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The Invasion of Poland
The invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 was the beginning of World War II. Nazi Germany, the Slovak Republic, and the Soviet Union attacked Poland, which was also known as the Polish Defensive War of 1939. -
The Battle of Britain
Battle of Britain, during World War II, the successful defense of Great Britain against unremitting and destructive air raids conducted by the German air force (Luftwaffe) from July through September 1940, after the fall of France -
The Bombing of Pearl Harbor
the Japanese military launched a surprise attack on the US Naval base at Pearl Harbor. The attack killed 2,403 service members and wounded 1,178 more, and sank or destroyed six U.S. ships. They also destroyed 169 U.S. Navy and Army Air Corps planes. -
The Battle of Midway
a decisive naval victory for the United States against Japan during World War II, taking place near Midway Atoll in the Pacific Ocean; this battle is considered a turning point in the war as it significantly crippled Japan's naval power by sinking four of their aircraft carriers, effectively halting their offensive operations in the Pacific and putting them on the defensive for the remainder of the war. -
The Battle of Stalingrad
Stalingrad was one of the most decisive battles on the Eastern Front in the Second World War. The Soviet Union inflicted a catastrophic defeat on the German Army in and around this strategically important city on the Volga river, which bore the name of the Soviet dictator, Josef Stalin. -
Operation Torch
Operation Torch was a joint British and American military invasion of French North Africa during World War II, commencing on November 8, 1942, where Allied forces landed on the Moroccan and Algerian coasts, aiming to open a second front against the Axis powers by capturing key ports like Casablanca, Oran, and Algiers; this operation marked the first major Allied amphibious assault -
Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Program
The Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Section Unit (MFAA) was a program established by the Allies in 1943 to help protect cultural property in war areas during and after World War II. -
The Battle of Kursk
The Battle of Kursk was the largest tank battle in history, involving some 6,000 tanks, 2,000,000 troops, and 4,000 aircraft. It marked the decisive end of the German offensive capability on the Eastern Front and cleared the way for the great Soviet offensives -
D-Day
D-Day is the name given to the day when a military operation or combat attack begins. The most well-known D-Day was on June 6, 1944, when the Allies invaded Normandy, France during World War II. -
The Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a major offensive launched by the German army against Allied forces in the Ardennes Forest during World War II, taking place from December 16, 1944, to January 25, 1945; it was the last major German offensive on the Western Front, where German forces attempted to create a "bulge" -
The Battle of Iwo Jima
The invasion of Iwo Jima, codenamed “Operation Detachment” aimed to achieve several objectives: remove the Japanese garrison that was providing early earning of B-29 Superfortress raids en route to Japan, eliminate the enemy airfields that allowed Japanese pilots to harass the Marianas, and establish the island -
The Death of FDR
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had an intracerebral hemorrhage, collapsed and died while sitting for a portrait painting by Elizabeth Shoumatoff at the Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia. The painting is known as the Unfinished portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt. -
The Death of Adolf Hitler
On April 30, 1945, holed up in a bunker under his headquarters in Berlin, Adolf Hitler commits suicide by swallowing a cyanide capsule and shooting himself in the head. Soon after, Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allied forces, ending Hitler's dreams of a “1,000-year” Reich. -
The Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa, which took place from April 1st to June 22nd, 1945, was a brutal and bloody World War II battle where American forces invaded and secured the island of Okinawa, marking the last major battle in the Pacific theater, characterized by fierce fighting against entrenched Japanese troops, heavy use of kamikaze attacks, and a high number of casualties on both sides, including a significant civilian death toll -
Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima
On 6 August 1945, at 08:15, the first ever atomic bomb was dropped on the centre of Hiroshima. 'Little Boy' was a gun-type atomic bomb. It used a simple design by firing one piece of uranium 235 into another, triggering a powerful explosion with about 15 kilotons of force. -
Atomic Bombing Nagasaki
On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively. The bombings killed between 150,000 and 246,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and they remain the only use of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict.