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The Nuremberg Laws
The Nuremberg Laws denied German citizenship to Jews, banned marriage of Jews and non-Jews, and it segregated Jews at every level of society. This happened when the Nazis were persecuting the Jews. Hitler hated the Jews and blamed them for everything even though they never did anything. This hatred for Jews is called anti-semitism. The holocaust was the Nazi's attempt to kill all Jews under their control. Hitler even used propaganda to turn Germans against the Jews. -
The Final Solution
The Final Solution came about in the summer of 1941. This was Hitler's solution to persecute the Jews. Today we would call this a genocide, the willful annihilation of a racial, political, or cultural group. In 1933, Hitler opened his first concentration camps, where members of specially designated groups were confined. These camps in theory were not to kill the people, but turn them into members of the Third Reich. -
Europe First Strategy
The Europe First was a strategy that just focused on Hitler. It was a plan that the Allies came up with because Hitler started to gain more power in Germany. The Axis powers never had a plan, there were different plans they battered about, but the Allies knew what they wanted to focus their attention on. They knew that Hitler was dominating Germany and all of Europe, so they started fighing him and focused on the Pacific secondary. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was the true turning point of the war in Europe. It ended any realistic plans of Hitler dominating Europe. The Nazi armies were forced to retreat toward Germany. The German soldiers had no chance against the Russians, they were too powerful and knew there territory so they had the home base. The Soviet Union went on the offense after Stalingrad. This was a crucial battle that was won by Stalingrad. -
Tehran Conference
The Tehran Conference was a very important event that happened during the war. This was when FDR, Churchill, and Stalin met face to face for the first time. they are part of the Allies and they have been working together, but never in person. The meet was important because it shows leadership between each country and it makes the people feel more safe knowing that they're leaders are trying to come together to plan out what to do with Germany. The conference has been important for history. -
D-Day
D-Day happened when the Allies finally hit the Germans in force. They were fighting on beaches, the Nazi soldiers were dug into cliffs, had dug trenches, and built concrete pillbox, which were structures from which heavy artillary could be fired. The Americans were at first traveled to the beach in boats, right after they were relesed they were walking into a rainstorm of bullets shells and death. Within a month more than one million Allies had landed at Normandy, their target. -
Valkyrie
Valkyrie was an attempt to kill Hitler. Colonel Clause Von Staffenberg attempted to assassinate Hitler by planting a bomb at Hitler's headquarters. The explosion killed or wounded twenty people, but unfortunately Hitler survived. Rommel, a person that escaped from the bomb was put on trial. Hitler claimed that he was on his side, so he did not surrender. -
Battle of the Bulge
This was a very important Battle in history. This was Hitler's counter-attack which almost succeeded. The Germans caught the Allies by surprise, it created a bulge in the America line and captured several key towns. Bastogne was an important town that the Americans kept. By December 23 the skies cleared and the Allied bombers attacked and steadily pushed the Germans out of Patton in France. This battle was a desparate attempt to drive a wedge between British and American forces. -
Hitler's Death
By the time the Americans, British, and Russians reached Berlin, Germany, Hitler was a physical wreck. He was shaken by tremors, paranoid from drugs,a nd kept alive by mad dreams of a final victory. Hitler would give orders that no one would follow and campaigns that no one would fight. April 30 he and a few of his closest associates committed suicide. -
German's Surrender
After Hitler's death the Germans finally surrendered. Hitler's "Thousand Year Reich" lasted only twelve years. The Germans surrendered in a French School house that had acted as Eisenhower's headquarters. This day was called V-E Day, which stood for Victory in europe. A few weeks earlier FDR had died, so he didn't get to see this big achievement that he had been a part of for so long.
