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Rise of Fascism and Nazism (1920-1945)
The economic collapse and the political instability caused by WWI led to the rise of fascism (a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcing opposition and criticism) in Europe during World War II. A man named Adof Hitler said that the Jews allowed Germany to agree to pay huge amounts of money and goods after WWI. Hitler began a group called the Nazis (National Socialist German Workers), spreding Nazism (set of political beliefs associated with the Nazi Party of Germany). -
Neutrality Act
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Neutrality Act, or Senate Joint Resolution No. 173, an “expression of the desire…to avoid any action which might involve [the U.S.] in war.” The new law required American vessels to obtain a license to carry arms, restricted Americans from sailing on ships from hostile nations and imposed an embargo on the sale of arms to “belligerent” nations. -
Germany’s expansion and annexation of Austria
Residents of the Saar region, which had been ruled by the League of Nations since the Versailles Treaty, decided to join Germany after holding a popular vote. In March 1938, after threatening the Austrian government, Hitler’s Germany annexed his native Austria and incorporated it into the Reich as the Eastern March [Ostmark]. Hitler began a new Nazi government, and on March 13 the Anschluss was proclaimed. Austria existed as a federal state of Germany until the end of WWII. -
Transition of the US home front to War production
Because of the peacetime draft, the United States Armed Forces gained over 1.5 million members. By the end of the war, that number was 12 million. FDR created women's auxiliary forces for the army (WACs), navy (WAVES), air force (WASPS), and Coast Guard (SPARS)."Rosie the Riveter" posters called housewives to leave the home and enter the nation's factories. About 6.5 million females entered the workforce during the war years. African Americans continued the Great Migration to fill factiories. -
Signing of the Non-Aggression Pact (Germany and U.S.S.R.)
Before WWII, enemies Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sined the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact.The two countries agreed to no military action against each other for the next 10 years. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin used the pact to keep his nation on peaceful terms with Germany, while giving him time to build up the Soviet military. Germany's Adolf Hitler used the pact to make sure Germany could invade Poland unopposed. The pact fell apart when Nazi forces invadded the Soviet Union (June, 1941). -
Blitzkrieg attack on Poland
Poland was attacked by Germany, code-named Operation White (Fall Weiss). The attack on Poland started when blitzkrieg (a German term for “lightning war,”a military tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile forces and locally concentrated firepower) tore through the Polish military and by the end of the month Poland had surrendered to the Germans and the country was occupied. -
Battle of Britain (July-September 1940)
German and British air forces clashed in the skies over the United Kingdom in the largest bombing campaign to that date. A significant turning point of World War II, the Battle of Britain ended when Germany’s Luftwaffe didn't win superiority over the Royal Air Force despite months of targeting Britain. Britain's victory saved the country from a ground invasion and occupation by Germany. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941)
A surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack led to the United States' entry into World War II. The Japanese destroyed nearly 20 American naval vessels and almost 200 airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died in the attack, and another 1,000 were wounded. The day after the assault, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan. -
Battle of Midway
Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States defeated Japan in one of the most decisive naval battles of World War II. Thanks in part to major advances in code breaking, the United States was able to preempt and counter Japan’s planned ambush of its few remaining aircraft carriers, inflicting permanent damage on the Japanese Navy. An important turning point in the Pacific campaign, the victory allowed the United States and its allies to move into an offensive position. -
Lend-Lease Act
Provided U.S. military aid to foreign nations during World War II. It allowed the president to transfer arms or any other defense materials for which Congress appropriated money to “the government of any country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States.” The act permitted the United States to support its war interests without being overextended in battle. -
Invasion of Africa by Eisenhower
After proving himself on the battlefields of North Africa and Italy in 1942 and 1943, Eisenhower was appointed supreme commander of Operation Overlord–the Allied invasion of northwestern Europe. -
The Battle of Stalingrad (July 17, 1942-Feb. 2, 1943)
A successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad in the U.S.S.R. during World War II. It stopped the German advance into the Soviet Union and marked the turning of war in favor of the Allies. The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the bloodiest battles in history, with nearly 2 million combined military and civilian casualties. -
D- Day
More than 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline, to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France.Over 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion. The Allies gained a foot-hold in Continental Europe. More than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded, but their sacrifice allowed more than 100,000 Soldiers to begin the slow, hard journey across Europe to defeat Adolf Hitler’s troops. -
Liberation of Madjdanek
Soviet forces liberated the Majdanek extermination camp. The Polish-Soviet Nazi Crimes Investigation Commission, established to document Nazi atrocities committed during the German occupation of Poland, ordered exhumations at Majdanek as part of its efforts to investigate Nazi mass killings in the camp. The commission later published its findings in Moscow on September 16, 1944, in Polish, Russian, English, and French. -
The Battle of the Bulge
Adolph Hitler tried to split the Allied armies in northwest Europe by a blitzkrieg through the Ardennes to Antwerp. Caught off-guard, American units fought to stop the German advance at St.-Vith, Elsenborn Ridge, Houffalize and Bastogne. As the Germans drove deeper into the Ardennes in an attempt to gain vital bridgeheads, the Allied line resembled a bulge, giving the battle its name. Lieutenant General George S. Patton moved the Third army to Bastonage. Neutralization of Germany counteroffense. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
Three U.S. marine divisions landed on the island in February 1945. Iwo Jima was defended by roughly 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops, who fought from caves, dugouts, tunnels and underground installations. Despite the difficulty of the conditions, the marines wiped out the defending forces after a month of fighting. -
Battle of Okinawa
Last and biggest of the Pacific island battles of World War II, the Okinawa campaign (April 1—June 22, 1945) involved the 287,000 troops of the U.S. Tenth Army against 130,000 soldiers of the Japanese Thirty-second Army. Air bases vital to the projected invasion of Japan. By the end of the 82-day campaign, Japan had lost more than 77,000 soldiers and the Allies had suffered more than 65,000 casualties—including 14,000 dead. -
V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day)
German General Jodl signed the unconditional surrender document that formally ended war in Europe. In Prague, Germans surrendered to their Soviet antagonists, after the latter had lost more than 8,000 soldiers, and the Germans more. -
Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
A American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more later died ofradiation exposure. Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing about 40,000 people. Japan’s Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s unconditional surrender in World War II in a radio address on August 15. -
V-J Day (Victory Over Japan Day)
Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War II. President Harry S. Truman announced news of Japan’s surrender in a press conference at the White House: “This is the day we have been waiting for since Pearl Harbor. This is the day when Fascism finally dies, as we always knew it would.”
