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The Invasion of Poland
Germany invades Poland, initiating World War II in Europe. German forces broke through Polish defenses along the border and quickly advanced on Warsaw, the Polish capital. Hundreds of thousands of refugees, both Jewish and non-Jewish, fled the German advance hoping the Polish army could halt the German advance. -
Great Britain and France Declare War on Nazi Germany
Britain and France declared war on Germany in September 1939 in response to the invasion of Poland. The period between September 1939 and April 1940 is often called the 'Phoney War' because, although war raged at sea, very little happened in Western Europe during this time. -
The Invasion of Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands & France
The goal of the Germans was to conquer France. They wanted to bypass the French defence line at the eastern border by going through the Netherlands and Belgium. Their occupation of the Netherlands would also prevent England from setting up a base of operations on the European mainland. -
The Battle & Great Escape at Dunkirk
The evacuation boosted morale
If the BEF had been captured, it would have meant the loss of Britain's only trained troops and the collapse of the Allied cause. The successful evacuation was a great boost to civilian morale, and created the 'Dunkirk spirit' which helped Britain to fight on in the summer of 1940. -
The Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain was important because it kept Nazi materials of war focused on Britain, steeled the will of the British people to find the war to the end, and demonstrated that the Nazis were not invincible. By denying the Germans the ability to invade, the British were able to keep the war in mainland Europe. -
Selective Service & Training Act
In 1940, prior to U.S. entry into World War II, the first peacetime draft in our nation's history was enacted in response to increased world tension and the system was able to fill wartime manpower needs smoothly and rapidly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. -
Lend-Lease Assistance Act
This system served a dual purpose: it enabled Roosevelt to send material support to the anti-Nazi allies while allowing the U.S. to avoid direct involvement in the widening war. -
The Attack on Pearl Harbor
This unprovoked attack brought the United States into World War II, as it immediately declared war on Japan. Pearl Harbor was, and still is, the most important American naval base in the Pacific and home to the US Pacific Fleet. -
America Enters World War 2
By 1944 America led the world in arms production, making more than enough to fill its military needs. -
Germany and Italy Declares War on the United States
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. Benito Mussolini publicly gave the announcement in Rome on December 11. -
The Battle of the Coral Sea
It was the world's first carrier-vs. -carrier battle, and the first naval battle in which neither side's ships sighted the others. This in itself marked the coming of a new mode of naval warfare that had been predicted by airpower advocates as much as a decade prior. -
The Battle of Midway Island
This critical US victory stopped the growth of Japan in the Pacific and put the United States in a position to begin shrinking the Japanese empire through a years-long series of island-hopping invasions and several even larger naval battles. -
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 Invasion of Sicily & Italy
The conquest of Sicily took a little more than a month and it led directly to the fall of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and the surrender of the Italian government to the Allies. -
The D-Day Invasion of France
It led to the liberation of France, denying Germany any further exploitation of that country's economic and manpower resources. -
Nazi Concentration Camps Discovered
In June 1944, as it became clear that Germany was losing the war, Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler ordered that camps be evacuated before they were reached by Allied troops, and that their prisoners be transferred to other camps. -
The Battle of Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge marked the last German offense on the Western Front. The catastrophic losses on the German side prevented Germany from resisting the advance of Allied forces following the Normandy Invasion. Less than four months after the end of the Battle of the Bulge, Germany surrendered to Allied forces. -
The Yalta Conference
The Allied leaders also discussed the future of Germany, Eastern Europe and the United Nations. Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin agreed not only to include France in the postwar governing of Germany, but also that Germany should assume some, but not all, responsibility for reparations following the war. -
V-E (victory in Europe) Day
On Victory in Europe Day, or V-E Day, Germany unconditionally surrendered its military forces to the Allies, including the United States. On May 8, 1945 - known as Victory in Europe Day or V-E Day - celebrations erupted around the world to mark the end of World War II in Europe. -
The Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima
After the first minute of dropping “Fat Man,” 39,000 men, women and children were killed. 25,000 more were injured. Both cities were leveled from the bombs and this, in turn, forced Japan to surrender to the United States. The war was finally over. -
The Atomic Bomb on Nagasaki
The bombing of the Japanese city of Nagasaki with the Fat Man plutonium bomb device on August 9, 1945, caused terrible human devastation and helped end World War II. -
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.