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Attack of Manchuria
Manchuria was an area rich in iron and coal so the Japanese army seized the land. Even though the Japanese parliament did not approve, Japan's engineers and technicians arrived in Manchuria in large groups and built mines and factories. -
Nuremberg Laws
These laws deprived Jews of many of their rights. The rights uncluded rights to Germancitizenship, jobs, and property.Also, in order for it to be easy for Nazis to notice them, Jews had to wear a bright yellow star on their clothes. -
Kristallnacht
A 17 year old jewish boy, Herschel Grynszpan, was angry that his father had been deported so he shot an employee of the German Embassy in Paris. When the Nazi leaders heard of this, they attacked the Jewish community by destroying their homes, buisnesses, and synagogues. They murdered around 100 Jews and the streets were full of shattered glass which lead to the word Kristallnacht that means "Night of Broken Glass." -
Alliance with Italy and Germany
In May of 1939, an alliance was formed between Italh and Germany. The alliance initially also included Japan, however, they were focused more on the Soviet Union. -
Invasion of Poland
Hitler quickly created plans to conquer Poland and he attacked them by surprise at dawn. Germany's warplanes dropped bombs on the Poles while German tanks and trucks carried 1.5 million soldiers across Poland's border. Poland could not stand up to all of this and they crumbled not aware that this had started WWII. -
Soviet Union Invaded East Poland
After Stalin made a secret agreement with Hitler, he sent his Soviet Union troops into the eastern part of Poland. The troops occupied this area for a while until Stalin began to extend his control. Following the second part of his secret agreement with Hitler, he sent the troops into Lithuania, Lativa, and Estonia and they did not resist. -
France Surrenders
Noticing France's weaknesses, Italy joined forces with Hitler and attacked France from the south which resulted in Paris falling into German rule. France realized that defeat was approaching them so the French parliament requested a new prime minister and surrendered soon after. -
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Battle of Britain
Because France had fell, Germany focused on ivading Great Britain. They first targeted Britain's airfield and and aircraft factoriesn and then began dropping bombs in the city streets, killing many and destroying buildings. However the British fought back which caught Hitler surprise and he called off his attacks and the battle ended. -
Lend-Lease Act
Under this Act, the President could lend or lease supplies, including weapons, to any country vital to the United States. This act lead to the United States Navy escorting all British ships that were carrying any weapons the United States provided them with. This resulted in Hitler getting angry and ordering that his submarines must sink any cargo ship they come across. -
German Invasion of Soviet Union
Beginning the blitzkrieg invasion, the Soviet Union was not prepared for Hitler's attack. As the Germans pushed farther and farther into the land, the Russians retreated and burned everything in the Germans' path. Germany dropped bombs that destryed warehouses that contained food but the people of Leningrad wouldnt surrender so they moved to Moscow where the Russians held their ground and the Germans retreated. -
The Atlantic Charter
At the time when the United States was not in the war yet, Roosevelt and Churchill met in secret on a battleship off of Newfoundland. They created a joint declaration that upheld free trade among nations and gave people the right to choose their own government. The Atlantic Charter was then later used as a peace plan at the end of WWII. -
Pearl Harbor
Early in the morning, American sailors were woken up by the sound of explosives signaling a Japanese attack was taking place. The United States were not aware that this is where and when it would happen resulting in almost all of the U.S Pacific fleet being destroyed, 2,400 Americans killed, and 1,000 wounded. The attack on Pearl Harbor is described as a day that will "live in infamy." -
Japanese Internment (U.S)
The bombing of Pearl Harbor frightened many Americans and this fear was turned against the Japanese Americans. They were seen as the enemy so Roosevelt set up a program of internment which took away their property. The military rounded up every "alien" and relocated them to the camps away from the coast. -
Battle of Midway
Japan was targeting an American airfield that was in Midway and because a Japanese code had been broken, The United States knew a large force was headed towards Midway. When the Japanese planes flew over the island, American carrier planes attacked the Japanese ships that contained most of the planes. This battle turned the tide of war in the Pacific against the Japanese. -
Allied Invasion of Italy
Roosevelt and Churchill met at Casablanca, Morocco and they came to an agreement that they would attack Italy first. An allied force of 180,000 soldiers landed in Sicily and captured it from Italian and German troops. -
D-Day
The invasion force was ready with thousands of planes, ships, tanks, landing craft, and 3.5 million troops. They planned to strike on the coast of Normandy, France and the Germans knew they were going to attack but did not know where so the Allies set up a dummy army. The dummy army attacked the French seaport, Calais, while the Allies inavaded Normandy and it was the greatest land and sea attack in history. -
German Surrender
The Soviet Union surrounded Berlin and Hitler knew that the end was coming so he got married to the woman he loved and then two days later they both killed themselves. He wrote a letter before he died blaming the Jews for starting the war and his people for losing it. A month after this happened, the German military surrendered and Victory in Europe Day was celebrated as a result. -
Bombing of Hiroshima
After the Japanese did not react to Truman's threat to drop bombs from the air, The United States decided to go through with the dropping of the Atomic bomb. Out of 365,000 people, 73,000 died from this attack. -
Bombing of Nagasaki
Following the bombing of Hiroshima, the United States dropped a second bomb in Nagasaki. Out of 200,000 people, it killed about 37,000 of them. -
The Japanese Surrender
The result of the two bombings in Japan was they surrendered to Gerneral Douglas MacArthur. It took place on the U.S battleship, Missouri, in Tokyo Bay and this surrender ended the war.
