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Rape of Nanking
Japan kills and rapes civilians in Nanking China -
Kristallnacht
That night in Germany, thousands upon thousands of Jews were subject to terror and violence by the Nazis. Over 1,000 Jewish synagogues and over 7,500 Jewish businesses were destroyed, and approximately 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and taken to concentration camps. -
Germany Invades Poland
German forces bombard Poland on land and from the air, as Adolf Hitler seeks to regain lost territory and ultimately rule Poland. World War II had begun. The German invasion of Poland was a primer on how Hitler intended to wage war–what would become the “blitzkrieg” strategy. -
Fall of France
German forces defeated Allied forces by mobile operations and conquered France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, bringing land operations on the Western Front to an end until 6 June 1944. Italy entered the war on 10 June 1940 and invaded France over the Alps. -
Rescue of Dunkirk
The evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force and other Allied troops from the French seaport of Dunkirk to England. Naval vessels and hundreds of civilian boats were used in the evacuation. -
Battle of Britain
Operation Sea lion was Germany's strategy for attacking Britain. The German Luftwaffe (Airforce) would attack the Royal Air Force. The UK used radar to figure out where the Germans would attack from. While the UK lost 1,000 planes, the Germans lost 1,700. The Germans bombed everything they could, but ultimately radar saved the UK from falling to Germany. -
Germany invades the USSR/Operation Barbarossa
Germany launched a surprise attack on the Soviet Union
This act breaks the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
Germany had many early victories, but the Soviet winter was too brutal…The Russian winter, combined with Russian resistance, forced the Germans to halt their advance (marked the first time in the war that the Germans had been stopped) -
Manhattan Project
FDR authorizes the Manhattan Engineering District for the purpose of creating an atomic bomb. It was an investment of $2 Billion, which was used to build a full gaseous diffusion. They came up with the name "Manhattan Project" to disguise the forming of the bomb. -
Pearl Harbor
Surprise attack by the Japanese on the main U.S. Pacific Fleet harbored in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, destroyed 18 U.S. ships and 200 aircraft. American losses were 3000, Japanese losses less than 100. In response, the U.S. declared war on Japan and Germany, entering World War II. -
Holocaust - The Final Solution
Between 1941 and 1944, Nazi German authorities deported millions of Jews from Germany, from occupied territories, and from the countries of many of its Axis allies to ghettos and to killing centers, often called extermination camps, where they were murdered in specially developed gassing facilities, over 6 million Jews killed. -
Japanese Internment Camps
Camps that were established during World War II by President Franklin Roosevelt. From 1942 to 1945, it was the policy of the U.S. government that people of Japanese descent would be interred in isolated camps. Enacted in reaction to Pearl Harbor and the ensuing war, the Japanese internment camps are now considered one of the most atrocious violations of American civil rights. -
Bataan Death March
Douglas MacArthur was commander of US forces in Asia. He miscalculated the strength of Japan and had to retreat to the Bataan Peninsula. MacArthur retreated to Australia, but he left his US troops behind. Japanese took Philippines and most US forces surrendered. Japan forced US troops to march 55 miles and more than 7,000 died. -
Battle of Coral Sea
92 aircraft destroyed. The Battle of the Coral Sea was a major naval battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy and naval and air forces from the United States and Australia, taking place in the Pacific Theatre of World War II. -
Battle of Midway
Battle of Midway
6/3/1942
Japan attacks Midway and lose four carriers -
Battle of Stalingrad
Stalingrad was the turning point of the war in Europe. It ended any realistic plans of Hitler dominating Europe. Soviet troops forced Nazi armies to retreat toward Germany. The USSR went on the offensive after Germany's attack. This opened the eastern front of the war. -
D-Day (Battle of Normandy) - Operation Overlord
160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which "we will accept nothing less than full victory." More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day's end on June 6, the Allies gained a foothold in Normandy. -
Battle of the Bulge
was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. ... The battle also severely depleted Germany's armored forces, and they were largely unable to replace them. -
Invasion of Okinawa
It was the largest amphibious landing in the Pacific theater of World War II. It also resulted in the largest casualties with over 100,000 Japanese casualties and 50,000 casualties for the Allies. ... Thus, from the Japanese view Okinawa was and could be no more than a delaying battle of attrition on a grand scale. -
Surrender of Germany
The Soviets were approaching the German capital of Berlin from the east and the Western Allies were approaching it from the west. Knowing that defeat was imminent, Hitler committed suicide, leaving Karl Dönitz to carry out the surrender of the Nazis. -
Atomic Bomb Dropped
After relentlessly bombing Japan, they would still not surrender. Truman decided to use the atomic bomb to spare the American lives that would have been lost should we have chosen to invade Japan on foot. On August 6, 1945, US pilots dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The USSR declared war on Japan three days later, and the US dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki. The Japanese finally surrendered. -
Japan Surrenders
250 Allied warships lay at anchor in Tokyo Bay. The flags of the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union, and China fluttered above the deck of the Missouri. Just after 9 a.m. Tokyo time, Japanese Foreign Minister Shigemitsu signed on behalf of the Japanese government and General Umezu signed for the Japanese armed forces. -
Nuremberg Trials
Nuremberg, Germany, was chosen as a site for trials that took place in 1945 and 1946. Judges from the Allied powers—Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States—presided over the hearings of twenty-two major Nazi criminals. Twelve prominent Nazis were sentenced to death.
