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Rise of the Fascist Dictators
In October of 1925, Benito Mussolin came to power in Italy. He outlawed strikes, democracy, and all other political parties other than Facism. Hitler rose to power in 1933 becasue many people liked his ideas due to the current state of their goverment. After becoming Chancelor he was able to gain full power. Other Eurpoean countries fell to dictators after their attempts at democracies/ other forms of goverment spreading facism. -
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Japanese Agression in Asia
In 1931, Japan seized Manchoria. The League of Nations disaproved and Japan withdrew from the group. The easy sucsess increased support in the Japanese military. By 1937, the Japanese army ran most of eastern China. -
Annexation of Austria
In 1938, Hitler was ready to engineer the union of Austria and Germany. The fertile ground of Austria made it a prime spot to add to the German empire. The Anschluss violated the Treaty of Versialles causing a breif war, but Hitler silenced anyone who went against him. -
Munich Conference
The Munich Conference took place in 1938. There a setelment was reached by Germany, France, Britian, and Italy premitting German anexation of Sudetenland. This was an act to apease the growng German empire. The next year the agreement made at the conference was repealed and Hitler annexed the rest of Czechoslovakia. -
Nazi- Soviet Pact
In August of 1939 Hitler announced a nonagressive pact with Joseph Stalin. The two secretly agreed not to fight if the other went to war. Theu also agreed to divide up Poland and other parts of eastern Europe. The pact was based on mutual needs, Hitler feared communism and Stalin feared fascism. -
Phony War
During the first part of the war the french stayed behind the Maginot Line. Britian sent troops to wait and this became known as "phony war". In 1940 the war exploded in April when Hitler launched a blitzkrieg. He first attacked Norway and Denmak, then moved on to the Netherlands and Belgium. -
Miracle at Dunkirk
The miracle of Dunkirk is the battle when the German forces began invading the English Channel. The Brithish sent all available naval vessels, merchant ships, and fishing boats to help in the fight. The improvised troops brought 300,000 troops to saftey in Britian. The rescue became known as "the miracleof dunkirk" raising British morale greatly. -
Fall of France
Italy declared war on france on June 10, 1940. They attacked from the south and overun and demorilized France until they surrendered. France was forced to surrender and sign documents that would change the Treaty of Versialles. France fell completly in only six weeks. -
The Battle of Britian
Begining on August 12,1940 bombers from Germany began attacking Englands southern coast daily. For a month the royal airforce fought back untill the Germans changed their targets. On September 7,1940 explosive bombs went off at night and continued for 57 nights. Much of the city was destroyed and 15,000 people lost their lives. Germany retreated believing that they had done enough damage. This turned out to be their biggest mistake the Germans made in the war. -
Nazi Genocide
One of Hitlers harshist policies was that all people her thought of as "racially inferior" needed to be executed. Targets for murder included Slavs, Gypsies, metally challenged and especially Jews. At first they were gathered and forced to live in ghettos. In 1941 Hitler came up with a "final solution" Death camps were created for the deliberate murder of all European Jews and other undisirables. By 1945 Nazis had murderd over 6 million Jews in what became known as the Holocasut. -
Opperation Barbarossa
In June of 1941, Hitler began Opperation Barbarossa. He made his motives of wanting to attack and control the Soviet Union very clear. He wanted to gain control of their "incalcuable store of treasures in raw materials." The Germans unleashed a new blitzkreig with about 3 million Germans pouring into the Soviet Union. They caught Stalin unprepared and cost the Russian army two and a half million men. (See Operation Barbarossa part 2) -
Opperation Barbarossa part 2
The Germans continued to advance and in September of 1941 the Seige of Leningrad began. Conditions were so bad that food was rationed and people were willing to eat almost anything. -
Attack of Peral Harbor
On December 7,1941 General Tojo ordered a suprise attack on the American ships at the base Pearl Harbor. Japanese planes damaged or destroyed 19 ships and killed more than 2,400 people. The next day president FDR declared December 7 as a day that will go down in imfamy. This sparked the offical declaration of war on Japan on December 11, 1941. -
Battle of Stalingrad
