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#13- Japan invades Manchuria
With the resources becoming limited as the population grew in Japan, the Japanese governemt set their eyes on the resource rich Manchuria, a province of China. They invaded and industrialized Manchuria in 1931 to harvest the iron and coal rich land. This was the first major violation of the League of Nations, and proved its weaknesses after failing to stop Japan. -
#12: Nuremburg Laws
Hitler created a deep hatred for Jews in Germnay by blaming them for the loss in WWI as well as the German economic issues. To start the persecution of the Jews, Hitler created a series of laws in 1935 that severely impacted Jewish life in Germany. These laws deprived Jews of their citizenship, jobs, and property. They also forced Jews to wear bright yellow stars of David, making it easier to segregate them in everyday life. -
#14: Formation of the Axis powers
After Hilter's successful conquest in Europe, Mussolini reched out to him for an alliance based on their similar plans for the future and fascist ideologies, as well as Hitler's proven capabilities. Not long after this alliance was made, Hitler reached out to Japan for the same reasons. An alliance was formed between the 3 dictators that set the stage for the next world war. -
#11: Kristallnacht
While visiting Paris, a Jewish boy named Herschel Grynszpan got a letter saying that his father was deported to Poland for his heritage. Out of rage for this unjust oppression, Herschel shot an employee of the German Embassy in Paris. This triggered a violent outrage from the Nazis against the Jewish community, using this incident as justification to further their oppression by breaking the glass of all their businesses. This made the event known as Kristallnacht, or "Night of Broken Glass". -
#1: Nazi invasion Of Poland
The Nazis won this invasion with their new, and very powerful attack strategy called "Blitzkrieg", where tanks, trucks, and 1.5 million soldiers invaded all at once. The German's defeated Poland quickly and easily becasue the Polish were attacked by surprise and had no assistance from France or Britian. -
#2: Soviet Invasion of E. Poland
Stalin made a non-aggression pact with Hitler that said they would not invade each other, and that Stalin could invade Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Lithuania, and Eastern Poland. Stalin invaded and annexed eastern Poland in 1939. Poland fell easily to the Soviets becasue they were already weakened by Germany, and had a much weaker army. -
#3:France Surrenders
After the removal of the 338,00 allied soldiers in France at Dunkirk, the Nazis had an easy path to conquering France. Benito Mussolini joined forces with Hitler and took over Paris by June 14. Six days later France surrendered and was controlled by Nazi rule. This was a major victory for Germany, after being decimated by France in WWI. -
#4- Battle Of Britain
With Britain being the last country still free from Nazi rule, Hitler was determined to conqer it. At first he targeted the air fields to further weaken the Royal Air Force, but evenually bombed the cities to destroy British morale. Britian was succesfully defended by the high British morale, the secret radar technologies, and German message decoding machine. -
#5: Lend Lease Act
The U.S. was determined to stay out of WWII, but recognized that their entry would be inevitable if Britain fell. As a result of this recognition, FDR passed an act that allowed the U.S. to lend or lease weapons to any countries that were vital to the U.S. This was known as the lend Lease act and resulted in the U.S. Navy escorting the British cargo ships carrying trade between the countries. This strengthened Britain and the U.S both militarily and economically. -
#7: German Invasion Of Soviet Union
After controling most of Europe, Hitler was determined to conquer the Soviet Union. His army was outnumbered, but far more trained and equipped than the Soviets. The Russians used the scorched earth strategy to weaken them, but the Germans were able to surround and starve Leningrad. After failure in conquering Leningrad, the Nazis moved to Moscow. Hitler met a similar defeat as Napoleon, where his army was drastically weakened by the winter that the Russians had adapted to. -
#6: Atlantic Charter
After the Lend Lease Act, Churchill and FDR made an additional agreement to ensure the citizen relations between their countries remained positive. This new agreement allowed free trade between Britain and America, as well as immigration between them. -
#15- Pearl Harbor
Japan recognized that they would not be successful in their pacific conquests if the Amican Navy was in tact. To solve this problem, they planned to catch the Navy by surprise and sink as many boats as possible. They did this with a massive surprise attack on Pearl Harbor with suicide planes and battleships, killing nearly 3000 soldiers and damaging 18 ships. This attack broke America's neutrality contract and resulted in America declaring war on Japan and Germany declaring war on America. -
#20- Japanese internment
Following the attack on Pearl harbor, major safety precautions were taken on the west coast regarding Japanese American citizens. The innocent citizens were subject to loss of property and livelihood as they were imprisoned for their heritage. The government imprisoned them for fear that they may be spies for Japan and betray America. This act was done out of ignorance and panic, and is one of the most regretted American decisions of all time. -
#16- Battle of Midway
After the success at Pearl Harbor, Japan hoped to draw out the rest of the American fleet to Midway island to finish them off. This conquest backfired when the Americans predicted the attack by breaking the Japanese code. The American planes attacked the vulnerable Japanese fleet when they began to launch their attack at Midway. This counterattack proved to be very successful as the Americans destroyed planes that hadn't even taken off along with all of the aircraft carriers holding them. -
#8: Allied Invasion of Italy
To add to Hitler's loss at Stalingrad, Churchill and FDR decided to invade Italy. This would eliminate one of Hitler's closest allies, making the invasion of France easier. Sicily was conquered in July of 1943, and the allies made it to Rome nearly a year later. The fighting in Italy continued until the end of the war between the German occupied North and the Allies in the south, and Italy was of no assistance to Hitler, making the plan a success. -
# 9: D-Day
With the war turning in the favor of the Allies, Churchill and FDR set their sights on France. They built an army of ships, landing crafts, planes, tanks, and 3.5 million soldiers to invade the French beaches of Normandy. On June 6th, 1944, the beginning of the end of Nazi tyranny took place as the Allies fought their way through the machine guns and cannons, defeating the Nazis with their immense numbers. By August 25, the Allies controlled Paris and were ready to finish off Germany. -
#10- German Surrender
As the Allied forces closed in from all directions, Hitler realized his defeat was imminent. In a desperate attempt to save his war effort, he invaded 85 miles into the Ardennes front to sabotage the allied supply lines. The allies recovered from this setback as they moved closer and closer to Berlin, until the city was surrounded and Hitler and his wife killed themselves. A week later, the Germans unconditionally surrendered and the war was over in Europe. -
#18-Bombing of HIroshima
After the German surrender, Japan was the last obstacle to ending the war. Truman, the new president after FDR's death, warned Japan that he would "rain ruin from the air" if they didn't surrender. They ignored the warning, which resulted in the first and only usage of atomic warfare. The first attack was on Hiroshima, stunning the world as the whole city was blown to pieces. This attack prevented the invasion of Japan and further loss of life on both sides, as well as years of more fighting. -
#17- Bombing of Nagasaki
After the destruction of Hiroshima, Truman followed up on his plan by dropping a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki. This was devastating to the Japnese citizens, and showed Japan that the Americans would do anything to end the war and prevent an invasion of Japan. -
#19- Japanese surrender
After the devastation of two major cities, the Japanese government realized that they would only lose more lives if they didn't surrender. The war came to an end on September 2nd on the U.S. battleship "Missouri" in Tokyo Bay. This marked the end of one of the most destructive, world altering events of all time.
