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The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939, was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak Republic, and the Soviet Union, which marked the beginning of World War II. -
The Battle of Britain was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force and the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force, the Luftwaffe. It was the first major military campaign fought entirely by air forces. -
The Empire of Japan launched a surprise military strike on the United States Pacific Fleet at its naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. At the time, the U.S. was a neutral country in World War II. The air raid on Pearl Harbor, which was launched from aircraft carriers, resulted in the U.S. declaring war on Japan the next day. -
The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II that took place on 4–7 June 1942, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. -
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II, beginning when Nazi Germany and its Axis allies attacked and became locked in a protracted struggle with the Soviet Union for control over the Soviet city of Stalingrad in southern Russia. -
Operation Torch was an Allied invasion of French North Africa during World War II. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa while allowing American armed forces the opportunity to begin their fight against Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy on a limited scale. -
The Battle of Kursk, also called the Battle of the Kursk Salient, was a major World War II Eastern Front battle between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in southwestern Russia during the summer of 1943, resulting in a Soviet victory. -
The Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program, often referred to as the Monuments Men, was an international group established in 1943 that worked under the Civil Affairs and Military Government Sections to help protect cultural property during and after World War II. -
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. More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day's end, the Allies gained a foothold in Continental Europe. -
The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during the Second World War, taking place from 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945. -
The Battle of Iwo Jima, February 19– March 26, 1945, was a major battle in which the United States Marine Corps and United States Navy landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. -
The Battle of Okinawa, code-named Operation Iceberg, was the largest, last, and one of the bloodiest amphibious battles of WWII in the Pacific. US forces secured the strategic island to use as a base for invading mainland Japan, but faced intense, 82-day fighting and kamikaze attacks. The battle resulted in over 240,000 combined military and civilian casualties. -
President Franklin D. Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, at age 63 from a massive cerebral hemorrhage while in Warm Springs, Georgia. Only months into his fourth term, the sudden stroke occurred while he was posing for a portrait. His death stunned the world, as his declining health from heart issues had been concealed from the public. -
The day Adolf Hitler died -
On August 6, 1945, the U.S. dropped the "Little Boy" atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, from the B-29 bomber Enola Gay, causing immediate, unprecedented destruction. The 9,000-pound uranium bomb detonated 1,900 feet above the city, instantly killing 70,000–80,000 people and leveling 5.4 square miles with a massive blast and 7,000°F firestorm. -
On August 9, 1945, the U.S. dropped a 10,000-pound plutonium implosion bomb named "Fat Man" on Nagasaki, Japan, from the B-29 bomber Bockscar. Detonating at 1,650 feet with a 21-kiloton yield, it killed roughly 70,000 people instantly. The blast destroyed the industrial city, causing severe damage, fires, and long-term radiation sickness.