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Neutrality
Germany invades Poland, initiating World War II in Europe. Norway, Finland, Switzerland declare their neutrality. -
Declaring War
In response to the German invasion of Poland three days earlier, the British government declared war on Germany. British colonies, as well as the Raj of India (ruled by the British), also automatically found themselves at war alongside Britain. France, Austrialia, and New Zealand joined Britain in declaring war on Sept. 3. -
Poland in Ruins
Following a 'Blitzkrieg' (lightning war) attack on Poland Britain and France declare war on Germany. But the destruction in Poland is already dealt, and in one week Poland surrenders. Millions of Jews, handicapped, homosexual and black people are now in danger from the Germans. The Operation White (Germanys code name) attacked Poland. Germany won because of their 11 tanks compared to Poland’s one tank. they also had 400 fighters and 850 bombers. They attacked the north and south of Poland. -
Period: to
World War 2
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Battle of the Atlantic
Germany blockaded America’s merchant ships to control the Atlantic. Then America sent naval ships to block Germany’s trade routes. The outcome of the battle was a strategic victory for the Allies—the German blockade failed—but at great cost: 3,500 merchant ships and 175 warships were sunk for the loss of 783 U-boats. The name "Battle of the Atlantic" was coined by Winston Churchill in February 1941. It has been called the "longest, largest, and most complex" naval battle in history. -
The Phoney War
As Britain and France declare war on Germany, they are readying up their troops, cities and people to prepare for war. Many drills and rationing effects take place, as well as curfews and education. Many volunteer units are made including 'Dad's Army' a home defence unit that grows to over a million in size. 1 million coffins were ordered for air raid, only 60 thousand were used -
Invasion of Denmark/Norway
The invasion of Denmark and Norway was a surprise attack launched by Hitler. Hitler attcked Norway and Denmark in order to protect those countries freedom and independence. -
Winston Chruchil for Prime Minister
Winston Churchill becomes Britain’s Prime Minister after the previous Prime Minister Chamberlain steps down. Even before World War 2 was declared Winston warned the government about the threat that Hitler was to Europe and this was only really recognised after the invasions of the countries around Germany e.g. Poland. Fact: Winston was a reporter in the Boer War but was captured; he escaped and became a war hero. -
Battle of Dunkirk
The Battle of Dunkirk was a massive retreat across France as Germany pushes deeper into France. A total of 340,000 soldiers were saved from the beaches of Dunkirk and transported to England. Over 1000 ships from warships to cabin cruisers, civilians and military transported boats soldiers from one side of the Channel to the other. The boats stopped coming 4th of June 1940 leaving many stranded to become POW’s -
Italy Enters the War
Italy attacks France, but this is a humiliating defeat with the loss of 5,000 of their soldiers while only inflicting eight casualties on the French. Although Italy was very strong in the sense of manpower and production, they lacked morale and wanting to fight. -
North African Front
Was fought between the Allies and the Axis powers over the resources in North Africa. -
Fall of France
After France fell Hitler orderd a Nazi controlled goverment lead by Masrshall Phillippe Petian. Hitler gave the surremder papers to french officers according to his terms of surrender. -
Battle of Britain
After the fall of France Britain was the only remaining force on the Allied force left. Hitler commissioned Reichmarschall Goering to attack Britain from the air. Britain had 700 fighters whereas Germany had 2000. But Britain had a new addition of radar which helped detect enemy aircraft coming over the channel. During this time Britain suffered many bombings especially on Britain were 40% of the city was burnt. Ultimately the Germans were defeated due to loss of aircraft and failed bombings. -
Lend-Lease
Gave the united states the power to send any supplies to certian warring noations. Was also created to aid any nation whos defense was crucial to the united states. -
Sinking of the Bismark
The Bismarck was presented to be the greatest threat to the Allies at the time. Over the course of a week the hunting of the Bismarck ensued in the Atlantic Ocean. The HMAS Hood was destroyed and only three of its crew survived. A torpedo from an airplane damaged the Bismarck’s rudder making it immobile, three battle ships then attacked the Bismarck and eventually leading to its demise. The crew had to scuttle the ship and only 155 of its crew survived. -
