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Attack of Manchuria
Japanese businesses had invested heavily in China's northeast province, Manchuria, a place rich in iron, coal and many other resources. The Japanese army seized Manchuria despite objections from the Japanese Parliament and Japanese peole began arriving their in large numbers and set up factories and mines. -
Alliance with Italy and Germany
Hitler's growing strength convinced Mussolini that it was a good idea to seek an alliance with Germany. They came to an agreement in October of 1936 called the Rome-Berlin Axis. A month later, Japan also made an agreement with Germany which made Germany, Italy and Japan into and alliance called the Axis Powers. -
Kristallnacht
Nazi leaders launched a violent attack on the Jewish community in Germany after hearing about the news about how a Jewish youth in Paris killed a Nazi soldier in early November. Nazi troopers attacked Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues across Germany and murdered arounbd 100 Jews. This night got the name Kristallnacht or "Night of Broken Glass" due to all the glass the Nazi soldiers broken inside of Jewish residences. -
Invasion Of Poland
After Hitler signed the nonagression pact with the soviet union, he moved quickly to conquer Poland. In a surprise attack on Poland, Hitler first invaded Polish airspace, bombing their people and causing terror. Next, he transported the German tanks and people across the broder carrying more than 1.5 millin people into assault. In this attack the Nazi's mercilessely bombed Polands Capital, Warsaw, and unleashed World War II. -
Soviet Union Invaded East Poland
After Stalins Nonagression Pact with Hitler, he was forced to send troops to occupy the eastern half of Poland. After Stalin did this he then began annexing Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland in the second part of the agreement. All of these regions fell easily except Finland. -
France Surrenders
The Germans started their invasion of France in May of 1940. During his invasion of France, Hitlersent large amounts of troops through heavily wooded forests, catching the French off gaurd and getting right around their wall of defense, The Maginot Line. Once the Germans got into France they pushed the Allies all the way back to the beach of Dunkirk, in a very heroic act the Allies escaped the beaches with help from British fishing boats, this great act consequently left France doomed for defeat -
Lend Lease Act
This act allowed thw president to be able to lend or lease arms and other supplies to countries vital to the United States. The US navy was escorting British Ships carrying US arms, this angered Hitler and he subsequently sank any cargo ships his submarines met the were going to a US allie. -
Battle Of Britian
After the fall of France, Great Britian stood alone against the Nazi's. Hitler tried to invade Britian by taking taking out the Royal Airforce and then landing 250,000 soldiers to invade the country. The British were outnumbered by 1,600 which lead to Britians airforce getting hit hard and falling back. This lead to the Nazi's constantly bombing British cities afterwards and eventually calling off attacks and focusing on the Mediterranean. -
German Invasion of Soviet Union
The Germans attempted to invade Russia quickly but The Red Army was big with it's 5 million soldiers but since they were badly trained and equipped they Germans kept beating them. Since the Russians kept loosing battles they had to retreat and as they did so the burned the land the Germans were taking over. This left Hitler without some supplies and after a harsh winter in which the Russian cities wouldn't fall many of his people died causing him to retreat. -
Atlantic Charter
Roosevelt and Churchill met seceretly in a ship off the coast of Newfounland. They issued a joint declaration called the Atlantic Charter. This Charter upheld free trade among nations and the right of the people to choose their own government. -
Pearl Harbor
In the early morning on December 7 Japan attacked a naval American Base in Hawaii Within two hours, the Japanese had sunk or damaged 18 ships, including 8 battleships. Around 2,400 Americans were also killed and more than 1,000 were wounded. This caused Congress to declare war on Japan and start the war in the Pacific. -
Japanese Internment
After Pearl Harbor, a wave of prejudice arose in the United States against Japanese Americans. Japanese Americans were seen as the enemy. In February Roosevelt set up a program of internment and loss of property, sinc e the Japanese Americans were considered a threat to the country. In March the military began rounding up Japanese Americans, most of which lived in Hawaii and the West Coast and shipped them to camps in military areas away from the coast. -
The Battle of Midway
By June of 1942, Japan targeted Medway Island, west of Hawaii. In this battle, Admiral Yamamoto hoped to seize Medway and to finish off the US Pacific fleet. During this invasion, the American forces hid themselves beyond the horizon and allowed for the Japanese to strike the island first. After they attacked, American planes swooped in and counter-attacked the Japanese, destroying 322 planes, 4 aircraft carriers and one support ship and forcing the crippled Japanese fleet to withdraw. -
Allied Invasion of Italy
180,000 Allied forces landed on Sicily and captured it by August. The capture of Sicily toupled Mussolini from power and leaving the Germans. Now fighting in Italy the Germans retreated to northern Italy and lost control of Italy. During this attack not only was Italy toppled but Mussolini was killed. -
D-Day
At Dawn on June 6, British, American, French and Canadian landed on a 60-mile beach in Normandy. The Germans had dug in on that beach and took out many troops. Despite the caualties, the Allies held the beachheads. A month later 1 million more troops landed their and on July 25 they got through German defenses and soon the Germans were retreating. By September, the Allies had liberated France, Belgium, Luxembourg and much of the Netherlands. -
The German Surrender
When The Soviets surrounded the German capital Hitler knew it was over. Acknowledging this Hitler wrote his Final Address to the German people where he blamed Jews for starting the war and his Generals for loosing it. Two days later Hitler and his wife killed themselves and the Third Reich surrendered and the Allies recieved victory in Europe. -
Bombing of Hiroshima
After the United States created the first atomic bomb in New Mexico on July 16, 1945, President Truman warned the Japanese about the new weapon. He told them that unless they surrendered, they would be destroyed. The Japanese did not reply so the United States dropped the first attomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing 73,000 of their 365,000 people. -
Bombing of Nagasaki
Three days after the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, they dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki. This city had a population of 200,000 people and 37,500 o fthese people were killed by the blast and many more later died from radiation poisoning. This caused the Japanese surrender to General Douglas MacArthur on September 2nd 1945. -
Japanese Surrender
On board the United States battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay, the Japanese leaders surrender to General Douglas MacArthur. With Japan's surrender, the war was over and now countries faces a big task of rebuilding a world destroyed by war. -
Nuremburg Laws
After World War II countries dealt with Germany's guilt in the Holocaust by putting Nzais on trial to make sure that such crimes wouldn't happen again. In the Nuremberg Trials 22 Nazi leaders were charged with waging a war of aggression and were accused for the murder of 11 million people. Of the 22 defendants, 12 were sentenced to death.
