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13. Attack of Manchuria
The Japanese army went against the wishes of Japan's parliament in 1931 and conquered Machuria, the northern region of China. This was an influential gain for Japan, as this area is rich in resources such as iron and coal. This act resulted in Japan's removal from the Leauge of Nations. -
14. Alliance with Italy and Germany
Germany and Italy, which were allies due to the formation of the Rome-Berlin Axis, allied with Japan in October of 1936. The three powers of Japan, Italy, and Germany joined together became known as the Axis Powers. -
11. Kristallnacht
In November of 193, A jewish youth named Herschel Grynszpan recieved word that his father was deported from France to Poland. In anger, Grynszpan killed a German Embassy Employee. In response, the germans attacked the entire Jewish comminuty, and many were murdered. This date of killing became known as Kristallnacht. -
1. Invasion of Poland
Hiler's Army took Poland by suprise by attacking it on September 1st, 1939 using the blitzkrieg strategy. Countless bombs were dropped onto Poland while 1.5 million German soldiers marched into Poland's cities. Hitler took over the western half of Poland after its capital of Warsaw fell. -
2. Soviet Union invaded E. Poland
Following Hitler's invasion of Poland, the USSR occupied the eastern half of Poland. The soviets continued from there and successfuly invaded Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland. -
3. France Surrenders
HItler's forces marched through Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourg to reach France. Proceeding the battle at Dunkirk, Italy joined Germany in its effort to conquer France and they easily took over Paris, resulting in France's surrender on June 22nd, 1940. -
4. Battle of Britain
Germany repeatedly bombed British cities to break morale from September 7th, 1940, to May 10, 1941. After continuous resistance from Britain despite the daily bombings, Hitler called off the attacks to focus his efforts on other regions of the world. -
5. Lend-Lease Act
The Lend-Lease Act was an American act passed in March of 1941. It terms stated that The United States can lend or lease weapons and supplies to countires important to the US. -
7. German Invasion of the Soviet Union
On June 22, 1941, Hitler put Operation Barbarossa into action and invaded the Soviet Union. However, thier attempts were unsuccessful. The Russians used the scorched earth tactic on Hitler as they had done to Napoleon, and in conjunction with the brutal Russian winter, Hitler's army failed. 500,000 German lives were lost. -
6. Atlantic Charter
On August 9th, 1941, US president Roosevelt and Great Britain's Prime Minister Churchill met off the coast of Newfoundland. Together they formed a document known as the Atlantic Charter. The Atlantic Charter allowed free trade among nations and gave the people the right to choose thier own government. -
15. Pearl Harbor
Japan seeked to build an empire to gain the world's resources, yet the U.S. fleet in Hawaii was a great hinderance to this goal. On the morning of December 7th, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in the state of Hawaii. During the attack, nearly the entire fleet of Pacific U.S ships were destroyed, and 2,400 American citizens were killed. It is known as "a date which will live in infamy". -
20. Japanese internment(in US)
The result of the bombing in Pearl Harbor was a great discrimination against the Japanese in America. This discrimination and fear motivated US President Roosevelt to move all Japanese people living in America to relocation camps. These camps wrongly imprisoned 31,275 Japanese-Americans. -
16. Battle of Midway
From June 3rd, 1942 to June 6th,1942, the Battle of Midway raged on. Despite being greatly outnumbered, American forces defeated Japanese ships on Midway Island, west of Hawaii. This battle turned the war against Japan in favor of the Americans. -
8. Allied Invasion of Italy
On July 10, 1943, Britain and the United States worked together to invade Italy. On September 3rd, Italy surrendered. Mussolini was found and executed. -
9. D-Day
Nicknamed "Operation Overlord", D-Day was a sucessful attempt by the allies to take back France from the Germans. Over one million troops marched across the beaches of Normandy, and their sheer numbers forced the Germans to retreat. By the end of August, the allies had occupied Paris and reclamied France. -
10. German Surrender
After D-Day, the allies marched towards Germany from the west, while the Soviet Union marched into Germany from the east. This created a two-front war that put Hitler at an extreme disadvantage. After defeating Hitler's forces, both sides attacked and bombed the German Capital of Berlin. Hitler took his own life while Berlin fell, and Germany surrendered on May 7th, 1945. -
18. Bombing of Hiroshima
After closing in on islands across the Pacific Ocean, the United States finally targeted Japan. US President Truman had realized that attacking Japan would result in the loss of at least 500,000 American lives. Instead of taking this loss, Truman gave Japan a warning before forcing surrender by unleashing the devastating atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, killing 73,000 people. -
17. Bombing of Nagasaki
Even after the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan refused to surrender, As a result, the United States dropped a second Atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki, killing 37,500 people. -
19. Japanese Surrender
On September 2nd, 1945, Japan gave up to the might of the atomic bomb and surrendered. With the war in the pacific over, all fighting had ended and World War II finally came to a close. -
12. Nuremberg Trials
After the war, Nazi war criminals were placed on trial for crimes against humanity, and for waging a war of aggression. In the first of these trials, 22 Nazis were charged and 12 were sentenced to death.
