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BlitzKrieg
Germany used the new military strategy known as "Blitzkrieg" to quickly conquer most of Europe and maintain its victory for more than two years. Tanks, aircraft, and artillery were among the offensive weaponry that had to be concentrated along a short front in order to employ blitzkrieg tactics. -
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WWII
World War II was the largest and bloodiest war in history, involving over 30 countries. The war was sparked by the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939 and lasted six terrible years until the Allies destroyed the Axis powers of Nazi Germany, Japan, and Italy in 1945. -
Fall of Paris
The defenses of the Maginot Line surrendered one by one, while some held out until July. Meanwhile, the main attacks across the Somme and Aisne, which were originally resisted by the French, eventually broke through and succeeded in seizing Paris on June 14th. The French signed a peace treaty on June 22, surrendering to the Germans. -
Operation Barbarossa
Adolf Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union was codenamed Operation Barbarossa. This blitzkrieg attack against Russia and its leader, Joseph Stalin, began in June 1941 and would ultimately decide the Second World War. -
Pearl Harbor
Japan launched an attack on the US naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, early on December 7, 1941. About 350 Japanese aircraft launched a surprise attack that resulted in the destruction or serious damage of 18 US naval warships, including eight battleships, 300 US aircraft, and the deaths of 2,403 men. -
Wannsee Conference
Nazi leaders gathered at the Wannsee Conference in the Wannsee community of Berlin on January 20, 1942, to discuss the "final solution."The meeting signaled a shift in Nazi thinking concerning the Jewish people.An previous plan to relocate all Jews in Europe to the African island of Madagascar was shelved due to its impracticality during a time of war. -
Bataan Death March
The Bataan Death March is recognized as a tragic event. Without enough medical care, the prisoners of war were forced to march through tropical conditions, enduring heat, humidity, and rain. They went hungry while sleeping in the difficult conditions of the Philippines. -
Battle of Midway
The battle of Midway was a World War II naval battle in which the United States destroyed Japan's first-line carrier strength and most of its best trained naval pilots. -
Battle of Stalingrad
Stalingrad was one of the most important events on the Eastern Front during WWII. In and around this strategically important city on the Volga River carrying the name of the Soviet dictator, Josef Stalin, the Soviet Union inflicted an awful defeat on the German Army. -
D-Day
The allied armies' land, air, and naval forces came together on June 6, 1944, for the D-Day operation, which is recognized as the greatest naval invasion in military history. -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
In 1941, the Japanese destroyed Pearl Harbor, a US naval facility in Hawaii. Later in the war, the United States felt it was time to repay the Japanese. So we developed atomic bombs and dropped them on two of their cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. -
Liberation of concentration camps
The Soviet Red Army captured Auschwitz concentration camp, a Nazi concentration and extermination camp in occupied Poland where more than a million people were murdered as part of the Nazis' "Final Solution" to the Jewish question, on January 27, 1945, during the Vistula-Order Offensive. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle: After months of naval and air bombardment, US Marines landed Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945. The Japanese defenders of the island were buried deep within the volcanic rocks in bunkers. The conflict involved around 70,000 US Marines and 18,000 Japanese forces. -
VE Day
Germany unconditionally surrendered its military forces to the Allies, including the United States, on Victory in Europe Day, or V-E Day. Victory in Europe Day, or V-E Day, was observed on May 8, 1945, in honor of the end of World War II in Europe. -
VJ Day
Victory over Japan Day, or V-J Day, celebrates the end of World War II, one of the deadliest and most devastating wars in history. When President Harry S. Truman announced on August 14, 1945, that Japan had unconditionally surrendered, war-weary civilians around the world erupted in joy. -
Battle of the Bulge
On December 16, 1944, Germany initiated the "Battle of the Bulge." It was a desperate German military counter-offensive against the Western Allied army. Hitler thought that the German counter-attack would surround the British and American soldiers, effectively stopping the Allied attack against Germany.
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