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A "Pure" German Race
A year after Adolf Hitler became Reich Chancellor, Hitler appointed himself as Führer or supreme leader in 1943. Hitler became obsessed with the idea of the "pure" German race to become the only race. He believed that the only way to gain enough space for the race to expand was war. In 1938, Hitler signed an alliance treaty with Italy and Japan against the Soviet Union. Soon after German troops occupied Austria and annexed Czechoslovakia. -
World War II Outbreak
In lat August 1939, a German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact was signed between Hitler and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. On September 1, 1939, Poland was invaded in the west by Hitler. Two days later, France and Britain, who had guaranteed military support to Poland, declared war on Germany. This event started World War II> -
The Escape from Dunkirk
In May 1940, Belgium and the Netherlands were swept through German troops in what is now known at 'blitzkrieg'. Hitler's troops then struck French forces at Sedan after crossing the Meuse River. The British Expeditionary Force was evacuated by sea from Dunkirk, while south French forces continued doomed resistance. -
Italy Joins the War
As France was on the verge of collapsing, Italy's leader, Benito Mussolini, put his Pact of Steel with Hitler in action. On June 10, 1940, Italy declared war on France and Britain. -
Germany in France
German forces entered Paris on June 14, 1940. France's hero of World War I, Marshal Philippe Petain, formed a new government and requested a truce between the two sides two nights after German entered Paris. France was then split into two zones. One zone was controlled by German military occupation and the other zone was under Petain's government. -
On to Britain
With Paris split between the Germans and the French, Hitler turned his focus on Britain. Hitler bomb Britain throughout the summer of 1940. However, during the Battle of Britain, the Royal Air Force defeated the German Air Force. Hitler postponed his invasion plan. With Britain's resources spent, Prime Minister Winston Churchill began receiving aid from the U.S. under the Lend-Lease Act which was passed by Congress in early 1941. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
On December 7, 1941, the major U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii was attacked by 360 Japanese aircraft. The Americans were taken by surprise of the attack and lost more than 2,300 troops. On December 8, Congress declared war on Japan. Germany and the other Axis Powers quickly declared war on the United States. -
The Turning Point
After countless Japanese victories, on June 1942, the U.S. Pacific Fleet won the Battle of Midway, which became the turning point of the war. -
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The Ending of World War II
After the heavy casualties at Iwo Jima (February 1945) and Okinawa (April-June 1945), Truman authorized a new weapon with the code-name The Manhattan Project. The atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, two Japanese cities, in early August. With Britain, France, Germany, the Soviet Union, and the United States on the same side, U.S. General Douglas MacArthur accepted Japan's formal surrender on September 2, 1945, ending World War II.
