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Kristallnacht
When Nazi leaders heard of an angered Jewish youth who shot a German Diplomat, they retaliated by sending storm troopers to destroy shops and burn synagogues. In the destruction, about 100 Jews were murdered. -
Invasion of Poland
Using a strategy call "Blitzkrieg", an offensive tactic that attacks quickly and attempts to overwhelm the enemy, Hitler invaded Poland on September 1st in 1939. This was the final straw that made Great Britain and France declare war on Germany. -
Period: to
WW2 Timespan
From the day Hitler invaded Poland to the day the Nazis surrendered -
The War Begins
Once news of the invasion of Poland reached Britain and France, the two nations finally decided to take action after many warning signs that war was inevitable. -
Surprise Attack
After a lot of nothing happened while the Allies and Germans were waiting for an attack, Hitler launched surprise attacks on Denmark and Norway, which were two strategic locations for invasions. -
Rescue at Dunkirk
In the final stages of Hitlers incursion on France, the Nazi army had the Allied forces in France trapped in the French city Lille. They Allies retreated all the way to the beaches of Dunkirk where they had the ocean to their backs and and Army coming right towards them. However, in one of the most heroic acts in WW2, English boats and ships of all sizes and shapes made multiple trips across the stretch of water to save the soldiers trapped on the beaches. The rescue lasted more than a week. -
Germany takes France
After the German's brutal ambush and the rescue at Dunkirk, Leaders in France accepted the inevitable and surrendered to the Germans. France was taken over and a backup government was set up in London. -
Operation Barbarossa
Once Hitler had the Balkans under control. He initiated his plan to take over the Soviet Union. That September, he put Leningrad under Siege and starved more than 1 million people. However, despite the starvation, and other harsh conditions the city didn't fall. -
America gets mad
Most Americans did not want the United States joining a war in another continent, and Congress passed a series of acts that made it illegal to sell arms to the nations at war. But when a U-boat fired on a U.S. Destroyer, Roosevelt told all naval officers to fire on German U-boats on sight. This was the beginning of an undeclared naval war between America and Germany -
The Battle of Britain
Once France fell, Hitler looked towards Britain, the only Nation left standing against him. So on the Beginning of September, Germany started conducting air raids on Britain. At first they focused on air fields and and factories, but then they started to bomb towns and cities. However, with new technologies, such as radar, the RAF was able to defend Britain and in May Hitler called off the attacks. This was a valuable lesson to the Allies, because the now knew, Hitler could be blocked. -
Attack on Moscow
When the Siege of Leningrad wasn't going well, Hitler switched plans and started an attack on Moscow. But the temperatures were dropping as the Russian Winter grew nearer, and the soviet General Georgi Zhukov was counterattacking. However, Hitler ignored Napoleon's defeat a century earlier and went along with the attack anyway. In the end the attack gained nothing and cost the Germans 500,000 lives. -
Pearl Harbor Bombing
Japanese admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was afraid of the naval base located in the Hawaiian islands, so he air raided the base, destroying multiple ships and killing over 2,000 Americans -
Joint-War Policy
At the end of 1941, Churchill and Roosevelt met to discuss war strategies. Stalin wanted them to open a front on the west side of Germany, to split Hitler's forces. However, Britain and America started attacking North Africa to try and Create an opening to defeat Italy. Stalin was angered because he wanted the front in France. -
Battle of Midway
Up until June 7th, 1942, Japan seemed unbeatable. However, with code breakers, The Allies were able to learn that the Japanese were moving a huge force to Midway, and were able to come up with an ambush strategy. The attack was successful, and destroyed 332 Japanese planes and 4 aircraft carriers. This battle turned the tides of the war between America and Japan in favor of the Allies. -
The Island of Death
MacArthur had learned that the Japanese were building an air-base on the Guadalcanal island, and intended to destroy it before it could become another Japanese stronghold. Early in the morning the battle started, but as each side started adding more troops the battle grew longer. After about six months, the Allies came out victorious but each side had lost tens of thousands of soldiers. Many of the survivors referred to the experience as "Hell." -
The Battle of Stalingrad
As the Attack on the Soviet Union had halted at Leningrad and Moscow late in 1941, Hitler sent his 6th army under control of General Paulus, to seize oil fields and to take Stalingrad. In late August the Luftwaffe started Bombing the city, and by November, the city was 90% under German control. However, Soviet troops then surrounded the city and put it under siege. By February 2, 1943, around 90,000 German soldiers surrendered to the Soviets. -
Operation Torch
During the attack on North Africa the Allies had to get rid of any Axis forces on the area. Erwin Rommel, a German General, had dug his troops in very effectively and General Bernard Montgomery from England decided the best strategy would be to attack head on. Towards the end of October, the British troops began the attack and by November 4th Erwin's forces had been beaten. As he retreated, 100,000 American soldiers caught Rommel in between two enemies. The Africa Korps was ended in May 1943. -
D-Day
At dawn on June 6th, the Allied forces invaded the northern coast of France in an attempt to reclaim France. The German army didn't let up easily, but in about two months the allies were moving into Paris. -
Mussolini Shut Down
After the successful invasion of Italy by the Allied powers, Mussolini tried to disguise himself as a German soldier, but Allied soldiers later found him in a Nazi Army Truck and shot him. Later he was hung in Milan for everyone to see. -
Victory-in-Europe
On May 7th General Eisenhower accepted the Nazis' surrender. And on May 9th the official surrender was signed in Berlin. -
The Japanese Surrender
After the two atomic bombs were dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan finally surrendered to General MacArthur. The official signing took place aboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo.
