-
Holocaust
In 1938, construction began on Nazi concentration camps to kill Jews and members of other groups. Prisoners were to die by hard labor, poor nutrition, and disease. Impatient with the pacce of the killing, Adolf Hitler later had death camps built. In the camps, millions were killed by poison gas. Survivors of Hitlers Holocaust lived to tell the horrors of the Nazi brutality. -
Period: to
Major Events of World War II
-
Nonaggression Pact
The nonaggression pact was an agrrement between Germany and the USSR. The agreement stated that the two countries would not fight against eac other in war. The pact did not last. -
Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg is a German word, and in english it means "lightning war". Blitzkrieg is a form of warfare where surprise attacks with fast moving airplanes are followed by massive attacks with infantry forces. -
Sitzkrieg
After the declaration of war French and British mobilized their armies along the maginot line, a system of fortifications along France's border with Germany. They waited for Germans to attack-- but nothing happened. With nothing to do the allies started moving towards their enemy. Equally bored, the Germand soldiers stared back from their Siegfried line and jokinly called it the Sitzkrieg, or "sitting war." It was also known as the Phony war. -
Britain
The battle of Britain ended in May of 1941. At 5:00pm on a saturday afternoon, Germanty started bombing Britain, they thought that, since Germany had defeated France and Poland then they could defeat England. -
Egypt's Suez Canal
While the battle of Britain was still raging, Mussolini ordered Italy's North African army to move east from Lybia. His goal was to seize British-controlled Egypt. Egypt's Suez Canal was key to reaching the oil fields of the middle east. Within a week, Italian troops had pushed 60 miles inside Egypt, forcing British units back. -
Atlantic Charter
Although the US wasnt in the war entirely, Roosevelt and Churchill met secretly on a battleship of Newfoundland on Aug. 9. The two leaders issued a joint declaration called the Atlantic Charter. It upheld free trade among nations and the right of people to choose their own government. The charter later served as the Allies' peace plan at the end of World War II -
Leningrad
The battle of leningrad ended in January of 1944. Hitler (of Germany) successfully took over Leningrad and Moscow. -
Pearl Harbor
An inlet of the pacific ocean on the southern coast of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu became the sight of a hard naval base after the US annexed it in 1900. On Sunday, December 7th, 1941, Japanese planes attacked the base. It was one of the hardest times for the United States. The US enetered the war the following day. -
Bataan Death March
When the Phillipines fell into Japans control, the Japanese, after their victory, led 70,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war on a 60-mile forced march up north. This was known as the Bataan Death March. The prisoners marched under a blazing sun. They were also starved and brutally beaten. Prisoners who showed signs of weakening were often buried alive. -
Midway
Japan planned to capture midway to finish off the pacific fleet, but wasw outnumbered 4:1 in ships and in planes. Nimitz allowed the enemy to launch the first strike, but not knowing that the americans were hiding behind the horizon to attack also. With the Japanese planes still on the decks of the boats, the allies had a stretegy of bombing the ships with the planes still on them. The stradegy worked and the Americans destroyed 332 Japanese planes, and all 4 aircraft carriers. -
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal ended in February of 1943. As Japanese were building another base, the Americans wanted to destroy it before it was finished. Caught unprepared the Japanese radioed, "enemy forces overwhelming, we will defend our posts to the death." The marines easily took over the airfields, but the battle for control turned into a savage struggle as both sides poured in fresh troops. After fighting for 6 months the battle ended and the japanese left the island they came to call, "Hell." -
Stalingrad
The battle of Stalingrad ended in February of 1943. Stalingrad was a hard time for the Soviets and the Germans. Both countries lost a lot of men. Germany from hitlers orders could not retreat and when the cold winter came they surrendered. -
Sicily
In the invasion of Sicily, the leader, Mussolini was toppled from power for trying to escape the attack dressed up as a Nazi. Before, when they landed on Sicily they immediately captured it from Italian and German troops. On September 3rd Italy surrendered. -
Normandy
The battle of Normandy was known as D-day. The allies set up a dummy army to fool the Germans, yet they went around and snuck up behind them in the east. Normandy was a very fierce and intense battle. -
Leyte Gulf
When allied forces landed on the island of Leyte, General MacArthur had been forced to surrender the islands. Actually, the takeover was not that easy. The Japanese had decided to destroy the American fleet. The allies could not then resupply their ground troops. To carry out this strategy, the Japanese had to risk almost their entire fleet. They gambled everything in the Battle of Leyte Gulf and within three days, they lost disastrously. -
Battle of the Bulge
Germanys fear in war fighting on two war fronts and thats exactly what they had to do. the USSR came in the east and th Allied forces in the west. Germany was able to break through the American border. Although caught off guard, allies eventually pushed them back and won. -
Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference was held in Yalta in February of 1945, where Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill planned the final stages of World War II and agreed to the territorial division of Europe. -
Iwo Jima
The battle of Iwo Jima ended in march of that same year. Iwo Jima was one of the largest of the volcano islands in Japan. Their were two airfields under Japanese control and the Americans wanted them so they flew into Iwo Jima as a surprise attack. On the first day of the battle Americans took over half of the island and had 2,400 casualties. -
The Kamikazes
The Kamikaze were Japanese suicide pilots. They would sink allied ships by crashdiving into them in their bomb-filled planes. Kamikazes were used a lot in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki battles. -
Okinawa
The Okinawa battle ended on June 21st, 1945. Okinawa was an island of central Ryukyo islands. In this battle the Japanese used kamikazes ( japanese suicide pilots). Britain also got involed in this battle to support the Americans. The japanese flew 1,900 missions in the battle. This was a scene of severe fighting. Although the allies won, the islands were returned to Japan in 1972. -
Berlin
Berlin, the capital of Germany, was subject to 363 air raids during the Second World War. It was bombed by the RAF Bomber Command between 1940 and 1945, and by the USAAF Eighth Air Force between 1943 and 1945, as part of the Allied campaign of strategic bombing of Germany. In 1945, it was also attacked by aircraft of the Red Air Force as Soviet forces closed on the city. -
Hiroshima
Hiroshima was a batttle between Japan and the Americans. The Ameicans had dropped a bomb on an island controlled by japan. That bomb was called "little boy." The battle was much more fierce, bloody, and severe than others. -
Nagasaki
Nagasaki was a battle between Japan and the Americans. The bomb that the Americans dropped on this island was known as "Fat man." Seventy thousand people died by the end of that year as a result of the bomb. -
Nuremberg Trials
In 1946, an international military tribunal representing 23 nations put the Nazi war criminals on trial in Nuremberg, Germany. In the first trials, 22 Nazi leaders were charged with waging a war of aggression. They were also accused of violating the laws of war and committing "crimes against humanity"---the murder of 11million people.