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Start of the war in Atlantic/European Theater (Start of Fighting)
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Battle of Britain
7/10/1940 to 10/31/1940. The battle was between Britain's Royal Air Force and Germany's Luftwaffe. This was the first battle in history to ever be fought completely in air. Germany was hoping to easily take over Britain, but failed. On 10/31, Hitler called off the invasion, and was the first major defeat for Germany. This Battle showed how brave and determined the military was, and it allowed the American to establish a base of operations in England to invade Normandy on D-Day. -
Lend/Lease Act
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Start of the war in Pacific Theater (Start of Fighting)
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Pearl Harbor
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U.S. Joins the War (Declares War and is Declared Upon)
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Battle of Stalingrad
8/22/1942 to 2/2/1943. Germany decided to attack Russia on their Industrial Center. Under Stalin, Russia had fought off another German attack. The battle is known as the largest, longest, and bloodiest engagements in modern warfare. More than 2 million soldiers were fighting, and almost 2 million were killed, including tens of thousands of Russian civilians. Russian slowed the attack, losing 200k men and weaponry along the way. Even through the winter, they persevered, and won the battle. -
Doolittle Raid
4 months after Pearl Harbor, on April 18, 1942, 16 US planes pull off daring bombing raid on Tokyo. This was almost a suicide mission. The Doolittle Raid lifted US spirits, and it shocked Japan int realizing that the US could fight back hard. -
Battle of the Coral Sea
This battled occurred May 4, 1942 to May 8, 1942 and was a naval and air battle. This was an all-air battle in which the US and Australian forces defeat the Japanese. This was an allied victory, as it stopped Japan from invading Port Moresby and turned back their invasion of Australia, keeping the important ally safe. During the Battle, US ships damaged and forced the Japanese carrier Shokaku, but Japan was able to damage and cause explosions on said US ships. -
Battle of Midway
June 3, 1942, US launches a carrier attack on the Japanese carrier fleet. This caught the Japanese off-guard, making them easy targets for US torpedo planes and bombers. The Allies win on June 6, and is a turning point in the pacific war. By the end of the battle, Japan had lost 4 carriers, 1 destroyer, and 250 panes. With Japan's fleet cripples, the US had air dominance and started island hopping. The Navajo marines used the ancient Navajo language as code to confuse Japan throughout WW2. -
D-Day
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Battle of the Bulge
12/16/1944 to 1/25/1945. This was the final German attack of WW2. They attack the 101st Airborne and pin them down near Bastogne. The Germans were caught in freezing temps. w/o supplies and were cutoff from reinforcements. On 12/16, American tanks arrive and drive the Germans into final retreat. This was a German military counter-offensive against the Allied armies in the West. The battle cost Germany resources, lives, tanks, and aircraft, allowing Allies to invade. Victory was declared on 1/25. -
Russian Troops Discover Auschwitz
In Auschwitz, Poland, there were three groups of camps, and the second one is where the horrors occurred. While waiting for the Soviets, the SS show and killed many of the prisoners and blew up the crematoria to hide what they did. When the Soviets got there on 1/27/1945 to free the prisoners, they found 648 dead, and more than 7k starving survivors. They also found 6 storehouses of be things they didn't have time to burn. The soviets showed the rest of the world what happened there, -
Yalta Conference
February 4, 1945 to February 11, 1945 -
Battle of Iwo Jima
On February 19, 1945, marines land on the most fortified island on earth, Iwo Jima. Over 20k Japanese were intrenched in defense. 6k Marines died taking the island, and only 200 Japanese survived. General Douglas MacArthur retook the Philippines in 1944. Heavy naval bombardment did little to soften defenses and landing waves took heavy losses. Combined with the victory on Mount Suribachi, the US could now plan an invasion of the last island stronghold outside Japan: Okinawa. -
Death of Roosevelt
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Creation of the United Nations
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V-E Day
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Hiroshima
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Nagasaki
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V-J Day
