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The Battle of Britain was a turning point in World War II, preventing Hitler's invasion of Britain. -
Pearl Harbor was a U.S. naval base attacked by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941, resulting in 2,400 deaths and 1,000 wounded. -
The Battle of Midway was an epic clash between the U.S. Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy that turned the tide of World War II in the Pacific. -
The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the largest, longest, and bloodiest engagements in modern warfare, with over two million people killed or injured, including tens of thousands of Russian civilians. -
Operation Torch trapped Erwin Rommel's army in a pincer. -
The Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program were established in 1943 to protect cultural property during and after WWII. -
The Battle of Kursk was Germany's last chance to regain dominance on the Eastern Front, but Hitler's postponements gave the Soviets time to prepare, resulting in heavy casualties. -
The Battle of Normandy, codenamed Operation Overlord, was the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany in 1944. It was one of the largest amphibious military assaults in history and required extensive planning. The Allies conducted a large-scale deception campaign to mislead the Germans. -
The Battle of the Bulge was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. -
The Battle of Iwo Jima was an epic military campaign between U.S. Marines and the Imperial Army of Japan in early 1945, resulting in the death of 21,000 Japanese forces and 7,000 Marines. -
The Battle of Okinawa was the last major battle of World War II, resulting in a large death toll due to kamikaze fighters, rainy weather, and fierce fighting. -
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt passes away in 1945, 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 power. -
Adolf Hitler commits suicide by swallowing a cyanide capsule and shooting himself in the head on April 30, 1945, ending his dreams of a "1,000-year" Reich and leading to the surrender of Germany to the Allied forces. He executed over 4,000 fellow countrymen in reprisals. -
Nagasaki was the site of a devastating attack by a B-29, killing 40,000 people. Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's unconditional surrender in World War II, citing the power of the bomb. -
Hirohito announced Japan's unconditional surrender in 1945 due to the devastating power of the atomic bomb, which killed 80,000 people and caused tens of thousands more to die of radiation exposure.