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The Japanese invasion of the Manchurian region in China was to gain natural resources that Japan does not have. This attack showed the agressive and hostile tendencies.
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A blatant violation of the Treaty of Versailles, Hitler took military forces into the Rhineland.
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March 11-13. Germany annexes Austria, one of Hitler's major violations of the Treaty of Versailles.
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The Munich Agreement tried to use appeasement to stop Hitler. It gave Hitler the Sudetenland because he promised he would stop there. Obviously, this did not work.
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Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sign a nonaggression pact. This shocks everybody because Fascist Hitler and Communist Stalin do not like each other. The two dictators agree so share Poland, but Hitley would later betray Stalin.
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Hitler invades Poland. This is the start of World War II.
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Britain and France had said they would declare war if Germany invaded Poland. So, when Hitler invaded Poland they both declared war on Germany.
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Italy enters the war. They invade southern France on June 21.
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The Japanese attack the U.S. at Pearl Harbor in attempt to destroy their entire Pacific fleet. Their attack was devastating, but they "awoke a sleeping giant."
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The United States declares war on Japan after Pearl Harbor.
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The Japanese forced American soldiers to march from the Southern Bataan Peninsula after American and Filippino forces surrendered.
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May 7-8. The Japanese had planned to attack New Guinea and one of the Solomon Islands, but one of their cables was intercepted by the Americans and British. The Japanese were stopped in their advance to Australia.
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The Battle of Midway was a "game changer." Once again, the Japanese code was broken so their attempted two-prong attack was not successful. The Americans were successful at Midway, and were able to stop a second Pearl Harbor.
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Allied forces invade the beaches of Normandy, France in Operation Neptune. This was one step in the overall plan, Operation Overlord.
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France is liberated in August of 1944. By December, virtually all of France, most of Belgium, and part of the southern Netherlands are liberated.
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Hitler commits suicide in his Führerbunker in Berlin along with his wife.
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This is Victory in Europe Day. Germany signed an unconditional surrender at Rheims on May 7 and ratified in Berlin on May 8.
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The United States dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
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The dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki.
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This is Victory in Japan Day. A formal surrender ceremony was held in Tokyo Bay, Japan, effectively ending World War II.
