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German parliament passes enabling act
The Enabling act passed by the German parliament gave the 3rd Reich’s government to pass laws without the approval or consent of the German parliament. This Law laid the stones for the Reich to transform from a Democratic government into a fully Nazi state. This was passed by the German Parliament due to the widespread support of the Nazi party and the hope of relief which the Nazi party promised to give to the German people. -
The Gestapo is born
-created by Herman Goring, a Nazis offical and commander of the Luffwaffe airforce
-they conducted surveillance operations and enabled more control over the German people, along with the charge of silencing political opponents
-The birth of the Gestapo is important because it is one of the most well-known instances of secret police meant to suppress civil liberty on behalf of the state, and became a basis for other countries to model their own Secret police off of -
Nuremberg Laws announced
The Nuremberg Laws are racist antisemitic laws that were enacted by the Reichstag. The laws were created to begin the start of persecution against the Jewish population and any others considered inferior by the Nazi’s ideology. Ultimately the Nuremberg laws are important as it displays antisemitic and racist persecution of others according to the Nazis ideology for the first time by the government. -
Rome-Berlin Axis announced
October 25, 1936- Rome Berlin Axis announced- The Rome Berlin Axis was the alliance between Germany and Italy. This alliance occurred to spread fascism throughout the world and for each to aid each other in expanding eaches respective empire. -
Japan invades China
imperialist Japan invaded China, particularly the providence of Manchuria, which was full of natural resources needed to expand the Imperial Japanese state. The Japanese annexed Manchuria and proceeded to then gain resources to expand their empire throughout southern Asia. It's important as the U.S.A. began an embargo which increased tensions, eventually leading to war -
Germany's Anschluss with Austria
Germany’s Anschluss with Austria was a peaceful annexation of Austria into the Reich. This happened due to Germans and Austrians having similar culture and extreme connections to one another, such as using the same language along with a powerful Nazi party, with Hitler, even being from Austria. With such overwhelming support in Austria and the incredible power of the returned and upgraded German military to annex Austria with no shots fired -
Munich Agreement signed
-The Munich Agreement was signed by Neville Chamberlain and Edouard Daladier who were the prime ministers of Britain and France respectively. -The agreement would be considered appeasement as it was Britain and France giving in to the demands of the aggressor (Nazi Germany). -The countries agreed that they would avoid war and that Germany could have Czechoslovakia -
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht also known as the “Night of Broken Glass” was a pogrom or an organized massacre on a night November 9th, 1938. On this night, Nazis destroyed thousands of Jewish homes, schools, businesses, and Synagogues and captured more than 30,000 Jewish men and sent them to concentration camps. 91 people were killed during the night of Kristallnacht, but many more died in the concentration camps later. -
Non-Agression Pact signed between Germany and USSR
-The Non-Aggression Pact was signed between Germany and the Soviet Union just before World War II on August 23, 1939. -It was an agreement stating the two countries who were enemies at the time could not take any military action against each other. -They both saw it beneficial to themselves with very little downside. -Germany wanted to be able to invade Poland unopposed, and the USSR wanted to not have to worry about Germany as well as build its military power further. -
Germany invades Poland
Hitler began to attack Poland on September 1st using what would become his main offensive strategy during WW2. This strategy was called “Blitzkrieg” and it involved obliterating a countries air force, communication lines, and railroads early on so they had no preparation then Hitler would send in massive amounts of troops, tanks, and artillery. Once Germany had established a base of operations inside a country it would send out SS agents to kill all enemies of the Nazi ideology. -
Great Britain and France declare war on Germany (WWII Begins)
