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Invasion of Manchuria
The Japanese invasion of Manchuria began on 19 September 1931, when the Kwantung Army of the Empire of Japan invaded Manchuria immediately following the Mukden Incident. Afterward, the Japanese established the puppet state of Manchukuo. -
Hitler Becomes Chancellor of Germany
On January 30, 1933, Paul von Hindenburg, the president of Germany, appointed Adolf Hitler Chancellor of Germany. This was following a series of elections that were never won decided, this is because none of the candidates ever achieved the majority they needed to win. Hitler was, however, the most popular candidate in all of these elections. -
Invasion of Ethiopia
Benito Mussolini promised to restore the glory of Rome, and part of that would be conquering countries and gaining land. Africa was the logical choice for gaining land, however, Ethiopia was the only free nation in a European dominated Africa. A border incident with Italian Somaliland was the excuse Mussolini needed, when he intervened he proceeded to start the second Italo-Ethiopian war, and conquered all of Ethiopia. -
Munich Conference
When Germany attempted to take control of the Sudetenland, claiming that German people were being mistreated by the Czech government, the Munich Conference was held to negotiate with Germany. at the conference, the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain attempted to appease Germany and gave them the Sudetenland. The Munich Conference became the most infamous example of appeasement. -
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht or the night of broken glass was a night where German Nazis attacked Jewish people and property. The night followed the shooting of German diplomat Ernst vom Rath in France by a Polish-Jewish student, Herschel Grynszpan. -
Non-Aggression Pact
The Non-Aggression Pact between Germany and the U.S.S.R. came as a shock to the world, to see anti-communist Nazi Germany make a pact with the communist U.S.S.R. was very strange. The terms of the pact were that Germany could invade Poland and the U.S.S.R. wouldn't defend them, and in return, theU.S.S.R. would be counted in the division of Europe -
Invasion of Poland
The German invasion of Poland was the instigating event for WWII. This was the first main use of the German tactic of Blitzkrieg or lightning war. This invasion only worked because of the Non-aggression pact between Germany and the U.S.S.R. Starting on the first of September, France and Britain were only able to respond on the third of September, and Poland was captured on the sixth of October. -
Invasion of France
The German invasion of France was a horrible defeat for the Allied powers and gave Germany control of almost all of Europe. The French made one major mistake that cost them their freedom, they assumed that the Maginot Line would hold off a German assault. The invasion ended with a full retreat by the French and British forces at Dunkirk. Cornered and hopeless, the British began a mass exodus and saved about 340,000 allied troops. -
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain was the German attempt to invade the only remaining European Ally. The German airforce, the Luftwaffe, ran extensive bombing runs on Britain, and could have won had the RAF been able to hold them off during their second direct bombing run on London on September 15. This loss came with heavy losses for both sides, and Hitler needed the Luftwaffe for the Axis invasion of Russia, so he called off the invasion of Britain. -
Pearl Harbor
The Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii was a devastating attack on American soil and plunged the U.S. into WWII. The Attack claimed eight battleships, 300 planes, and 2,400 American lives. The very next day Congress declared war on Japan. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The German army was making its way through the U.S.S.R. and had made it to Stalingrad. However, they were behind schedule and were not prepared for the scorched-earth tactics of the Red-Army. The Germans continued and were crushed in the battle of Stalingrad, which claimed the entire German 6th Army. The battle of Stalingrad was a major turning point in WWII, and marked the end of the German advance into Russia. -
Allied Invasion of Normandy (D-Day)
Operation Overlord is the Allied invasion of Nazi-controlled France. Led by the American General Eisenhower, 156,000 American, British, and Canadian forces landed at five beaches along a fifty mile stretch of France's Normandy region. The invasion resulted in the liberation of Western Europe. -
V-E Day
Victory in Europe day or VE Day is the day celebrating the full liberation of Berlin, the last Nazi controlled are on May first. The American and Soviet forces met up in Berlin and found that Hitler had committed suicide and was greeted by remaining German officers surrendering. -
Atomic Bombings of Japan
On August 6, 1945, a U.S. plane, the Enola Gay, dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese town of Hiroshima, and three days later another plane dropped a second bomb on the town of Nagasaki. These two events killed about 120,000 people instantly, but they ended the war and saved an estimated 1,000,000 U.S. lives. -
V-J Day
VJ day is the day that the Japanese Emperor Hirohito surrendered to the U.S. The surrender was announced on August fourteenth in America, the fifteenth in Japan. However, it wasn't finalized until September second on the U.S.S. Missouri.
