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marking the formal start of the conflict in Europe and ending the Allied policy of appeasement -
transformed a regional conflict into a global struggle. -
ending the "Phoney War" and quickly establishing Nazi dominance in Western Europe -
it rescued over 338,000 Allied troops, preventing a catastrophic loss of the entire British Expeditionary Force -
it was the first major Allied victory and the first, critical defeat for Hitler, forcing him to cancel plans to invade the UK -
it established the first peacetime conscription in U.S. history, allowing for rapid military buildup before Pearl Harbor -
The Lend-Lease Act (March 1941) was critical to WWII by allowing the U.S. to supply Allied nations (primarily Britain, the Soviet Union, and China) with over (\$50) billion in food, oil, and weapons while remaining technically neutral. It prevented Allied collapse, sustained the Soviet war effort against Germany, and functioned as an "Arsenal of Democracy" before the U.S. entered the war. -
ending American isolationism and transforming the conflict into a true global war -
a turning point that secured Allied victory by transitioning the U.S. from the "Arsenal of Democracy" to an active, massive military force on two fronts. It provided crucial industrial production, manpower, and strategic, economic resources that overwhelmed the Axis powers -
Germany and Italy's declaration of war on the U.S. on December 11, 1941, was a massive strategic blunder that transformed a Pacific conflict into a truly global war. It forced the U.S. to commit its industrial, military, and economic power fully against the Axis, guaranteeing their ultimate defeat -
it was the first naval battle in history fought entirely by carrier-based aircraft, with opposing ships never directly sighting one another -
effectively halting Japanese expansion in the Pacific -
the first major Allied amphibious assault against Nazi-controlled territory, marking the entry of U.S. ground forces into the European-North African theater -
shifted the WWII Mediterranean balance, allowing US forces to gain combat experience, forcing Italy out of the war, and opening a "second front" to divert German troops from the Eastern Front -
It forced Germany to divide its forces, accelerating the collapse of the Nazi regime and preventing Soviet domination of Western Europe -
The liberation of the Majdanek concentration and extermination camp by the Soviet Red Army on July 23, 1944, near Lublin, Poland, was profoundly significant because it was the first major Nazi camp to be discovered nearly intact, providing the world with immediate, undeniable evidence of the Holocaust. -
it brought together the "Big Three" leaders—Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin—to finalize the Allied war strategy against Germany, partition Germany into four occupation zones, and map out the post-war order in Europe -
marked the formal, unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany to the Allied powers, ending nearly six years of devastating war in Europe -
the first wartime use of nuclear weaponry, killing ~80,000+ instantly and acting as a decisive factor in forcing Japan's surrender -
it acted as the final, decisive blow forcing Japan's unconditional surrender,, ending the war just six days later. -
it marked the formal end of the war -
Germany's final, desperate, and failed major offensive on the Western Front, which depleted their remaining armored forces, manpower, and Luftwaffe capabilities