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The invasion of Poland in 1939, starting September 1st with Nazi Germany's blitzkrieg attack, triggered World War II, followed by a Soviet invasion from the east on September 17th -
It demonstrated that Britain and France would no longer tolerate German territorial expansion, shifting from diplomatic negotiation to armed conflict. -
a pivotal Blitzkrieg victory that knocked France out of the war in six weeks, forced a British evacuation at Dunkirk, and secured Nazi control over Western Europe, turning the tide of the war in Germany's favor. -
By rescuing the core of the British Army, it allowed Britain to continue fighting, preventing a forced peace with Germany -
marking the first major defeat of Hitler’s military and preventing a Nazi invasion of Great Britain -
established the first peacetime draft in U.S. history on September 16, 1940, preparing a largely unprepared military for global conflict -
Without this aid, Britain might have collapsed, and the Soviet Union would have faced a much more difficult fight against Germany. -
This is when the US entered the War. -
Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor -
a pivotal blunder that instantly transformed WWII into a truly global conflict -
marking the first time in history that opposing ships fought without direct visual contact, relying entirely on aircraft -
he pivotal turning point in the Pacific Theater of World War II, where the U.S. Navy inflicted irreparable damage on the Imperial Japanese Navy -
securing the Mediterranean for shipping, relieving pressure on the Soviet Eastern Front, and enabling the invasion of Italy -
it demonstrated Germany's overwhelming Blitzkrieg tactics, leading to a rapid collapse of French and British forces -
it knocked Italy out of the war, led to the overthrow of Benito Mussolini -
launching the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany -
irrefutable, horrific proof of the Holocaust, transforming Allied war aims and shaping post-war justice -
Hitler's last major offensive on the Western Front -
It divided Germany and Berlin into four allied zones -
It signified the end of nearly six years of war in Europe, the collapse of the Nazi regime, and the end of the Holocaust -
the final Allied summit of World War II, defining the postwar global order and signaling the start of the Cold War -
they directly forced Japan’s unconditional surrender, ending World War II, and initiated the nuclear age -
it marked the unconditional surrender of Imperial Japan and the final end of World War II