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The Invansion of Poland
The invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 marked the beginning of World War II. The invasion was a joint attack by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and the Slovak Republic. -
Great Britain and France Declare War on Nazi Germany
Honoring their guarantee of Poland's borders, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939. Two days earlier, Germany had invaded Poland. -
America enters World War ll
The United States of America officially declared its involvement in WW2 in December 1941, following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December. In his famous “Day of Infamy” speech before Congress on 8 December, President Franklin D Roosevelt called for a declaration of war against Japan – crucially, Roosevelt did not also declare against Adolf Hitler's Germany. In this way Germany and Italy were manoeuvred into taking the first step, declaring war on 11 December 1941. -
The Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain was the successful defense of Great Britain against the air raids conducted by the German air force in 1940 after the fall of France during World War II. -
The Invansion of Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands & France
The campaign against the Low Countries and France lasted less than six weeks. Germany attacked in the west on May 10, 1940. Initially, British and French commanders had believed that German forces would attack through central Belgium as they had in World War I, and rushed forces to the Franco-Belgian border to meet the German attack. The main German attack however, went through the Ardennes Forest in southeastern Belgium and northern Luxembourg. -
The Battle & Great Escape at Dunkirk
The Battle of Dunkirk and the Great Escape at Dunkirk were both part of the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the French port of Dunkirk during World War II. The evacuation, also known as Operation Dynamo, took place from May 26 to June 4, 1940. -
Selective Service & Training Act
The act eventually required all men between the ages of 21 to 45 to register for military service. Under the act, approximately 24 million men registered for the draft. Of the total U.S. troops sent to Europe, 2.8 million men had been drafted, and 2 million men had volunteered. -
Lend Lease Assistance Act
allowed the country to provide military supplies, food, and other aid to Allied nations during World War II without directly entering the conflict, essentially "lending" or "leasing" these materials to countries deemed vital to American defense, like Great Britain and the Soviet Union, in exchange for bases or future repayment; this policy was a way for the US to support the Allied war effort while maintaining a technically neutral stance until the attack on Pearl Harbor. -
The Attack On Pearl Harbor
Japan launched a surprise attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The assault killed or wounded more than 3,500 American troops and civilians; severely damaged the fleet; and shocked the nation -
Germany and Italy Declare War on the Unites States
On December 11, 1941, Italy declared war on the United States. The declaration followed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor four days earlier, and was made the same day as Germany's declaration of war against the United States. -
The Battle of the Coral Sea
The Battle of the Coral Sea was a major naval battle in World War II that took place from May 4–8, 1942. It was the first aircraft carrier battle in history and the first time the enemy's advance into the Pacific was stopped after the attack on Pearl Harbor. -
The Battle of Midway Island
Early on the morning of June 4, aircraft from four Japanese aircraft carriers attacked and severely damaged the US base on Midway. Unbeknownst to the Japanese, the US carrier forces were just to the east of the island and ready for battle. After their initial attacks, the Japanese aircraft headed back to their carriers to rearm and refuel. While the aircraft were returning, the Japanese navy became aware of the presence of US naval forces in the area. -
The invasion of North Africa
The Allied invasion of French North Africa in November 1942 was intended to draw Axis forces away from the Eastern Front, thus relieving pressure on the hard-pressed Soviet Union. The operation was a compromise between U.S. and British planners as the latter felt that the American-advocated landing in northern Europe was premature and would lead to disaster at this stage of the war. -
The Invasion of Sicily & Italy
With the conclusion of the North Africa campaigns in May 1943, the victorious Allies had ejected the Axis powers from an entire theatre of warfare. The collapse of Axis defenses in Tunisia led to the capture of more than 250,000 prisoners, many of whom were seasoned German veterans, along with hundreds of tanks and thousands of aircraft. -
The D-Day Invasion of France
The D-Day operation of June 6, 1944, brought together the land, air, and sea forces of the allied armies in what became known as the largest amphibious invasion in military history. The operation, given the codename OVERLORD, delivered five naval assault divisions to the beaches of Normandy, France. The beaches were given the code names UTAH, OMAHA, GOLD, JUNO, and SWORD -
Nazi Concentration Camps Discovered
PARIS — Images of what the Allies found when they liberated the first Nazi death camps towards the end of World War II brought the horror of the Holocaust to world attention. Many of the ghastly pictures were at first held back from the broader public, partly out of concern for those with missing relatives. The concentration and extermination camps were liberated one by one as the Allied armies advanced on Berlin in the final days of the 1939-1945 war. -
The Battle of the Bulge
In late 1944, during the wake of the Allied forces' successful D-Day invasion of Normandy, France, it seemed as if the Second World War was all but over. On Dec. 16, with the onset of winter, the German army launched a counteroffensive that was intended to cut through the Allied forces in a manner that would turn the tide of the war in Hitler's favor. The battle that ensued is known historically as the Battle of the Bulge. -
The Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference took place in a Russian resort town in the Crimea from February 4–11, 1945, during World War Two. At Yalta, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin made important decisions regarding the future progress of the war and the postwar world. -
V-E (Victory in Europe) Day
V-E Day marked the end of most of the fighting in Europe, where tens of millions of service members and civilians were killed since the start of hostilities. -
The Atomic bomb on Hiroshima
By July 1945, Germany had surrendered, and the war in Europe was over. Japan, however, refused to submit to the terms outlined in the Allies’ Potsdam Declaration. It appeared to American leaders that the only way to compel Japan’s unconditional surrender was to invade and conquer the Japanese home islands. Although an estimated 300,000 Japanese civilians had already died from starvation and bombing raids, Japan’s government showed no sign of capitulation -
The Atomic Bomb on Nagasaki
The Target Committee appointed by President Harry Truman to decide which Japanese cities would receive the Little Boy and Fat Man atomic bombings did not place Nagasaki among their top two choices. Instead they identified Kokura as the second target after Hiroshima. In Kokura, a city of 130,000 people on the island of Kyushu, the Japanese operated one of their biggest ordnance factories, manufacturing among other things chemical weapons. -
V-J (Victory over Japan) Day
V-J Day, or Victory over Japan Day, marks the end of World War II, one of the deadliest and most destructive wars in history. When President Harry S. Truman announced on Aug. 14, 1945, that Japan had surrendered unconditionally, war-weary citizens around the world erupted in celebration.