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Germany Invades Poland
When Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, England and France already announced that they would go to war with Germany if he asked for more land. However, he did anyway and England and France declared war on Germany. -
Battle of Britain
England and France hadn’t prepared for war with Germany, so France ended up losing to Germany within a month. The Germans bombed England throughout the Summer of ’40. The British never surrendered and Germany backed off. -
Germany Invades Soviet Union
Germany had made an alliance with the Soviet Union that said they would not attack each other. Hitler broke the promise and invaded them. The Soviets suffered heavy losses. -
Pearl Harbor
The Japanese randomly attacked America's naval base. They wanted to have an empire in the Pacific but America declared War on Japan. Over 2400 people died. -
Battle of Stalingrad
Russia had the worst winter they’d have in 100 years. After over 10 months of fighting, The Soviet Union pushed Germany back across Poland. -
Island Hopping
The US couldn’t attack Japan directly, so they moved from island to island until they got to Japan. The US prepared to attack Japan from the islands off the coast. -
D-Day
Britain, Canada, and America crossed the English Channel to Normandy and Northern France. Germany retreated but they had enemies on all sides. They pushed Germany out of France, too. -
Rebuilding Japan
: The United States controlled Japan after the war but they also created a democracy with a constitution. They also agreed to defend Japan and help rebuild. The US wanted to be allies with Japan after the war ended, and they have been friendly ever since. -
Yalta Conference
Since the war was seemingly coming to a close, the leaders of the US, England, and the Soviet Union held a conference. Germany surrendered but the Soviets broke their promise of not allowing communist government. This started the Cold War. -
V-E Day
Italy was defeated, and Mussolini was removed from power. After Germany surrendered, Hitler committed suicide and the war in Europe was over. -
Division of Germany
The Allied Powers each governed a section of Germany and tried to remove all tracs of Nazism. The Soviets, however, did nothing to help because they wanted Communism in Germany. -
Atomic Bombs in Japan
America demanded that Japan surrendered to them. However they didn’t and instead were preparing their people to fight, and the US didn’t want to lose 100,000 soldiers every year that they would be at war. President Truman dropped an atomic bomb in the city of Hiroshima and destroyed the surrounding area for years. The Japanese still ignored their request to surrender so America dropped another bomb 3 days later and killed 200,000 people. Japan finally surrendered after the bombing of Nagasaki. -
Creation of United Nations
The United Nations consist of the US, (the Soviet Union no longer exists), England, France, and China. The headquarters are still located in New York City. The goal of the UN is to prevent future wars. -
Nuremburg Trials
The Allied Powers put Nazi leaders of trial for their “crimes against humanity”. 10 of them were executed, 7 had life in prison, and 3 were found not guilty.
