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The Invasion of Poland was a pre-dawn attack by Nazi Germany using "blitzkrieg" (lightning war) tactics, which overwhelmed the Polish defenses. Although Poland resisted, the attack was a massive success for Germany. -
The Battle of Britain was a military campaign in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) defended the United Kingdom against attacks by the German Luftwaffe. It was the first major military campaign fought entirely by air forces. -
a surprise military strike by the Japanese navy on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor -
This was a decisive naval battle between the U.S. and Japanese navies, fought over Midway Atoll. Thanks to American codebreakers, the U.S. was able to ambush the Japanese fleet, sinking four of their aircraft carriers. -
The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the largest and bloodiest battles in history, with fierce close-quarters combat for control of the Soviet city. The battle is considered a major turning point of the war in Europe, as the Soviet Union's victory destroyed the German Sixth Army and shattered the myth of Nazi invincibility. -
Operation Torch was the first major Allied amphibious assault against Axis forces, involving joint American and British landings in French-held North Africa. -
The Battle of Kursk was Germany's final major offensive on the Eastern Front, in which they attempted to eliminate a large Soviet salient around the city of Kursk. It was the largest tank battle in history. -
D-Day was the codename for the massive Allied invasion of Normandy, France, and is considered the largest amphibious military operation in history. The landings established a crucial second front in Western -
This was Nazi Germany's last major offensive on the Western Front, aimed at splitting the Allied forces and capturing the port of Antwerp.
The surprise attack created a "bulge" in the Allied line, but fierce resistance, particularly from U.S. troops, stopped the German advance. -
The Battle of Iwo Jima was a brutal and costly campaign to capture the small island from the Imperial Japanese Army. The island was strategically important because its airfields were needed as an emergency landing site for B-29 bombers attacking mainland Japan. -
The Battle of Okinawa was the last major battle of World War Il and the bloodiest of the Pacific War. The Allies needed to capture Okinawa to use it as a staging area for a planned invasion of the Japanese mainland. -
President Franklin D. Roosevelt died of a massive stroke while still in office, on the eve of the Allied victory in Europe. He was the only U.S. president to serve more than two terms, having led the country through the Great Depression and most of World War II. -
Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his bunker in Berlin as Soviet forces closed in on the city. His death marked the end of his rule and the collapse of the Third Reich, which surrendered a little over a week later, ending World War Il in Europe. -
Three days after the bombing of Hiroshima, the U.S. dropped a second atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki. This bombing, along with the Soviet declaration of war, led to Japan's unconditional surrender on August 15, 1945.
The two bombings remain the only use of nuclear weapons in armed conflict and are considered the definitive final act that brought World War II to a close. -
On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The blast killed an estimated 90,000 to 166,000 people and devastated the city. -
This was an Allied program, popularly known as "The Monuments Men," consisting of around 400 art experts, curators, and historians. Their mission was to protect cultural sites from damage during the war and to find and recover millions of priceless works of art and cultural items that had been looted by the Nazis.