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Germany invades Poland
This event is important because it's what sparked WWII. Germany invaded from the east and into Poland; this was after the end of WWI where they violated the Versailles Treaty. This could have been called the beginning of the Holocaust as well because this is where they started invading Poland and the Jewish community that was there. -
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WWII
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Great Britain and France declare war on Germany
Britain and France swore to protect Poland and were thrust into war on Germany because of it. It was Prime Minister Chamberlain who told Britain that they were in a state of war with Germany. He announced this on September 3 via the airwaves. -
Germany invades Denmark and Norway
Germany enters Norwegian ports and at the same time occupy Copenhagen among other Danish cities. The danish king, Christian X, was convinced that his army could not fight off German forces and surrender immediately. This gave Germany three countries to their advantage, Denmark, Norway, and Poland. -
Italy declares war on Great Britain and France
This decision was probably the best decision that Italy could have came to. Benito Mussolini thought that the war would be over soon and that France and Great Britain would surrender. With Winston Churchill being the new Prime Minister, this thought became a reality and Italy began preparing to attack the British Colonies in Africa. They declared war on June 10, 1940 and fought alongside Germany. -
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain was the German's air force's attempt to reign superior over the British's RAF. Germany failed at gaining superiority over Britain and this event was one of the turning points of WWII. It also is what prevented Germany from invading into Britain. -
Battle of Crete
Crete was Germany's biggest airborne assaults. It was also the first island assault that had ever happened previously. Germany lost 4,000 soldiers in this battle as well as 220 of almost 500 aircrafts. After this battle, Hitler decided that airborne assaults weren't as vital to warefare as other meathods of fighting was, so he never used airborne warfare in battle again. -
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor
Japan bombed Pearl Harbor the morning of December 7th, 1941. They did this because the U.S. enacted an embargo on their oil supplies which threatened their war effort in the Pacific. The US didn't completely suspect an attack because Japan's ambassadors were in DC trying to convince the US that they wanted peace as well. But people up in DC got suspecious and the Japanses knew this and didn't delay their assault anylonger for fear of it being stopped by the US. -
US Declares war on Japan
After the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, and the severely hurt naval fleet, there was no other alternative but to declare war. The attack on Pearl Harbor is what triggered US involvement. FDR's speech, "Infamy Speech," was what declared war on Japan. -
Wannsee Conference
The Wannsee Conference was held on January 20, 1942. It was a meeting that was held by senior Nazi officials where they decided how to handle the kinks in the "Final Solution." It's sometimes confused with the decision of starting the Holocaust, but it wasn't; it had already started. -
Italy Surrenders
Italy surrenders to the allies after the invasion of Sicily and Southern Italy in August and mostly joined the Allies. The remainder of the Italian forces were taken over by Germans and defended Italy in the north for the remainder of the war. The northern bit of Italy turned into a pro-fascist state called the "Republic of Salo" that continued to fight against the Allies. -
D-Day
D-Day was when the US invaded the beaches of Normandy, France to try and take control of the German stronghold there. It is often refered to as Operation Overlord because that's what it was called before we dubed it "D-Day." Sadly, troops knew and were well prepared for the storm and thousands of soldiers died that day. -
Germany Surrenders, WWII in Europe ends
Germany surrendered to the Allies at Reims on May 7 and to the Soviets in Berlin on May 9. The war in the Pacific ended when the US dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, which resulted in the death of 120,000 Japanese civilians. Japan surrendered on September 2, which was the final end date of WWII.
