WWII Significant Events

  • Germans use “Blitzkrieg” or, Lightening War

    A tactic against Poland, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Yugoslavia and Greece. The tactic required the concentration of offensive weapons along a narrow front. The forces would drive a breach in enemy defences rapidly penetrate and roam behind enemy lines causing shock and disorganization.
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    Germany invades Poland

    Also known as the September Campaign, The German invasion began one week after signing the "Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact" and the pact was terminated, t'was the spark and marked the beginning of WWII
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    Auschwitz and other camps beg in receiving Jews

    The Auschwitz concentration camp was constructed to hold Jewish prisoners who arrived in may of 1940. In early 1942 to 1944, trains delivered these Jews to the camp's gas chambers and killed with pesticide. (Around 1. 3 billion people) and 90% of them were Jews. On 27 of January, the camps were liberated.
  • Germany defeats France easily in 40 days

    The Battle of France during WWII was the German invasion of France. The battle lasted for 6 weeks (until June 25)
  • Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain

    After British forces failed to prevent the German occupation of Norway in 1940, Churchill was appointed British prime minister in place of Chamberlain who formally lost the confidence from the house of commons.
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    Hitler bombs Britain in operation Blitz

    The Blitz was known as the heavy air raids carried over Britain in 1940 and 1941 during WWII. It began with the heavy raid on London by the Luftflotten (German air fleets).
  • Germany loses the Battle of Britain

    The failure to destroy Britain's air defences is considered to be Nazi's major defeat in WWII and a crucial turning point in the conflict
  • Germany violates the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact by invading Soviet Union

    The Nazis signed a contract with the Soviet Union to take no military action for the next 10 years however in June 1941, Germany broke the pact and invaded the Soviet Union
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    Hitler’s Final Solution

    The Nazi's plan to exterminate the Jews was implemented in stages. They occupied Poland and began killing entire Jewish communities by shooting and using gas vans. In 1942, the Nazis began to deport Jews to extermination camps. The "Final Solution" consisted of gassings, shootings, disease and starvation that accounted for the deaths of about six mission Jews
  • Japan attacks Pearl Harbor

    It was a surprise military strike by the Japanese Navy Air forces against the US naval base at Pearl Harbor located in the Hawaii territory on the morning of December 7, 1941
  • US ends Policy of Isolation and declares war on Japan

    The United States Congress Declared war on the Empire of Japan in response to the country's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
  • Japanese-Americans sent to internment camps

    It was the forced relocation in camps in the western interior of the country authorized by Roosevelt on February 19, 1942
  • Japan loses Battle of Midway against US forces

    Japan's capacity to replace it's losses in material and men rapidly became insufficient to cope with mounting casualties while the US had massive industrial capabilities, causing the loss for the Japanese.
  • Japan uses POW’s to build Thai-Burma Railway

    After the end of WWII, Japanese military officials were tried for war crimes of brutalization of POWs during the construction of this railway with 32 sentenced to death. The railway was known as the "Death Railway" it is 258 miles.
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    US firebombing of Japanese cities

    The US military air campaign began in mid 1944 til August 1945 which included the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima resulting in massive casualties
  • Allied invasion of Normandy, D-Day, to liberate France and invade Berlin

    "Operation Overlord" was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the succesful invasion of the German-occupied lands in Western Europe during WWII. Preparations for D-Day were also being made by Adolf Hitler
  • Kamikaze pilots desperately attempt to attack US subs

    During the Battle of the Leyte Gulf, Japanese deploy kamikaze suicide bombers against American warships for the first time which resulted costly to both sides. In the end, more than 1,321 Japanese aircraft crash-Dived their planes into Allied warships during the war with a desperate effort to reverse the growing Allied advantage in the Pacific. In the end, this operation did not prevent the Allied occupation of Philippines, Iwo Jima and Okinawa
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    Battles of Okinawa and Iwo Jima

    The battle of Iwo Jima was between the Japanese army and the US marine corps started in February an lasted ti March 26 of the year 1945. The battle of Okinawa was fought between US, Britain and the Japanese. The aim was to capture a large island close to Japan.
  • Harry S Truman becomes US president

    Harry S Truman became the 33rd president of the united states in 1945 after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
  • US President Franklin Roosevelt dies

    Roosevelt suffers a stroke and dies while on a vacation in Warm Springs in Georgia. His death marked a critical turning point in US relations with the Soviet Union. His successor was Harry S. Truman.
  • Germany officially surrenders

    General Alfred Jodi (German High Command) signs the unconditional surrender of all German forces in France. This marks the end of the second World War
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    Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima

    With the order of the US president Harry S. Truman, nuclear weapons were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945. These bombs killed at least 129,000 people.
  • WWII is officially over

    The unconditional surrender of the Axis powers marks the end of WWII in 1945. One week after the Allies accepted Germany's surrender, Adolf Hitler had committed suicide.
  • Japan officially surrenders

    The surrender of Japan was announced in August 15 and signed on September 2 bringing an end to the hostilities of world war II.