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Nazi Germany invades Poland
On this day in 1939, German forces bombard Poland on land and from the air, as Adolf Hitler seeks to regain lost territory and ultimately rule Poland. World War II had begun. -
Sitzkreig
German troops continued to pour into Poland, France and Britain declared war on Germany and proceeded to launch no major military land operations in what came to be known as the Sitzkrieg (“the Sitting War). This period of eight months of relative inactivity on the Western Front between September 1939 and May 1940 was also variously known as “the Phony War”, “the Twilight War” and “the Bore War”. -
Battle of Britain
the defeated French signed an armistice and quit World War II -
France fell to Germany
France signed an armistice with Germany. Hitler insisted that it be done in the same railway car in which Germany had surrendered to France in 1918, at the end of World War I. -
America First Committee Launched
The America First Committee (AFC) was the foremost non-interventionist pressure group against the American entry into World War II. Peaking at 800,000 paid members in 450 chapters, it was one of the largest anti-war organizations in American history -
Destroters for bases deal
In the Destroyers for Bases Agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom on September 2, 1940, fifty mothballed Caldwell, Wickes, and Clemson-class US Navy destroyers were transferred to the Royal Navy from the United States Navy in exchange for land rights on British possessions -
Congress instsituted the draft
On this day in 1940, the Burke-Wadsworth Act is passed by Congress, by wide margins in both houses, and the first peacetime draft in the history of the United States is imposed. Selective Service was born. -
Four Freedoms
Roosevelt insisted that people in all nations of the world shared Americans' entitlement to four freedoms: the freedom of speech and expression, the freedom to worship God in his own way, freedom from want and freedom from fear -
Lend Lease
Military aid to Britain was greatly facilitated by the Lend-Lease Act of March 11, 1941, in which Congress authorized the sale, lease, transfer, or exchange of arms and supplies to 'any country whose defense the president deems vital to the defense of the United States. -
Reuban James Sank
First U.S. destroyer to be sunk by a German U-boat -
USS Kearny Attacked
The USS Kearny was noted for being torpedoed by a German U-boat in October 1941, before the U.S. had entered the war. She survived that attack, and later served in North Africa and the Mediterranean. -
Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor
"a date which will live in infamy." On that day, Japanese planes attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory. The bombing killed more than 2,300 Americans. It completely destroyed the American battleship U.S.S. This forced the U.S. to finally join WW2 -
Battle of Bataan
represented the most intense phase of Imperial Japan's invasion of the Philippines during World War II -
Bataan Death March
After the April 9, 1942, U.S. surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on the main Philippine island of Luzon to the Japanese during World War II (1939-45), the approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make an arduous 65-mile march to prison camps. -
Battle of Coral Sea
major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II between the Imperial Japanese Navy and naval and air forces from the United States and Australia -
Battle of Midway
An important turning point in the Pacific campaign, the victory allowed the United States and its allies to move into an offensive position. -
Battle of El Alamein
ends Nov 5, 1942
The Battle of El Alamein marked the culmination of the World War II North African campaign between the British Empire and the German-Italian army. -
Tehran Conference
It was held in the Soviet Union's embassy in Tehran, Iran. It was the first of the World War II conferences of the "Big Three" Allied leaders (the Soviet Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom). -
yalta conference
During the conference, the three leaders agreed to demand Germany’s unconditional surrender and began plans for a post-war world. (lasted Feb 11) -
MacArthur Returns to Philipoines
“People of the Philippines, I have returned!” In January 1945, his forces invaded the main Philippine island of Luzon. -
FDR dies and Truman becomes president
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt passes away after four momentous terms in office, 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 and terrifying power. -
The Manhattan Project Begins
the first atomic bomb — a weapon that atomic scientists had nicknamed "Gadget." -
Fat Man Dropped on Nagasaki
second nuclear weapon used in a war. Weight: 10,800 lbs.
Length: 10 ft 8 in.; Diameter: 60 in. Fuel: Highly enriched plutonium 239. -
Nuremberg Trials
Held for the purpose of bringing Nazi war criminals to justice, the Nuremberg trials were a series of 13 trials carried out in Nuremberg, Germany, between 1945 and 1949. -
Japanese War Crime Trials
General Interest 1946
Japanese war crimes trial begins
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In Tokyo, Japan, the International Military Tribunals for the Far East begins hearing the case against 28 Japanese military and government officials accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during World War II.
