WWII Timeline

By 084655

  • Annexation of Sudetenland

    Annexation of Sudetenland
    Germany invaded Czechoslovakia. Hitler annexed Sudetenland.

  • Pearl Harbor

    Pearl Harbor
    Surprise attack on US naval base. Japan forces killed more than 2,400.

  • The Philippines

    The Philippines
    Japan launches surprise attack on the Philippines. The Japanese occupied the open city of Manila.

  • Stalingrad

    Stalingrad
    Battle between Russia and Nazi Germany during WWII. It was the longest and bloodiest war.

  • Guadalcanal

    Guadalcanal
    US marines launched surprise attack on Guadalcanal. Japanese suffered many casualties and had to withdrawal from Guadalcanal.

  • Japanese Internment Camps

    Japanese Internment Camps
    Established through FDR’s Executive Order 9066 after Pearl Harbor. People of Japanese descent would be held in isolated camps.

  • Island Hopping

    Island Hopping
    Strategy used by the US to gain military bases and secure islands in the Pacific. US would travel from one island to another, skipping the heavily guarded islands.

  • Battle of Midway

    Battle of Midway
    This battle ended the threat of Japanese invasion in the Pacific. Destroyed Japan’s first- line carrier.

  • Los Alamos

    Los Alamos
    Los Alamos National Laboratory, science lab that produced the first atomic bomb during WWII. Primary nuclear weapons facility in the US.

  • D-Day

    D-Day
    The Battle of Normandy, codename “Operation Overlord”. American, British, and Canadian forces landed on the coast of France. This large invasion liberated northern France. End of war in Europe.

  • Death of Hitler

    Death of Hitler
    Hitler stayed in an underground bunker in Berlin for the last siege of the war. When told by officers that the Russians were close to overtaking the chancellery, Hitler and his wife committed suicide. They both took cyanide capsules. Hitler also shot himself.

  • Meeting at Yalta

    Meeting at Yalta
    Conference including Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. These leaders agreed to acquire Germany’s surrender.

  • Fall of Berlin

    Fall of Berlin
    Stalin crushed Germany resistance in hopes of capturing Berlin. Although Germany put up a fight, they submitted to defeat.

  • Meeting at Potsdam

    Meeting at Potsdam
    Conference including Harry S. Truman, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin. They talked of postwar Europe and demanded surrender from Japan.

  • Hiroshima

    Hiroshima
    American B-29 bomber drops atomic bomb over Japanese city of Hiroshima. Bomb killed 80,000 people and after a second bomb on Nagasaki, Japan surrendered.