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U-boats sink merchant vessels
The Battle of the Atlantic was a commerce war waged by German U-Boats against Britain’s merchant marine. For nearly six years, Germany launched over 1,000 U-Boats into combat, in an attempt to isolate and blockade the British Isles, thereby forcing the British out of the war. -
Period: to
WWII
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Vichy France begins
Metropolitan France was divided into a German occupation zone in the north and west and an unoccupied zone in the south. -
Battle for Britain
The Battle of Britain was the name given to the air campaign by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom. They tried to gain superiority over the Royal Air Force. -
Japan joins Axis
By Japan joining the Axis, it would give them a better chance at controlling the Pacific. -
Hitler breaks Non-aggression agreement and invades the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa was the code name given for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR. -
FDR approves "shoot on sight"
Germany was attacking US ships, making FDR retaliate by approving the shoot on sight tactic. -
Japanese ambassadors arrive in Washington
Japanese ambassors arrived in Washington to speak with FDR. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
Pearl HarborThe Japanese navy launched an unannounced attack on the American naval base located in Hawaii, which resulted in the US's entry into World War II. -
Germany and Italy declare war on US
America responded immediately by declaring war on the two Axis powers. -
MacArthur promises return
Promises to return to the Philippines while retreating from the Japanese. -
Bataan death march
Bataan Death MarchTakes place in the Philippines and was accounted as a Japanese war crime. The 60 mile march happened after the three month battle. -
Battle of Coral Sea
The battle was the first fleet action in which aircraft carriers engaged each other. It was also the first naval battle in history in which neither side's ships sighted or fired directly at the other. -
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was the most important naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. About one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea and six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the US Navy defeated an Imperial Japanese Navy attack against Midway Atoll, causing serious damage on the Japanese. -
End of Battle of Stalingrad
This was the surrender of the German VI Army. -
Guadalcanal
This battle was fought on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific theatre of World War II. Faught on the ground, at sea, and in the air, the battle was the first major offensive launched by Allied forces against Japan. -
General Eisenhower and his forces land in North Africa
This was "Operation Torch was the British-American" invasion of French North Africa in World War II during the North African Campaign. -
Sicily falls
The Allies took Sicily from the Axis (Italy and Nazi Germany). It was a large scale operation, followed by six weeks of land combat. -
Rome falls
The Allied forces took their first Axis capital, Rome. -
D-Day
D-Day (Normandy Landings) were the landing operations of the Allied invasion of Normandy during World War II. -
MacArthur returns
US General Douglas MacArthur kept the promise he had made two and a half years earlier to the people of the Philippines: he returned to the islands with a huge invasion force and the largest naval vessels in the history of mankind. For MacArthur, the liberation of the Philippines from the Japanese was the culmination of the war. -
Kamikaze attacks begin
The first mass kamikaze attack took place on the ships of the Third Fleet steaming off Luzon, Philippines. Six suicide crafts plunged into four aircraft carriers — USS Hancock, USS Essex, USS Cabot and USS Intrepid. -
Battle of the Bulge
It was the last major German attack of the war. The Germans attacked a weak area of the allied lines. Their intention was to break through, split the American and British armies, capture Antwerp, Belgium thus cutting off the British from supplies and reinforcements. It was unsuccessful however, the allied lines held up. -
US flag raised on Mt. Suribachi
Marines raised the American flag at the summit of Mt. Suribachi during the battle for Iwo Jima. -
Okinawa taken
This attack was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest assault in the Pacific Theater of World War II. The battle last 82 days. -
Truman becomes President
Truman becomes PresidentHarry Truman becomes the 33rd president after Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his fourth term. -
Hitler commits suicide
Hitler commits SuicideThe cause of death is suicide by a gunshot wound to the head and cyanide posioning. The lack of public information concerning the whereabouts of Hitler's remains, confused reports stemming from the dual method and other circumstances surrounding the event encouraged rumours that Hitler may have survived the end of World War II -
V-E Day
This date was when the World War II Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. -
Hiroshima
Another effort by the US to end the war. -
Nagasaki
An effort by the US to end the war; Japenese generals would not accept defeat. -
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Formal surrender of Japan
Japan SurrendersJapan surrenders after the bombing of Nagasaki- Emperor Hirohito said that he couldn't bare to watch his innocent people suffer the way they did, so he had his empire surrender.