-In response to Germany’s attacks on Poland, Great Britain and France who were both allies of Poland declared war on Germany. -The first casualty after this declaration was a British ocean liner sunk by a Nazi submarine. -On September 4th, Britain began bombing German ships, but the British were under strict orders to not attack any german civilians whatsoever. -Germany was not under any similar restrictions and was very reckless when it comes to who was killed in their attacks. -
Poland surrenders to Germany
On this day, 140,000 polish soldiers were captured by German invaders and taken captive. Days before Germany’s victory, Germany started brutally slaughtering Polish members of the higher class; Priests, teachers, doctors, landowners, and businessmen they called this the “Extraordinary Pacification Action”. These actions were all apart of Hitler’s plan towards Poland’s surrender, the needless killing of innocent people was proof that they would claim the land by any means necessary. -
Yellow stars required to be worn by Polish Jews over age 10
-Poland's surrender to the Reich and annexation into Germany made polish citizens applicable to laws under the Reich
-This mandated to polish jews over 10 wear a yellow star of David to denote their religious beliefs
-This mirrored to how in lands controlled by the Reich in that all jews had to wear the stars
-This event is important to the final solution as it removed jews from the public which made it easy for the Nazis to bring them to ghettos, through them, death camps -
Germany attacks France
When Germany began its offensive against France, it came face to face with the french “Maginot line.” The line was essentially a heavily fortified trench line as the french expected the german offensive in WW1, the German high command defeated the line by simply going around it, cut french supply lines to the line and waited for their surrender, then captured Paris. Germany did this to leave Great Britain as the sole enemy of the Reich and to continue the doctrine of “living space.” -
Italy enters WWII
Italy joined the war on the side of Germany in the hope of territorial expansion. Italy was very unprepared and struggled without German assistance in campaigns. Italy's involvement in world war 2 was significant as Italy nearly became a burden to Germany due to its weak military force which is important as it spread Germany's military thin in supporting the Italians. -
Germany defeats France
When Germany defeated France they did so to leave Great Britain alone against them, and to further the belief in “living space,” as well as create an empire in Europe. The German defeat of France shocked the world as Germany defeated France within 6 weeks and displayed the massive power of the German military. This is important to WW2 as it set the stage where Great Britain will look for allies and Germany begins to look for the complete conquest of Britain and the Soviet Union. -
Battle of Britain begins
-The Battle of Britain was a battle where Germany would use the massive might of Luftwaffe air force solely to break Britain.
-The decision to attack Britain was made because Hitler didn’t want Britain to host a invasion force into europe and believed air capability would take Britain
- This is important to world war 2 as it displays a split in the German military and the Geographical importance of the island of Britain itself in the defeat of the Nazis. -
Tripartite Pact signed
The Tripartite pact was the signing of an alliance between Germany, Italy and Japan. The alliance was signed to try and discourage the U.S.A from entering into the war. The Pact signing is important as it made WW2 not just in Europe but in Asia as well. -
Battle of Britain ends
-The Battle of Britain ended on October 31st, 1940. -The Royal Air Force successfully defended the United Kingdom from Luftwaffe (German air force) attackers. -In the middle of September 1940, there was a climactic fight that lasted less than an hour resulting in 56 of the invading German aircraft being taken down by the RAF (Royal Air Force). -Britain denied Germany the easy victory they were expecting and took away much of the air force that they needed to invade the USSR. -
Operation Barbarossa begins
-Operation Barbarossa was Hitler’s massive attack on the Soviet Union that started on June 22nd, 1941. -Germany’s offensive was the greatest and most powerful in human history with millions of men and thousands of artillery, tanks, and aircraft. -Even with all this attacking power, Germany had massively underestimated the reserves and defenses of the USSR. -Hitler believed that within six months of the start of their invasion, the Soviet regime would fall due to a lack of domestic support. -
Battle of Moscow begins
