-
Nazi Germany Invades Poland
German forces bombard Poland on land and from the air, as Adolf Hitler seeks to regain lost territory and ultimately rule Poland. World War II had begun. -
Sitzkrieg
The Phoney War refers to an eight month period at the start of World War II, there were no major military land operations on the Western Front. -
Battle of Britain
Battle of Britain ended when Germany's Luftwaffe failed to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force despite months of targeting Britain's air bases, military posts and, ultimately, its civilian population.This can be seen as a major turning point in the war. -
France Fall to Germany
Case Yellow or Fall Gelb and is when the armored units of Germany cut off allied units which had advanced into the country of Belgium at the Ardennes. -
Congress Instituted the Draft
The registration of men between the ages of 21 and 36 began exactly one month later. -
America First Committee Launched
The America First Committee was a non-interventionist pressure group against the American entry into World War II. Peaking at 800,000 paid members in 450 chapters, it was one of the largest anti-war organizations in American history. -
Destroyers-for-Bases Deal
Agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom, Caldwell, Wickes, and Clemson-class US Navy destroyers were transferred to the Royal Navy from the United States Navy in exchange for land rights on British possessions. -
Four Freedoms
Roosevelt insisted that people in all nations of the world shared Americans' entitlement to four freedoms: the freedom of speech and expression, the freedom to worship God in his own way, freedom from want and freedom from fear -
Lend-Lease
Proposed in late 1940 and passed in March 1941, the Lend-Lease Act was the principal means for providing U.S. military aid to foreign nations during World War II. -
Reuben James Sank
The first United States Navy ship sunk by hostile action in the European theater of World War II -
USS Kearny Attacked
Eleven men died in the attack, it was one more incident hardening the attitude of the American people. -
Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor attack, a surprise aerial attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu Island, Hawaii, by the Japanese that precipitated the entry of the United States into World War II. -
Battle of Bataan
Represented the most intense phase of Imperial Japan's invasion of the Philippines during World War II. -
Battle of El Alamein
The Battle of El Alamein marked the culmination of the North African campaign between the forces of the British Empire and the German-Italian army commanded in the field by Erwin Rommel in World War II. -
Battle of Coral Sea
The Battle of the Coral Sea, fought from 4 to 8 May 1942, was a major naval battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and naval and air forces from the United States and Australia, taking place in the Pacific Theatre of World War II. -
Bataan Death March
The Bataan Death March was the forcible transfer by the Imperial Japanese Army of 60,000–80,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war from Saysain Point -
Battle of Midway
The United States Navy defeated a Japanese attack against Midway Atoll, marking a turning point in the war in the Pacific theatre. -
Island Hopping Campaign Begins
Leapfrogging, also known as island hopping, was a military strategy employed by the Allies in the Pacific War against Japan and the Axis powers during World War II. -
Casablanca Conference
The most notable developments at the Conference were the finalization of Allied strategic plans against the Axis powers in 1943, and the promulgation of the policy of “unconditional surrender.” -
Tehran Conference
The Tehran meeting was the first time the so-called 'Big Three' met – Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union, Winston Churchill of Great Britain and F D Roosevelt of America. It was to set the direction of World World Two in Europe. -
Battle of Stalingrad
A major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in Southern Russia, on the eastern boundary of Europe. -
D-Day
More than 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline, to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which, “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end, the Allies gained a foot-hold in Continental Europe. -
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive campaign launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium, France, and Luxembourg on the Western Front toward the end of World War II in Europe. -
FDR Elected to a 4th Term
On this day in 1944, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected to an unprecedented fourth term in office. FDR remains the only president to have served more than two terms. -
MacArthur Returned to the Philippines
On October 20, 1944, a few hours after his troops landed, MacArthur waded ashore onto the Philippine island of Leyte. That day, he made a radio broadcast in which he declared, “People of the Philippines, I have returned!” In January 1945, his forces invaded the main Philippine island of Luzon -
Yalta Conference
The World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union -
Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa was the last major battle of World War II, and one of the bloodiest -
VE Day
Marked the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces. -
Manhattan Project Began
The first atomic bomb — a weapon that atomic scientists had nicknamed "Gadget." -
Little Boy Dropped on Hiroshima
It was the first atomic bomb to be used in warfare -
Fat Man Dropped on Nagasaki
Its detonation marked the third ever man-made nuclear explosion in history. -
Nuremberg Trials
A series of 13 trials carried out in Nuremberg, Germany, between 1945 and 1949. The defendants, who included Nazi Party officials and high-ranking military officers along with German industrialists, lawyers and doctors, were indicted on such charges as crimes against peace and crimes against humanity. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
In some of the bloodiest fighting of World War II, it's believed that all but 200 or so of the 21,000 Japanese forces on the island were killed, as were almost 7,000 Marines. -
FDR Died / Harry Truman Became President
On this day in 1945, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt passes away after four momentous terms in office, leaving Vice President Harry S. Truman in charge of a country still fighting the Second World War and in possession of a weapon of unprecedented and terrifying power. -
Potsdam conference
The Big Three met in Potsdam, Germany to negotiate terms for the end of World War II. -
Japanese War Crime Trials
called to try the leaders of the Empire of Japan for three types of war crimes.
