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Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht, meaning the night of broken glass, is from the night of November 9, Nazi storm troopers murdered Jews across Germany. They did this because the Germans had forced this one young mans father to move to Poland, and to avenge this, he shot at a German diplomat that lived in Paris. This attack led to the continuation and worsening of discrimination against Jews and Jews shops and homes being vandalized. -
Hitler starts war by starting his attack in order to take over Poland
After signing the nonaggression pact, Hitler moved ahead with his plans to take over Poland. On September 1, 1939 he triggered the start of the war and surprised an attack on the Polands. The German army began bombing and attacking Poland's capital, Warsaw. It did not take long for the German army to take Poland, as they never saw the attack coming. -
Period: to
World War II
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Other countries get involved
After Germany started the war with Poland, France and Great Britain quickly joined in to help Poland defend Germany, but their efforts were fruitless as all three countries were extremely unprepared. The type of war that Hitler used to conquer Poland was called blitzrieg, or lighting war which was very strong forces against countries that were caught offguard. -
Disruption begins again
After a period of rest, fighting starts again. Hitler makes his move to conquer Denmark and Norway, another surprise invasion. After just a few hours of fighting, Denmark fell and two months later Norway surrendered as well. Germany prepares an attack on Great Britain using the coasts of Norway and Denmark. -
France Falls
France had been resisting Germany for a long time, and soon they fell to Germany's strong powers. Germany had taken over Paris, France and soon took over the northern part of France. After it was conquered a French general named Charles de Gaulle set up a government in exile in London and was committed to taking France back from the Germans. -
Breaking the British
Germany started to try and break the British, in order to take over Britain. Luckily, the British never even hesitated when the Germans attacked. Many British lives were lost, but that did not change much. To fight back, they developed a radar that could detect the number, speed, and direction of incoming warplanes, and in addition the enigma was worked on/created to decode German messages written in code. -
Britain Fights
As Hitler tries to take over Great Britain, Great Britain resists with strong forces. Hitler was not expecting such a strong fright from Great Britain and tries to call off his attacks and turned his attention to trying to conquer around the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe. This specific fight, The Battle of Britain showed other countries and their powers that Germany wasn't invincible, and that he could be conquered with an extremely strong army. -
Hitler Hits Soviet Union
With a plan to invade the Soviet Union, Hitler proceeded. Early in the morning of june 22, 1941 he invaded. The Soviet Union was completely unprepared, with untrained troops and a weak artillery. The Germans got 500 miles into the Soviet Union as the Soviet troops retreated. Russians tried the scorched earth policy. With a million deaths, the Soviet Union still didn't fall to Hitler's ruthless power. -
Hitler Loses Lives
125 miles towards Moscow, the Germans were still fighting, and then Winter came. On October 2, 1941 he tried to take Moscow. The Soviet Union general attacked back. Germans, being in light clothes planned to retreat, but Hitler pushed on. In March of 1943, they lost hold on the front. Over that period, the German army lost about 500,000 lives, and gained just about nothing. -
Pearl Harbor
On the morning of December 7, 1941, people living in or near Hawaii woke up to the sound of bombs hitting ships in a place called Pearl Harbor. Japan had started an attack on America. They damaged 19 ships and over 1,000 were wounded. The day after the attack, President Roosevelt declared war on Japan. -
War Policy
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt met at the White House in order to develop a joint war policy. They planned on Germany having fronts on both sides and having to split their power, making them weaker and easier to defeat. -
Battle of Midway
Japan targeted an island about 1,500 miles west of Hawaii. An American Airfield was positioned on this island. Americans could understand where Japan were going to Midway. The Americans attacked the Japanese planes while they were still on the Japanese aircraft carriers. The battle ended with America having a successful strategy and it was a turning point the war. -
The Battle of Stalingrad
The Luftwaffe used nightly bombing raids to destroy Stalingrad and leave nothing but rubble left. By November, Germany controlled most of the city. Stalin had been in charge of Russia at the time and told his commanders to defend the city to the best that they could, until they died. The Russian army trapped Germans inside the city during the harsh winter and the 90,000 out of what was 330,000 surrendered to the Soviets. -
Battle of Leyte Gulf
The Battle of Leyte Gulf occurred between the Allies and Japan. The Japanese navy lost in four days and the Kamikaze was the only fighting power left. -
Conquest of Sicily
On July 10, 1943 allied forces landed on Sicily and after a month of fighting, they came under control of the island, taking it from the Germans. Mussolini was taken from power and King Victor Emmanuel III had him arrested, however, he escaped and when Italian resistance fighters ambushed German trucks near Milan, they found Mussolini disguised as a German soldier, and he was shot and his body was hung up for all of Milan to see. -
D-Day
British, American, French, and Canadian troops fought onto a 60-mile stretch of beach in Normandy, France. The Germans had prepared and with no surprise, the Allied forces took many casualties. After a month of fighting, over 1 million backup soldiers came in and broke through a part of the German front. A month after this, the allies marched to Paris victoriously. They free France, Belgium, and Luxembourg and were now heading for Germany. -
The Battle of the Bulge
Both sides of Germany were being invaded by the US and Russia. Germany had to fight back on two fronts now. Hitler counterattacked in the west and split up his forces on each line. December 16, Germany broke through an American defense line and immediately the Americans pushed back and broke the German line, forcing them to retreat. -
Iwo Jima
American marines went to Iwo Jima, an island about 760 miles from Tokyo, Japan. The Japanese fought back desperately against the Americans. In one of the most casualty costly battles; The Japanese lost 100,000 plus troops and the Americans lost 12,000 troops. Soon after Japan surrendered after an atomic bomb attack, but the world had many land and money deficits. -
Surrender
After the Battle of the Bulge, the war was coming to a stop. Soon, Berlin was being closed up upon by the allies. On April 30, Hitler and his wife committed suicide and their bodies were burned. This led to Germany surrendering to Eisenhower and on May 9, the surrender was officially signed. V-E Day is used to describe this day, when the war ended after six years of fighting.