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Pearl Harbor
Japan made a surprise attack on the American Pacific Fleet. The attacking planes came in two waves- one at 7:53 am and the other at 8:55 am. By 9:55, it was all over. 2,203 had died, 188 planes were destroyed and 8 battleships were destroyed or damaged as well. The day after this, America declared war on Japan, thus bringing us into the war. -
The US and Britain Join Forces
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill contacted President Roosevelt two days after the Pearl Harbor attack. Churchill proposed to Roosevelt that both nations were “in the same boat,” therefore an alliance should be created. -
War Plans Begin
Prime Minister Churchill of Britain arrives at the White house and spent three weeks working out war plans with President Roosevelt and his advisors. Additionally, Churchill and Roosevelt formed a tight bond. -
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The Battle of the Atlantic
In the Battle of the Atlantic, Germans sought to raid ships along America’s east coast in order to prevent food and war materials from reaching Great Britain and the Soviet Union. In 1942, Germans sunk a total of 681 Allied ships in the Atlantic. In 1943 the US launched a crash ship building program. Many Liberty ships were produced and launchings f allied ships began to outnumber sinkings. -
Doolittle’s Raid
The Allies began to turn the tide against the Japanese. On April 18, Colonel James Doolittle led 16 bombers in a raid on Tokyo and other Japanese cities. This lifted America’s sunken spirits but at the same time, dampened the ones in Japan. -
Battle of the Coral Sea
The American and Australian forces succeeded in stopping the Japanese drive toward Australia in the five-day Battle of the Coral Sea. The fighting was doe by airplanes that took off from huge aircraft carriers. For the first time since Pearl Harbor, a Japanese invasion had been stopped and turned back. -
The Battle of Midway
Japans next thrust was toward Midway, a strategic island which lies northwest of Hawaii. Admiral Chester Nimitz, the commander of American naval forces in the Pacific, moved to defend the island. His scout planes found the Japanese fleet and then sent torpedo planes and dive bombers to the attack. By the end of the battle, the Japanese had lost four aircraft carriers, a cruiser, and 250 planes. The Battle of Midway was a turning point in the Pacific War. Soon the Allies began “island hopping.” -
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The Battle of Stalingrad
Hitler hoped to wipe out Stalingrad, a major industrial center on the Volga River. Germans preformed nightly bombing raids over the city, they set buildings on fire, and the Soviet Union felt hopeless. However, by the end of September 1942, the Soviet army trapped the Germans in and around the city and cut off their supplies. On January 31, 1943, the Germans surrendered, thus marking a turning point in the war. -
North African Front
Allied troops chased Afrika Korps and eventually forced the Afrika Korps to surrender in May 1943 -
Italian Campaign
The Allies decide that an attack on Italy would be effective in order to defeat Germany. -
D-Day
160,00 Allied troops landed on the French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. -
The Liberation of Death Camps
Soviet troops were the first to come upon one of the Nazi death camps. The horror of the camps was revealed and a stunned Soviet war correspondent even reported that the camps were “not concentrations camps but gigantic murder plants.” -
Battle of the Bulge
Eight German tank divisions broke through weak American defenses along an 80-mile front. Germany hoped that a victory woud split American and British forces and break up Allied supply lines. Tanks drove 60 miles into Allied territory, creating a “bulge” in the lines. -
Yalta Conference
For eight grueling days the Big Three (Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin) discussed the fate of Germany and the postwar world. Stalin favored a hard approach and wanted to keep Germany divided into occupation zones. When Churchill strongly disagreed, Roosevelt acted as a mediator. He was willing to make consessions to Stalin because he wanted the Soviet Unions help in defeating Japan and also wanted Stalin’s support for a new world peace keeping organization- the United Nations. -
Iwo Jima
After retaking much of the Philippines and liberating the American prisoners of war there, the Allies turned to Iwo Jima. This island was critical to the United States as a base from which heavily loaded bombers might reach Japan. It was also the most heavily defended spot on earth, with 20,000 Japanese troops entrenched in tunnels and caves. 6,000 marines died taking this island, the greatest number in any battle in the Pacific to that point. Only 200 Japanese survived. -
President Roosevelt Dies
While posing for for a portrait in Georgia, President Roosevelt has a stroke and dies. Because of this, Harry S. Truman steps up as president. -
The Battle of Okinawa
US Marines invaded Okinawa. The Japanese unleashed more than 1,900 kamikaze attacks on the Allies sinking 30 ships, damaging more than 300 more, and killing almost 5,000 seaman. Once ashore it was even worse. By the end of the fighting on June 21, 1945, more than 7,600 Americans had died. 110,000 Japanese died. This was a chilling foretaste of what the Allies imagined the invasion of Japan’s home island would be. -
Unconditional Surrender
Hitler wrote out his last address to the German people. In it he blamed the Jews for starting the war and his generals for losing it. In order to escape the disgrace of the war loss, he and his wife chose to commit suicide. -
The Manhattan Project
The development of the atomic bomb was not only the most ambitious scientific enterprise in history, but it was also the best-kept secret of the war. More than 600,000 Americans were involved in the project. The first test was on July 16, 1945 in a empty desert near Alamogordo, New Mexico. The bomb worked. On July 25, 1945, President Truman ordered the military to make final plans for dropping two atomic bombs on Japanese targets. America ordered Japan to surrender and they didn’t. -
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
A B-29 bomber named Enola Gay released an atomic bombed, codenamed Little Boy, over Hiroshima, an important Japanese military center. 43 seconds later, almost every building in the city collapsed from the force of the blast. Japan’s leaders still hesitated to surrender. Three days later, a second bomb, codenamed Fat Man, was dropped on Nagasaki, leveling half the city. An estimated 200,000 people had died of injuries and radiation poisoning from the bombs. Emperor Hirohito finally surrendered. -
Nuremberg Trials
The discover of Hitler’s death camps led the Allies to put 24 remaining Nazi leaders on trial for crimes against humanity, crimes against the peace, and war crimes. 12 of the 24 defendants were sentenced to death, and most of the remaining were sent to prison. In later trials, nearly 200 more Nazis were found guilty of war crimes. Many Nazis went free though. -
Occupation of Japan
Japan was occupied by US forces under the command of General Douglas MacArthur. In the early years, more than 1,100 Japanese were arrested and put on trial. During these seven years of occupation, MacArthur reshaped Japan’s economy by introducing free-market practices that led to an economic recovery. He also transformed Japan’s government. He installed a democratic government, and to this day, their constitution is known as the MacArthur Constitution.
