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Germany and the Soviet Union invade Poland
After attaining the neutrality of the Soviet Union Germany invaded Poland creating the beginning of World War 2. In response on September 1st 1939 Britain and France responded by declaring war on Germany. Within a month Poland had been defeated by German and Soviet forces. -
Germany invaded France and captures Paris
The time peroiod that Germany invade France is know as the fall of France. This battle lasted six weeks for France. The French believed that German forces would attack through Belgium. -
Germany bombs London and the Battle of Britain begins
At the beginning, it all seemed to be in favor of the Germans, but a combination of bad intelligence and British attacks on Berlin led to a turn of events. The first attack on London on September 7 was successful. The second was on September 15. This one failed with heavy losses. As a result, Hitler permanently postponed a landing on the British Isles and suspended the Battle of Britain. -
Lend-lease act
The Lend-lease act brought the closer to entering the world war. Although some opposed it, Taft claimed that the note would "give the president power to carry on a kind of undeclared war all over the world, in which America would do everything except actually put soldiers in the front-line trenches where the fighting is". -
Germany invaded the Soviet Union.
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Operation Barbarossa
Adolf Hitler launched his armies eastward in a massive invasion of the Soviet Union. The invasion covered a front from the North Cape to the Black Sea. Barbarossa was known as the turning point in World War II because it forced Nazi Germany to fight a two-front war against a more powerfull forces. -
Japan bombed Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise but could have been expected due to the led up events. Five of eight battleships, three destroyers, and seven other ships were sunk or severely damaged, and more than 200 aircraft were destroyed. A total of 2,400 Americans were killed and 1,200 were wounded. -
Germany declares war on the United states. The United States declared war on Japan and Germany.
The day Adolf Hitler declared war on the United States he brought America into the European conflict. President Roosevelt declared war. FDR signed the declaration. -
Bataan Death March
Approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make a tiring 65-mile march to prison camps. The marchers made the trek in intense heat and were subjected to harsh treatment by Japanese guards. Thousands died in what became known as the Bataan Death March. -
Battle of Midway
Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor the United States was victorious over Japan in the Battle of Midway. This victory was the turning point of the war in the Pacific. The victory allowed the United States and its allies to move into an offensive position. -
The Soviet Union defeated Germany at Stalingrad
In the Battle of Stalingrad, Soviet forces surrounded and crushed an entire German army under General Friedrich Paulus, emulating Hannibal’s encirclement and destruction of a Roman army. For both sides, Stalingrad became a desperate painful experience. This monumental battle is justly considered a turning point in the war on the Eastern Front and one of the most crucial engagements of World War 2. -
Warsaw Ghetto uprising
Residents of the Jewish ghetto in Nazi-occupied Warsaw, Poland, staged an armed revolt against deportations to extermination camps. The Warsaw ghetto uprising inspired other revolts in extermination camps and ghettos throughout German-occupied Eastern Europe. -
D-Day
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D-Day
Codenamed Operation Overlord became known as known as D-Day. This was when about 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five different beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region. The invasion was one of the largest amphibious military assaults in history. By late August 1944, all of northern France had been freed, and by the following spring, the Allies had defeated the Germans. -
Liberation of concentration camps
Soviet soldiers were the first to liberate concentration camp prisoners in the final stages of the war. The Americans were responsible for liberating Buchenwald and Dachau, while British forces entered Bergen-Belsen. Although the Germans had attempted to empty the camps of surviving prisoners and hide all evidence of their crimes, the Allied soldiers came upon thousands of dead bodies "stacked up like cordwood," according to one American soldier. -
Battle of the Bulge
Hitler attempted to split the Allied armies in northwest Europe attempting to surprise blitzkrieg thrust through the Ardennes to Antwerp. The Allied line took on the appearance of a large bulge, giving rise to the battle’s name.Lieutenant General George S. Patton’s successfully guided the Third Army to Bastogne proved vital to the Allied defense, leading to the neutralization of the German attack despite heavy casualties. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima was defended by roughly 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops, who fought from an elaborate network of caves, dugouts, tunnels and underground installations. Despite the difficulty of the conditions, the marines wiped out the defending forces after a month of fighting, and the battle earned a place in American lore with the publication of a photograph showing the U.S. flag being raised in victory. -
The United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan
The United States was the first and only nation to use atomic weaponry during wartime. They dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Though the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan marked the end of World War II, it is argued that it ignited the Cold War.
