in range of mainland Japan for an eventual invasion attempt. -
Casablanca Conference
The Casablanca Conference was a meeting in Morocco between FDR, Churchill, and the free French forces to plan the next phase of the war against the Axis powers and to agree that only an unconditional surrender from those powers was possible. -
Battle of El Alamein
The Battle of El Alamein was a major battle of World War II that took place in North Africa, and was an Allied victory that effectively changed the course of the war in the Allies' favor and marked the "beginning of the end." -
Tehran Conference
The Tehran Conference was a meeting between FDR, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin in Tehran, Iran, between November 28 and December 1, 1943 in which the Allies planned strategy for the next phase of the war. -
D-Day
The Allies began its invasion of the German occupied Western Front throught landings in the Normandy region of France which signaled the end of Nazi domination in the West. -
MacArthur Returned to the Philippines
On October 20, 1944, General Douglas MacArthur began his invasion of the Philippines, fufilling his promise to the Filipino people that "I will return" and finally liberating the main island of the Philippines in January 1945. -
FDR elected to a Fourth Term
FDR was elected to an unprecedented fourth term, defying an unwritten rule in American politics that a President only serve two terms, and leading to the passing of the 22nd Amendment which made it unlawful for a President to seek more than two terms. -
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was the last major German offensive military campaign in France and Belgium that caught the Allies by surprise and resulted in many American casualties and the growing depletion of Germany's military power. -
Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference was a meeting of Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, and Franklin D. Roosevelt February 1945 as World War II was reaching the end and victory was in sight in order to discuss Europe's post-war organization. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
This major battle in the Pacific theatre of the war involved US Marines landing on and capturing the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese to establish a base closer to mainland Japan and was one of the bloodiest battle of the Pacific Theater. -
Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa was a series of battles fought in the Ryukyu Islands, centered on the island of Okinawa, and included the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific theatre of the war in order to win bases to launch an invasion of Japan. -
FDR Dies and Truman becomes President
FDR passed away after four terms in office, leaving Vice President Harry S. Truman in charge of a country still fighting World War II and in possession of a weapon of unprecedented power, the atomic bomb. -
VE Day
VE Day is the public holiday that marks the formal accpetance of the Allied powers' recognition of Nazi Germany's official surrender of its armed forces, marking the end of WWII in the European theater. -
Potsdam Conference
During the Potsdam Conference, Joseph Stalin, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and U.S. President Harry Truman met in Germany, from July 17 to August 2, 1945, to negotiate terms for the end of World War II. -
Little Boy Dropped on Hiroshima
The first atomic bomb was released on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, as a means of ending the war quickly and hopefully sparing the lives of American soldiers, which instantly killed thousands of Japanese citizens. -
Fat Man dropped on Nagasaki
Following the intial refusal of surrender from Tokyo, the UNited States dropped the second atomic bomb nicknamed "Fat Man" on August 9, 1945, in an effort to force the surrender of Japan. -
VJ Day
On August 15, 1945, news that Japan surrendered sparked huge celebrations in the Allied countries over the official ending to World War II, and an official treaty of surrender was signed on September 2, 1945. -
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg trials tried the worst Nazi offenders of Hitler's regime in court for their crimes and were an important precedent for dealing with later instances of genocide and other crimes against humanity. -
Japanese War Crime Trials
The Japanese War Crime Trials began in 1946 to prosecute Japanese defendants for war crimes, eventually finding 25 out of 28 men guilty, one of which was General Hideki Tojo who served as premier during the war and was sentenced to death.