-The Battle of Moscow started when Operation Typhoon was launched on October 2nd, 1941. -Hitler thought he could succeed where many others had failed, and invade/capture the capital city of the Soviet Union, Moscow. -Hitler wanted to attack Moscow as it would serve as a primary military and political objective for Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union. -Germany intended to capture Moscow within 4 months of the start, but the Soviet Union delayed Germany’s attack on Moscow for 2 months. -
Operation Barbarossa ends
-Germany's main objective in operation Barbarossa was to invade and capture Moscow. -Germanys plan to attack Moscow was pushed back two months because the USSR was repeatedly and successfully counterattacking Germany. -Eventually, as soviet defenses weakened, the weather was the ultimate hindrance to Germany as they couldn’t drive tanks with all the heavy rain, snow, and mud. -Once the weather had mostly cleared, Germany attacked again and was stopped again by a soviet counter attack -
Pearl Harbor attacked by Japanese
-Pearl Harbor was a U.S. naval base that was bombed in a surprise attack by Japan. -The U.S was on the brink of war for a long time with Japan, as we were an ally of China and the two countries were at war. -The U.S. had initially responded to these aggressions from Japan towards China with financial penalties and trade embargoes. -The bombing of Pearl Harbor resulted in the destruction of 20 naval vessels, 300 air crafts, and also more than 2,400 American deaths. -
the US declares war on Japan
-As a response to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt requested Congress to declare war on Japan. -Roosevelt gave a short speech stating his faith in the American people. -Jeannette Rankin was the congresswoman of Montana and a lifelong pacifist, Rankin was the only one who voted no to the declaration of war. -This declaration of war changed the course of the war as before this, the United States had been largely staying out of any of the fighting in general. -
Wannasee Conference/Final Solution
Conference held at villa called the Wannasee, There high ranking Nazi would decide what to do with the jewish people in the Ghettos, The Final Solution was the plan known as the Holocaust, the jews would be killed by cyanide gas, in gas chambers of camps, like Dachau. This “operation” was lead by the SS. The Final Solution would end up killing over 7 million Jews, Gypsies, etc. This is important to history as its the largest crime against humanity ever done, has impact due to its world effect -
Battle of Moscow ends
-In the end the battle of Moscow never happened as German forces were pushed back from the area around Moscow after the 2 month delay.
-The Germans were routed by fresh advancing forces pushing the Germans back.
-This is important to WW2 as shows a overextension and weakening of a split german military. This also set advance of the Soviets which would continue until the end of the war and the establishment of the Soviet Block. -
Battle of Midway
-The battle of Midway took place for 7 days by the U.S.A. and Japan on the Midway islands
-The Japanese goal of demoralizing U.S.A. forces and ensure their retreat from the Pacific.
-Japanese forces were going to do this by crushing the U.S.A. aircraft carriers by luring them to a attack
-The Japanese didn’t realize U.S.A. code breakers knew their plan
-resulted in loss Japan wouldn't recover from
-allowed the U.S.A. a base to use near Japan
-important as it put Japan on the defense -
Battle of Stalingrad
-The Battle of Stalingrad was the largest battle in WW2
-battle of Germans and Soviets lasted 5 months.
-city bombed, combat turns to house to house
-city is rubble, Soviets attack in operation Uranus
-Axis forces trapped by Soviets, German commander asks Hitler's blessing to retreat
-Hitler refuses, makes them hold, tries air resupply
-on the 2nd of February, 1943, Germans surrender
-important to WW2 as it's a major German loss, results in men on the western front going east to fight -
D-Day
-D-Day is landing of Allies on Normandy in the invasion of France.
-Allies tricked German high command to think they'd land on a beach near Britain called Calais
-results in more German forces there than Normandy
-allies had fake units in Britain so German pilots think they're there
-After allies took the beach, German forces too far to push the allies back due to Hitler
-this allies landed more troops and moved east
-D-day broke German control west, made WW2 a war on 2 fronts for Germany -
Allied troops free Paris
-When Paris was liberated by allied forces after the German garrison surrender celebrating occurred over the city.
-Paris’s liberation displayed a massive loss of political power for Germany and their military being weakened.
-This is important to WW2 because it displays a loss of power for Germany and the weakening of its military on both sides.
