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Kristallnacht
After a young Jewish boy had shot a German diplomat, the Nazi leaders ordered a violent attack on the Jewish community. Nazi storm troopers attacked their homes, businesses, and synagogues across Germany. -
Germany Invades Poland
After Hitler signed the nonaggression act, he attacked Poland. Hitler sent tanks and troops across the border, and German aircraft and artillery began bombing Poland's capital, Warsaw. Hitler ended up annexing the western half of Poland. This was the first test of the blitzkrieg or "lightning war". -
France and Britain declared war on Germany
They were trying to help Poland but Poland fell some time before they could make any military response. -
Stalin sent troops to Finland
After occupying the eastern half of Poland, he wanted to annex countries to the north. He sent nearly one million Soviet troops into Finland, expecting a quick victory. The Finns were outnumbered and outgunned but they fiercly defended their country. The Soviets struggled through the deep snow but won through force of numbers. By March, Stalin forced the Finns to accept his surrender terms. -
The Phony War
After France and Britain declared war on Germany, they mobilized their armies along France's border. They waited for eachother to start an attack, but nothing happened. On April 9, 1940, Hitler launched a surprise invasion of Denmark and Norway. Germany ended up taking both Denmark and Norway and began to build bases along their coasts where they could launch strikes on Great Britain. -
The Fall of France
Hitler created a strategy to strike at France. By the end of May, Germans had trapped the Allied forces, so they moved to Dunkirk. Great Britain set out to rescue the Allies while being bombed by Germany. By June 14, Germany had taken Paris, so the French leaders surrendered on June 22, 1940. -
Italy vs Egypt
Mussolini attacked Egypt by pushing 60 miles into Egypt and pushing British units back. By February, the British had swept 500 miles across North Africa and taken 130,000 Italian prisoners. Germany sent their troops to help and they ended up seizing Tobruk. -
Battle of Britain
Great Britain promised to never surrender or back down from a war against the Nazis. In the summer, Hitler invaded Great Britain, then they began bombing the cities, especially London. The battle continued until May 10, 1941 when Hitler decided to call off his attacks. -
Operation Barbarossa
Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Even though the Soviet Union's army was the largest in the world, their troops were not well trained or prepared for this attack. As the German's pushed through, the Russians used the scorched-earth strategy. Hitlers advance on the Russians gained nothing but cost the Germans 500,000 lives. -
Pearl Harbor
The Japanese attacked Hawaii becuase we stoppped sending them oil and they wanted to destroy it. More than 2300 Americans were killed by the bombs. The U.S. declared war on Japan and its allies. -
Japan takes the Philippines
Japan had just recently taken Guam and Wake, and were looking to take the Philippines. The Japanese marched into capital where American and Filipino forces took a defensive position. After 3 months of fighting, Japan took the Bataan Peninsula (on the edge of Manila Bay). -
Bombing of Japan
The United States wanted revenge from Pearl Harbor and wanted to stop their string of victories. 16 B-25 bombers bombed Tokyo and several other cities. The bombs did little harm, but made a psychological point that Japan was vulnerable to attack. -
The Battle of Midway
Japan targeted Midway Island, the location of an American airfield. Allied code breakers found out that the Japanese were going to attack, so they hid behind the horizon and waited. As the first Japanese planes got in the air, American planes came in and attacked. American pilots destroyed 332 Japanese planes. By June 7th, the battle was over because the Japanese withdrew. This battle turned the tide of war in the Pacific. -
Battle of Guadalcanal
The U.S. learned that the Japanese were building a huge air base on the island of Guadalcanal . The Allies knew they had to take action before the base was completed. After 6 months of fighting on land and sea, the battle finally ended because the Japanese had lost most of their soldiers. -
Battle of Stalingrad
Hitler sent his Sixth Army to seize the oil fields in Caucasus Mountains and to capture Stalingrad, a major industrial center. They went on nightly bombing raids that caught the city on fire and tore it down. Stalin told his commanders to defend the city to the death. Once another Russian winter set in, Soviet troops launched a counterattack. On February 2nd, German troops surrendered due to starvation and frostbite. In the end, the city was 99% destroyed. -
The Invasion of Italy
Allied forces landed on Sicily and captured it from Italian and German troops a month later.This forced Mussolini out of power and had him arrested.On September 3, Italy surrendered but the Germans seized control of northern Italy, where they put Mussolini back in charge. Fighting in Italy continued until Germany fell in May 1945. -
The D-Day Invasion
The Allies plan was to attack on German held France across the English Channel. Eisenhower planned to strike on the coast of Normandy. The Germans knew the attack was coming, but did not know where it would be launched and to keep Hitler guessing, they set up a huge dummy army. This invasion was the largest land and sea attack in history. After months of bruatl fighting, by September they had liberated France, Belgium and Luxembourg and were setting their sights on Germany. -
Battle of Leyte Gulf
Allied forces landed in the Philippines in October. The Japanese tried everything to destroy the American fleet, but by doing this, they risked their own fleet. Within only four days, the Japanese navy had lost disastrously. After a month, Americans took Iwo Jima and moved into Okinawa. On June 21, the bloodiest battle ended with a Japanese loss. -
Battle of the Bulge
As the Allies were moving in to Germany from the west, the Soviet army was moving toward Germany from the east. Hitler decided to counterattack in the west to break up Allied supply lines. German ytroops ended up breaking through American defenses, but not for long because the Allies eventually pushed back. The Germans had no other choice but to retreat. -
The Atomic Bomb
After Okinawa, the next step for the Allies was Japan. Most people thought that using an atomic bomb wuold quickly end the war and not cost any American lives. President Truman warned the Japanese of what was to come if they did not surrender, but the Japanese did not reply. On August 6, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. 3 days later, they dropped a bomb on Nagasaki. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed, so the Japanese finally surrendered on September 2.