In the spring of 1942, Hitler was still confident they would win the war. Rommels troop pushed the British back into Egypt and they were still doing well in the battle on the Atlantic. In May Hitler began his economic attack on the Soviet Union. He sent his troops to take control of the city of Stalingrad and cut off the oil supply. On november 23,1942 Soviet troops came in and trapped 250,000 German troops. This battle was a huge turning point because it put Germany on the defensive for the war -
Battle of Midway
On June 4,1942 the Japanese launched their aircrafts against Midway. However, Midway was ready. 38 of the Japanese planes were shot down from the sky. The Japanese soon prepared another attack and the American carriers Hornet, Yorktown, and Enterprise launched a counter attack. By evening it was clear thay the Americans took a toll on the Japanese navy and the remaining ships retreated. -
Battle of the Atlantic
As the Americans fought against the Japanese, war continued with German submarines on the Atlantic ocean. By August of 1942, German subs had sunk 360 American ships. This caused gasoline and fuel to be rationed. In attempts to keep oil available the goverment built a 1,250 mile gas line from Texas to Pennsylvania. The US navy set up a convoy system and this improved the sitation greatly. New technology like radar, sonar, nad depth charges allowed German subs to be found and sunk. -
Battle of El Alamein
In Egypt, Britian stopped Rommels advance durring El Alamein. The battle was long and fierce. They were also able to turn tables on the Desert Fox. This drove the Axis forces back across Libya into Tunisia. Dwight Eisenhower combined with Brithish forces and trapped Rommels army which caused them to surrender in May of 1943. -
Invasion of Italy
In July of 1943, a combined British and American affor landed in Sicily then southern Italy. They defeated the Italian forces in about a month. The Italians were then fed up with Mussolini so they overthrew him. Unfortunatly, Hitler sent troops to rescue Mussolini and they fought in northern Italy. The Italian invasion was a very wise move for the Allies because it forced Hitler to be weakened by fighting on another front. -
D-Day
One June 6, 1944 the Allied troops invaded France. Aftermidnight the Allies paratroopers went behind enemy lines. At dawn ships carrying 176,000 troops crossed the English Channel. Troops fougght to the shore through underwater mines and machine gun fire. They broke the German defense and moved towards Paris. Under all the pressure the Germans retreated and on August 25 the allies entered Paris. -
Nazis Defeated
Once France was free of Nazi control the Allies began the advance into Belgium. In December of 1944 the Allies attacked at the Battle of the Bulge, when both sides took very hard hits. This delayed the Allies advance but this was Hitlers last victory. With his support deminishing he became hesitant after an assination attempt. (See Nazis Defeated part 2) -
Nazis Defeated Part 2
Raids killed 135,000 people. Mussolini was captured and Hitler knew the end was near. As Soviet troopes entered Germany Hitler commited suicide and on May 7,1945 Germany surrendered, -
Use of Atomic Weapons
The Americans were the first to drop atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The explosions killed 90,000–166,000 people in Hiroshima and 60,000–80,000 in Nagasaki. The bombing brought up the usage of nuclear warfare in modern war. On 15 August, six days after the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan announced its surrender to the Allies. -
Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa was the largest assualt on the Pacific was in World War II. It took place in 1945 and lasted 82 days, from April to June, After island hopping they planned on attacking on the Island of Okinawa. Japan lost 100,000 men and the Allied troops lost 65,000. This and the bombing at Hiroshima lead to the surrender of Japan. -
United Nations
The United Nations was founded after World War II ended because the league of nations was disbanded. In 1945 50 countries met in California to discuss the United Nations Charter. Each member had one vote in the general assembley. The five perminant members had the right to veto any decision. The United Nations work would go far beyond peace-keeping, They have dealt with many workd problems and have provided help fro millions around the world. -
The Battle of Berlin
The battle of Berlin took place rom April 16 to May 2. Many high-ranking Nazi officials and Adolf Hitler commited suicide at the conclusion of the war. It also resulted in an sunconditional surrender of Berlin on May secon forcing fights to continue outside Berlin till August. This was the official last battle of World War II in Europe. -
Surrender of Japan
On Agust 10, 1945 Emperor Hirohito interverted. Regardless of how supprising this was becasue this had never been done before, he forced the goverment to surrender. The Japanese cabinet argued over if they should surrender or if they should keep fighting. In the end it came down to the signing of Instrument of Surrender.