-This would make Germany far weaker in resisting the allies. -
US troops land on Phillipines
-General Douglas MacArthur and his army landed on the Lingayen Gulf of Luzon which is the biggest island in the Phillippines. -At the time, the Phillippines were controlled by Japan, and initially, the US was unsuccessful in their attacks. -The second battle that took place in the Phillippines was on the Island called Leyte, more than 100,000 US Soldiers were sent into this battle which resulted in more than 75,000 deaths on the Japanese side compared to 3,500 deaths on the American side. -
the US captures Iwo Jima
-Iwo Jima is a barren island 600 miles off the coast of Japan. -The United States wanted control of this island because they saw it as the best location for building airfields so they could send airstrikes to Japan. -The invasion started with the US dropping a crazy amount of bombs on the island for more than 70 days -On February 19th, 1945, the US troops went on land on Iwo Jima and were eventually able to capture the island and use it as a staging area for world war II. -
the US begins "Island hopping" campaign
-Island hopping or leapfrogging was a military strategy used by the United States primarily against the Japanese empire. -The main idea of the strategy was to capture key adjoining islands one after the other until Japan was eventually in a range of US bombers. -The US sent out two campaigns, one was led by General Douglas MacArthur and the other by Admiral Chester Nimitz, each of the campaigns were successfully invading island after island and engaging in countless bloody battles. -
Hitler commits suicide
-Hitler had an underground base in berlin where on April 30th, 1945, he swallowed a cyanide pill and shot himself in the head. -Leading up to his death, it was clear to most that Germany would soon have to give up to the power of the Allied forces, and following his death, Germany did give in and surrendered to the Allied forces. -Before his death, there were several attempts to kill Hitler by some of his own soldiers they figured without him in power they could more easily negotiate peace. -
VE Day
-May 8th is known as V-E Day or Victory in Europe Day and is celebrated in both America and Britain. -In 1945 this was the day when the Germans who were invading throughout Europe finally gave up and surrendered. -They surrendered to the USSR in Prague after 8,000 were lost on the soviet side and even more on the side of Germany. -Germany’s main reason for surrender was avoiding more soldiers being taken as prisoners of war but wasn’t so successful in doing so as Russia captured many. -
the US captures Okinawa
-The invasion of Okinawa started on April 1st, 1945 -Japan lost almost 10 times as many men as the U.S. in defending Okinawa. -On June 22nd, the Japanese began to realize the fight for Okinawa was a fight they could not win and the commander of Okinawa’s defense along with a number of Japanese officials committed suicide rather than surrender. -This was the turning point for the U.S. and Japan in World War II as after this lead up to Japan finally surrendering. -
Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
-The U.S.A knew if they invaded Japan with normal forces, they would lose 1,000s
-The U.S.A avoided this by using the Atom
-The Manhattan Project finished with the first Atomic bombs, and were sent west
-“Enola Gay” was the plane fitted with bomb and dropped it on Hiroshima
-The bomb killed 40,000 people
-The use of the Atomic bomb for the first time sent shockwaves throughout world, figuratively and literally
-It was the first time a Nuke was used
-important to WW2 due to its role in end of war -
Atomic Bomb dropped on Nagasaki
-U.S.A. bombed Hiroshima to end the war, threatened to Nuke another city if refused to surrender
-High ranking Japanese officials met for 3 days, but refused
-U.S.A. dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki
-bomb killed 39,000 to 80,000 people
-After U.S. threatened if Japan didn't surrender another would drop on Tokyo
-threat panicked Japanese hierarchy, Japan began think of surrender to the U.S.A
-important to WW2, as atom bomb ended war
-caused Japan's surrender, began the cold war, arms race -
Japan formally surrendered to the US
-Japan, as well as its economy, were in shambles as a result of the many bombings the country had suffered. -Okinawa served as a hub from which to send troops to invade the main island. -The Allied powers had completely destroyed Japan’s navy and airforce leaving them with no option but to surrender. -Japan sent a declaration of peace to the United States on August 10th and the surrender was made official on September 2nd, 1945, marking the end of WW2.
