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Annexation of Sudetenland
Sudetenland is an area in the northwestern part of the Czech Republic, on the border with Germany. When Czech was forced to accept the terms of the Munich Agreement on Sep 29, 1938, the region was relegated to German control between Oct 1 - Oct 10, 1938. The remaining parts of Czech were subsequently invaded by Germany in Mar 1939. In 1945, the area was returned to Czech. Czech name Sudety Study -
Pearl Harbor
It is a U.S. naval base near Honolulu, HI, that was the scene of a devastating surprise attack by Japanese forces on Dec 7, 1941. Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes descended on the base, where they managed to destroy or damage nearly 20 American naval vessels, and over 300 airplanes. More than 2,400 Americans died, and another 1,000 people were wounded. The day after the assault, President FDR asked Congress to declare war on Japan DOI -
The Philippines
The Japan surprise attack on the Philippines on Dec 8, 1941, just ten hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Under the pressure of superior numbers, the defending forces withdrew to the Bataan Peninsula and to the island of Corregidor. Manila was occupied by the Japanese on Jan 2, 1942. Fighting continued until Japan's formal surrender on Sep 2, 1945. The Philippines had suffered great loss of life and physical destruction after the war Youtube -
Japanese Internment Camps
After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor the U.S. declared war on Japan and entered WWII. Established during WWII by President Franklin Roosevelt through his Executive Order 9066. From 1942 to 1945, it was the policy of the U.S. government that people of Japanese descent would be interred in isolated camps. The Japanese internment camps are now considered one of the most atrocious violations of American civil rights in the 20th century. Youtube -
Island-hopping
“Island Hopping” is the phrase given to the strategy employed by the U.S. to gain military bases and secure the many small islands in the Pacific. It was a military strategy employed by the Allies in the Pacific War against the Empire of Japan and the Axis powers during WWII. It entailed taking over an island and establishing a military base there. The base was in turn used as a launching point for the attack and takeover of another island. Youtube -
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was an epic clash between the U.S. Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy that played out six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The U.S. Navy’s decisive victory in the air-sea battle (Jun 3-6, 1942) and its successful defense of the major base located at Midway Island dashed Japan’s hopes of neutralizing the United States as a naval power and effectively turned the tide of World War II in the Pacific. Youtube -
Stalingrad
The capture of Stalingrad was important to Hitler because it was a major industrial city on the Volga River, and its capture would secure the left flank of the German armies as they advanced into the oil-rich Caucasus region. Battle of Stalingrad marked the end of Germany's advances into eastern Europe and Russia. After the Germans lost in Stalingrad, they didn't advance any farther into eastern Europe or Russia Britannica -
Guadalcanal
The World War II Battle of Guadalcanal was the first major offensive and a decisive victory for the Allies in the Pacific theater. With Japanese troops stationed in this section of the Solomon Islands, U.S. marines launched a surprise attack in August 1942 and took control of an air base under construction. The Japanese suffered a far greater toll of casualties, forcing their withdrawal from Guadalcanal by February 1943 Youtube -
Los Alamos
Los Alamos is a town in Los Alamos County, NM, U.S. that is recognized as the development and creation place of the atomic bomb—the primary objective of the Manhattan Project by Los Alamos National Laboratory during WWII. The dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as the end of WWII, the bloodiest conflict in human history. The end of the war in Los Alamos. Youtube -
D-Day
Operation Neptune and often referred to as D-Day, it was the largest seaborne invasion in history. The operation began the liberation of German-occupied France (and later western Europe) and laid the foundations of the Allied victory on the Western Front. Planning for the operation began in 1943. The Allies conducted a substantial military deception to mislead the Germans as to the date and location of the main Allied landings Time -
Meeting at Yalta
The Yalta Conference took place in a Russian resort town in the Crimea from Feb 4–11, 1945, during WWII. At Yalta, U.S. President FDR, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin made important decisions regarding the future progress of the war and the postwar world. Roosevelt and many other Americans viewed it as proof that the spirit of U.S.-Soviet wartime cooperation would carry over into the postwar period Youtube -
Fall of Berlin
The Battle of Berlin was one of the last battles of the Second World War in Europe. On Apr 16, 1945, the Soviet forces started the final offensive against the German capital. The war that had proceeded from Berlin returned to the city. On May 2, 1945, the Berlin garrison surrendered to the Soviet army. The human cost of the battle of Berlin had been enormous. The Soviets counted over 80,000 dead. German losses are estimated at almost 50,000 Youtube -
Death of Hitler
Adolf Hitler commits suicide in his underground bunker, burrowed away in a refurbished air-raid shelter, consumes a cyanide capsule, then shoots himself with a pistol, on this day in 1945, as his “1,000-year” Reich collapses above him. At his side were Eva Braun, whom he married only two days before their double suicide, and his dog, an Alsatian named Blondi. A German court finally officially declared Hitler dead, but not until 1956 Youtube -
Meeting at Potsdam
It was the last of the WWII meetings held by the “Big Three” heads of state. The talks established a Council of Foreign Ministers and a central Allied Control Council for administration of Germany; various agreements on the German economy, punishment for war criminals, land boundaries and reparations. Although talks primarily centered on postwar Europe, the Big Three also issued a declaration demanding “unconditional surrender” from Japan Youtube -
Hiroshima
On Aug 6, 1945, during World War II, an 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 would later die of radiation exposure. Japan’s Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s unconditional surrender in World War II in a radio address on Aug 15 Youtube
