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Japan launched a full-scale invasion of China after a clash near the Marco Polo Bridge outside Beijing. This began the Second Sino-Japanese War. -
The Anschluss was the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany on March 12, 1938. German troops crossed the border and entered Austria without resistance, and many Austrians welcomed them. Soon after, Austria was formally made part of Germany. -
The United States Congress passed the Neutrality Act of 1939, allowing warring nations to buy American arms on a “cash-and-carry” basis. Countries had to pay in cash and transport the goods in their own ships. This policy helped Britain and France while keeping the U.S. officially neutral. -
In March 1939, Nazi Germany took control of the rest of Czechoslovakia. German troops marched into Prague and dissolved the country, turning Bohemia and Moravia into a German-controlled protectorate while allowing Slovakia to become a Germandependent state. -
Nazi Germany invaded Poland, starting World War II in Europe. German forces used a fast and powerful attack strategy called Blitzkrieg “lightning war, combining tanks, aircraft, and infantry. -
World War II was a global conflict involving most of the world’s nations, including the major powers grouped into the Allies and the Axis. It began when Nazi Germany invaded Poland in 1939 and soon spread across Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. The war saw massive battles, the Holocaust, and the use of atomic bombs on Japan. It ended with the defeat of Germany in May 1945 and Japan’s surrender in September 1945, reshaping international borders and leading to the beginning of the Cold War.
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France surrendered to Nazi Germany after several weeks of fighting. German forces had quickly advanced through Belgium and northern France, trapping many Allied troops. -
The Battle of Britain was an air campaign in which Nazi Germany’s Luftwaffe tried to gain control of the skies over Britain by bombing airfields, factories, and cities. -
The Holocaust was the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies during World War II. Other groups, including Roma (Gypsies), people with disabilities, Slavs, political prisoners, and others were also targeted
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The United States placed an oil and gasoline embargo on Japan after Japan expanded its control in Southeast Asia. -
Japanese forces launched a surprise air attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Many American ships and airplanes were destroyed or damaged, and over 2,400 Americans were killed. -
The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle between the United States and Japan near Midway Island in the Pacific Ocean. U.S. codebreakers had learned of Japan’s plans, allowing American forces to prepare an ambush.
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The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad. Fighting was brutal and took place street by street and building by building.
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The United States dropped the first atomic bomb, called “Little Boy,” on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion destroyed much of the city and killed tens of thousands of people instantly, with many more dying later from injuries and radiation sickness. -
D-Day was the Allied invasion of German-occupied France during World War II. Over 150,000 American, British, Canadian, and other Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy. -
he Yalta Conference was a meeting between the leaders of the Allied powers—Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States, Winston Churchill of Britain, and Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union. They met in Yalta in Crimea to plan the final defeat of Nazi Germany and discuss the postwar world.
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V-E Day marked the official surrender of Nazi Germany to the Allied powers in Europe. After years of fighting and the fall of Berlin, German leaders signed documents of unconditional surrender. -
The United States dropped a second atomic bomb, called “Fat Man,” on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. The explosion killed tens of thousands of people instantly and many more later from injuries and radiation. Combined with the earlier bombing of Hiroshima and the Soviet Union’s declaration of war on Japan, this attack pressured Japan’s leaders to surrender, leading to the end of World War II.