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The invasion of Poland,also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939, was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak Republic, and the Soviet Union, which marked the beginning of World War II. -
was a crucial air campaign fought between Britain's Royal Air Force and Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe, It was the first major battle fought entirely in the air, with Germany aiming to gain air superiority over the English Channel and southern England to prepare for an invasion of Great Britain following the fall of France, preventing a German invasion and marking a turning point in World War II. -
a surprise military strike by the Japanese navy on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the attack killed over 2,400 Americans, severely damaged the fleet, and was the catalyst for the United States to enter World War II the next day. -
was a pivotal naval battle in World War II where the U.S. Navy decisively defeated the Imperial Japanese Navy, this American victory turned the tide of the war in the Pacific by crippling Japan's naval power and halting its expansion. -
was a brutal and decisive military campaign during World War II between Nazi Germany and its Axis allies and the Soviet Union, favored the rivals and ended with the complete surrender of German forces and the destruction of their reputation for invincibility. -
was an Allied invasion of French North Africa during World War II. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa while allowing American armed forces the opportunity to begin their fight against Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy on a limited scale. -
was a program established by the Allies in 1943 to help protect cultural property in war areas during and after World War II. The group of about 400 service members and civilians worked with military forces to protect historic and cultural monuments from war damage, and as the conflict came to a close, to find and return works of art and other items of cultural importance that had been stolen by the Nazis or hidden for safekeeping. -
was a major and brutal confrontation on the Eastern Front of World War II between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, the battle was characterized by intense urban combat, massive casualties, and a successful Soviet counteroffensive that encircled and destroyed the German Sixth Arm -
was the code name for the massive Allied invasion of Normandy, France, the largest seaborne invasion in history, marking the start of the liberation of Nazi-occupied Western Europe during World War II -
was a surprise, massive German counteroffensive in the Ardennes Forest, the offensive was intended to stop Allied use of the Belgian port of Antwerp and to split the Allied lines, allowing the Germans to encircle and destroy each of the four Allied armies and force the western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty in the Axis powers' favor -
was a major battle in World War II fought, a fierce, prolonged campaign where U.S. Marines fought to capture the island from Japanese forces, who had fortified it with extensive underground tunnels and pillboxes, the battle resulted in a costly U.S. victory and was one of the bloodiest in Marine Corps history -
was the largest and bloodiest battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II, fought between Allied forces and Japanese forces, the battle was the final major island assault before the anticipated invasion of Japan and resulted in enormous casualties for all sides. -
He died suddenly at age 63, from a massive cerebral hemorrhage (stroke) at his Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia, while working on papers and sitting for a portrait, shocking the nation just weeks before World War II's end -
He committed suicide by gunshot to the head in the Führerbunker in Berlin after it became clear that Germany would be defeated during the Battle of Berlin, which led to the end of World War II in Europe. -
took place when the United States dropped the nuclear bomb "Little Boy" on the Japanese city during World War II. The aerial bombing was the first use of a nuclear weapon in armed conflict, resulting in massive destruction and an estimated 140,000 deaths by the end of that year. -
the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively, during World War II. The aerial bombings killed 150,000 to 246,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the only uses of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict.