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Second Sino-Japanese War, (1937–45), a conflict that broke out when China began a full-scale resistance to the expansion of Japanese influence in its territory (which had begun in 1931). -
Hitler announces the Anschluss on the Heldenplatz, Vienna, 15 March 1938. On the morning of 12 March 1938, the 8th Army of the German Wehrmacht crossed the border into Austria. The troops were greeted by cheering Austrians with Nazi salutes, Nazi flags, and flowers. -
German troops invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, triggering World War II. In response to German aggression, Great Britain and France declared war on Nazi Germany. -
After a fierce debate in Congress, in November of 1939, a final Neutrality Act passed. This Act lifted the arms embargo and put all trade with belligerent nations under the terms of “cash-and-carry.” -
The Battle of France, also known as the Western Campaign, the French Campaign and the Fall of France, during the Second World War was the German invasion of the Low Countries and France. The invasion plan for the Low Countries and France was called Fall Gelb. -
The Battle of Britain, 10 July – 31 October 1940. The Battle of Britain was fought above the skies of Britain, between the RAF and the German Luftwaffe. -
On Friday, August 1 1941, The US announced a ban on oil exports to “aggressor countries,” including Japan. -
On Dec. 7, 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The assault killed or wounded more than 3,500 American troops and civilians; severely damaged the fleet; and shocked the nation. The next day, President Franklin D. -
On April 9, 1942 the Bataan Peninsula fell to the Japanese army after four months of fighting. More than 11,000 American and 60,000 Filipino soldiers found themselves prisoners of war and were forced to march the 65 miles under horrific conditions in what is now known as the Bataan Death March. -
The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II that took place on 4–7 June 1942, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea. -
Battle of Stalingrad, (July 17, 1942–February 2, 1943), successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd), Russia, U.S.S.R., during World War II. -
The D-Day operation of June 6, 1944, brought together the land, air, and sea forces of the allied armies in what became known as the largest amphibious invasion in military history. The operation, given the codename OVERLORD, delivered five naval assault divisions to the beaches of Normandy, France. -
On August 20, 1968, the Soviet Union led Warsaw Pact troops in an invasion of Czechoslovakia to crack down on reformist trends in Prague.