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Rise of Fascism and Nazism
This all began when the Nazis invaded Europe. Europe needed to defend themselves and that's where the fascism came into play. This was an ultra-conservative response to the economic crisis and German pride loss in 1920s. Germany did not have a democratic government, but instead it had one leader, known as Hitler. This crisis caused resistance to individual ideology because Fascists say that individualistic ideas make people focus on themselves instead of their nation. -
Neutrality Act
This was one of four acts that were put in place to limit Americas involvement in foreign conflicts. It did this by preventing loans to those countries partaking in the conflict; they were later modified in 1939 to allow aid to Great Britain and other Allied nations. -
Germany's expansion and annexation of Austria
This was also known as Anschluss. Austria was annexed and and Germany was finally able to expand their empire. -
Signing of the non-aggression pact
Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Nonagression Pact, agreeing to take no military action against the other for 10 years. Bothe countries had special reasons to do this, like building up their military. They also secretly agreed that they would split up Europe amongst themselves. -
Blitzkrieg attack on Poland
This was when Poland was attacked by Germany. This attack was given a code name of Operation White. The attack on Poland started when blitzkrieg tore through the Polish military and ended when Poland had surrendered to the Germans and the country was occupied. -
Transition of the U.S. home front to war production
This was when all of the men enlisted in the army to fight for the countries freedom. Because all of the men were away from home, someone needed to make the supplies so the soldiers could do their job. So woman started working in factories to make the guns and ammunition so that the men would have enough to over power the enemy.Women also started donating blood and plasma to the wounded soldiers so that they could help bring some back to their previous fighting ability. -
Battle of Britain
This was the Second World War air strategy put in place by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom throughout the summer of 1940. This battle was also the largest and most sustained aerial bombing strategy to that date. The objective of this battle for Germany was to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force (RAF). But Great Britian knew the plan, so they prevented Germeny from gaining air superiority and caused Adolf Hitler to postpone his air invasion. -
Lend-Lease Act
This act allowed America to sell, lend or lease arms or other supplies to nations considered "vital to the defense of the United States." By allowing the transfer of supplies without compensation to Britain, China, the Soviet Union and other countries, the act permitted the United States to support its war interests without being overextended in battle. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
This was when Japan bombed the US Navy in Hawaii by a surprise air attack. After this bombing went on for just two hours, more than 2,400 Americans died, twenty one ships were destroyed, and one hundred and eighty eight aircrafts were destroyed. After this attack, the Americans abandoned its policy of isolationism and declared war on Japan the next day. -
Battle if Midway
This was the day that the Japanese set their sights on an island group in the central Pacific, Midway, as well as the Aleutians, off the coast of Alaska. The U.S. had only three days to fix up the carrier, Yorktown, that was destroyed at the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The Japenese had sent a wave of bomber across to "finish America off", but the U,S. Navy was much larger than they had thought. The U.S. met them midway and took down 3/4 bombers, causing the Japenese to retreat. -
Battle of Stalingrad
This is known as the greatest battle in the the whole war (World War II). It was when the Soviet Union successfully defended the city of Stalingrad, known today as Volgograd. When the Russians were no longer able to enter the city, the war turned in favor of the allies. This battle is considered to be one of the bloodiest battle in history! All together, there were 2 million men at war. These men consumed of both civilians and military men. -
Invasion of Africa by Eisenhower
Eisenhower had a lot of knowledge of military strategy and talent for organization. This operation was known as operation Torch and was very important. It ended the landing in France until 1994, but also mobilized the resources for both air and ground battles. -
D-Day
This was the day on which Allied forces landed in Normandy, France to begin a massive offensive against the Germans in the occupied territory of Europe. After troops had parachuted down, thousands of seaboard soldiers followed. Even though the allies had massive amounts of soldiers, the Germans were still able to retaliate. -
Liberation of Majdanel
The extermination camp that was first to be liberated by the allies. 1,500 prisoners survived the camp, but many were only defected. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
This was the battle where three U.S. Marine divisions landed on an island known as the Iwa Jima. This island is protected by only 23,000 Japanese soldiers. These soldiers fought from a network of caves, trenches, dugouts, underground installations and channels. The U.S. won this battle within just a month of beginning it. -
Battle of Okinawa
This was the final and largest Pacific battle in World War II. This battle consisted of 287,000 American troops vs. 130,000 Japenese troops. This battle put at stake air bases for both the United States and Japan. Towards the middle of this war,nthe Japanese changed their strategy of fighting off the incoming water edge soldiers, to sending off air attacks. -
V-E Day
This was the day that America earned victory over Europe. Thia marked the day that the war was finally over. And that the Third Reich had surrendered and the allies could finally celebrate. -
Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
America dropped the first atomic bomb over the Japenese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90% of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people. Three days later, a second bomb was dropped on Nagaski, killing an estimated 40,000 people, resulting in the surrender of Japan. -
V-J Day
This was the day that the allied powers took a Victory of Japan. A formal surrender ceremony was performed in Tokyo Bay, Japan, aboard the battleship USS Missouri. The name V-J Day actually means the day for mourning of war dead and praying for peace. -
Battle of the Bulge
This term is used to describe the actions following the German offensive through the Ardennes forests in December 1944. The battle got its name from when Hitler wanted to split the American German supply lines so that they could not get all of their expected supplies. Tanks drove 60 miles into the allied territory and created a bulge in the line, which is where this battle got its name from.
