-
Japan invades the Chinese province of of Manchuria. Japan wanted to seize it for land and resources.
-
Italy invades Ethiopia with plans to rebuild an Italian empire. Ethiopian emperor asked the League of Nations for help. No help was given.
-
Hitler gives a speech in which he expresses his strong belief in the racial superiority of Germanic people, called Aryans.
-
Hitler wanted Austria and Germany to become united, however the Austrian government refused. Hitler sent troops to Austria immedietly. The world was on the verge of war.
-
The nights that Jewish businesses were attacked came to be called Kristallnacht. Thousands of Jewish businesses and places of worship were damaged. Nearly 100 Jews were killed that day. Over 26,000 more were sent to concentration camps.
-
Hitler had a German criminal dressed in a Polish military uniform. The man was then taken to the German border and shot. He used that as evidence that Poland had attacked Germany. German troops immediately launched a massive invasion on Poland.
-
Germany begins the invasion of the Soviet Union.
-
Japan surprise attacks Americans' at Pearl Harbor. Most American fighter planes never made it off the ground. The attack lasted about two hours. This attack did nothing then awake an angry giant.
-
The U.S. begins to intern Japanese Americans. They are sent to camps where their rights are stripped away from them. Here they stayed until the end of the war. Some joined the U.S. Army to show their loyalty.
-
Americans destroy four Japanese aircraft carriers in the Battle of Midway. This event was a huge victory for the Americans.
-
Hitler and the Nazis formalize plans for exterminating Europe's Jews.
-
General Dwight D. Eisenhour called for American troops to invade the North African countries of Morocco and Algeria. Vichy leaders were installed here. U.S. hoped they would liberate the French from them.
-
Allied aircraft filled the sky to provide cover for the wave of troops to come. Germans were slow to respond to the invasion. There were thousands of caualties, but it was an attempt to capture the area for allies to come. Paris had been freed. Hitler was in full retreat.
-
Germans launched a surprise attack of their own. Americans however did not give up, and defeated the Germans once again.
-
The bodies of victims lay in piles throught the camps. Mostly all of the survivors were to weak to celebrate liberation. Many were so ill that 13,000 died after liberation.
-
Adolf Hitler commits suicide in Berlin, after almost being caught by troops.
-
Allies capture Okinawa. This island was vital to both countries.
-
To contain Soviet expansion during the cold war, U.S. joins eleven other nations to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
-
On this date , the Enola Gay flew over the city of Hiroshima and dropped its atomic bomb. 80,000 residents died immedientaly. Two thirds of the city's 90,000 buildings were obliterated. Still after this bomb, Japan refused to give up. A second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.
-
Japan emperor Hirohito announced on this day on radio broadcast that the Japanese had lost. Allies celebrated as the war had ended.
