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Beginning of WWII
Hitler invades Poland
This event begins what turned into World War 2 which resulted in terrible loss of life for people all over the world. -
Lend-Lease Act
The Lend-Lease Act gave the president the authority to aid other countries and "lend or lease" our supplies to them during the war. Congress agreed to gave money to build up our military and give aid to our allies which got us involved in the war. -
Pearl Harbor Attack
The attack on Pearl Harbor took many lives and destroyed many ships and planes. Ultimately this event brought us completely into the war against the axis powers. This ultimately united us and we were not demoralized by the event but used it as fuel to fight back against evil. -
Battle of Midway
This battle took at an important U.S. base in the Pacific. The United States won a decisive victory. This battle marked a turning point in the war against Japan. -
D-Day
This was the largest amphibious invasion in world history. This involved over 200,000 allied troops led by Eisenhower. This event changed the tide of the war from being controlled by the Nazis to the allied powers. -
Yalta Conference
During the Yalta conference the "Big Three" agreed to the following terms upon Germany's defeat. 1. Free elections would be held in Poland 2. German would be occupied by the allied powers 3. The USSR would join the war effort against Japan 4. The allied powers would join the United Nations
This was the first step towards agreeing to what would happen after the war which was very different compared to WWI as the axis countries were helped to change their ways instead of punished. -
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Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima marked the first major battle on Japanese homeland. This was great location for the United States to capture because planes and bombers were able to take off and land. The war in the Pacific was extremely bloody; at least 27,000 U.S. casualties and 1/3 of all Marines were killed in this fight. -
Roosevelt Dies and Truman becomes President
Roosevelt had a cerebral hemorrhage and died later in the day on April 12th. Truman became the president, did not have a close working relationship with the President, and did't even know about the Manhattan project. -
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The first Atomic Bomb from the Manhattan project was dropped on Hiroshima after Japan refused to surrender. Over 100,000 were killed or injured and possibly 100,000 more died of burns or radiation. Several days later on 9/9/45 the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and nearly 60,000 died and thousands more followed. -
Japan Surrenders
Less than a week later Japan surrendered and the second World War came to an end. The allied powers won, but the world now needed time to rebuild and structure the post war world.
