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Known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939. Joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak Republic, and the Soviet Union. Marked the beginning of World War II. Germans invaded one week after the signing of the Molotov Ribbentrop Pact between Germany and the Soviet Union and one day after the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union had approved the pact. -
Military campaign of WWII where the Royal Air Force and the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom against Nazi Germany's air force attack.
It was the first major military campaign fought entirely by air forces.
It takes its name from the speech given by Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the House of Commons. -
It was a surprise military attack by Japan.
Naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Hawaii.
U.S. declares war on Japan the next day. -
Major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II.
3 Day Battle.
Happened six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea. -
A major battle beginning when Nazi Germany and its Axis allies attacked the Soviet Union for control over the Soviet city of Stalingrad.
Characterized by close-quarters combat and direct assaults on civilians in aerial raids.
Was considered the single largest and costliest battle in history.
Was the bloodiest and fiercest battle of the entirety of World War II and arguably in all of human history. -
Allied invasion of French North Africa. Compromise operation that secured a victory in North Africa and allowed American armed forces to begin to fight against Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.
The French colonies were aligned with Germany and reports said they might support the Allies. Dwight D. Eisenhower approved plans to attack on Casablanca, Oran, and Algiers. Then a rapid move on Tunis was to catch the Axis forces in North Africa from the west. -
Program established by the Allies to help protect cultural property in war areas during and after World War II. A group of about 400 people worked with military forces to protect historic and cultural monuments from war damage. When it ended they returned artwork and other items that had been stolen by the Nazis or hidden for safekeeping. -
Was also called the Battle of the Kursk Salient.
Major WWII battle between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk during the summer of 1943, the Soviet’s win.
Single largest battle in the history of warfare.
One of the costliest battles during WWII, the single deadliest armored battle in history
Was the single costliest day in the history of aerial warfare.
Marked by fierce house-to-house fighting and hand-to-hand combat. -
Allied invasion of Normandy. Codenamed Operation Neptune. Also called the “Normandy Landings”. Largest seaborne invasion in history. It began the liberation of France. Planned in 1943. The Allies mislead the Germans by the date and location of the main Allied landings. -
Also known as the Ardennes Offensive or Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein.
The last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during the WWII.
Launched through the forested Ardennes region of eastern Belgium and northern Luxembourg. -
Major battle in which the United States Marine Corps and United States Navy landed on and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Imperial Japanese Army. The American invasion was wanting to capture the island with its two airfields. Those two airfields were South Field and Central Field. -
Codenamed Operation Iceberg.
Major battle fought by the United States Army and United States Marine Corps forces against the Imperial Japanese Army.
The Kerama Islands, which surrounding Okinawa, were captured on 26 March 1945 by the U.S. Army 77th Infantry Division. -
Franklin D. Roosevelt died from a massive cerebral hemorrhage. He had been sitting for a portrait when he complained about having a headache, slumped forward, and then lost consciousness. His death happened just weeks before the end of World War II. -
Adolf Hitler committed suicide in the Fuhrerbunker in Berlin. He did it after it became clear that Germany would be defeated during the Battle of Berlin. Eva Braun was his wife and committed suicide with him by cyanide poisoning. The news of Hitler's death was announced on German radio the next day. The only remains were his teeth which were found in the Chancellery garden and are the only portion of Hitler's body confirmed to have been found. -
Happened when United States B-29 bomber “Enola Gay” dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Instantly killed an estimated 80,000 people. Was the first atomic bomb used in any war.
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Atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese port city of Nagasaki. Killed an estimated amount of 40,000 people instantly. Japan surrenders six days later. Was the second and only other use of a nuclear weapon during a war.