Operation Barbarossa
Hitler wanted to eradicate the threat of Communism and by doing so had to invade Russia. Even though Hitler had a pact with Stalin the invasion commenced. A 'Blitzkrieg' strategy was used and close to the end of October the German forces were nearly at the gates of Moscow. Many pockets of Soviet troops became trapped and were forced to either fight to the death or surrender. -
Atlantic Charter
President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill met secretly on the USS Augusta They agreed on a joint decleration of war arms -
Nazi Massacres
After the invasion of Russia the Germans began to execute many of their prisoners and Jews in the area. In two days a total of 33,771 Jews were executed and buried in mass graves in Babi Yar. In 1941 600,000 Jews were killed in Russia alone and over 3 million soviet prisoners of the 3.8 million that were captured in 1941 died in captivity. -
Pearl Harbor
month before six Japanese aircraft carriers sailed to the pacific in preparation for the attack. On an early morning on the 7th of December the attack commenced. Torpedo bombers and fighters attacked the airfields and ships destroying or crippling ships. 3 ships were lost and the day after America declared war on the Japanese Empire and later Germany and Italy.Fact The oil from the battleships that were sunk is still leeking out of the sunken ships. -
The Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development project that produced the first atomic bombs during World War II. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army Corps of Engineers. -
Doolittle's Raid
A daring raid on Tokyo lead by lieutenaunt colonel James Doolittle and 16 bombers. Americans wake up to headlines saying "Tokyo Bombed! Doolittle Do'od It". First U.S. attack on the Japanese in the Pacific that boosted the morale for the troops. -
Battle of the Coral Sea
A naval battle in the Coral Sea between Australia and New Guinea, The Allies of the battle (Australia and America) were defending Port Moresby from being invaded by sea from the Japanese. The Japanese wanted to occupy Port Moresby and by doing so cut off America from Australia. Ultimately the battle was won by the Allies, although they lost more ships then the Japanese, the Japanese were forced to push back and recall their invasion fleet. -
Battle of Midway
Naval battle on Midway atoll and a decisive American victory. Americans learned the Midway was Japans next target by cracking Japanese codes. The victory at midway was the starting point of the allies island hopping tactic. -
Kokoda Trail
Australia was under threat from the Japanese and after the bombing of Darwin they had to take action. Australian and US troops landed at New Guinea to defend Port Moseby. The Allies (mostly Australian) defended the Kokoda trail 95km long and prevented the Japanese who outnumbered them three to one from getting to the south side of New Guinea with the loss of 2850 troops compared to the Japanese loss of 12000 troops. This was the first second time the Japanese were beaten on land rasing morale. -
El Alamein
Two battles took place. First Battle of El Alamein (July 1 – July 27, 1942) the advance of Axis troops on Alexandria was blunted by the Allies, when the German troops tried to outflank the allied position. At the Second Battle of El Alamein (October 23 – November 11, 1942) Allied forces broke the Axis line and forced them all the way back to Tunisia. -
Battle of Stalingrad
After the invasion of Russia in 1941 Russia was on its last legs. Stalingrad was the last line of defence, but the Russians were determined to keep it, Russians fought to the death and engaged in 'rat warfare' when soldiers fought in buildings and factories in close quarters. Eventually the winter proved too cold for the Germans and no progress was made so the Germans retreated across Russia, pursued by millions of angry Russians. This was a turning point of the war. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The largest battle on the Eastern Front and was disregarded for its brutality and massive civilian casualties. Streched from July 1942 to Febuary 1943 Was the turning point in Europe When the soviots launched a massive counter attck and pushed twards berlin Germany. Defending Stalingrad the soviets lost a total of 1,100,000 soldiers. -
Operation Torch
!07,000 allied troops landed in casablanca, Oran, and Algiers in north Africa. After months of heavy fighting in may 1943 the last of the afrika Korps surrenderd. -
The Battle of Kursk
As the Germans still had control of a large portion of Russia, but there were still pockets of Russian forces throughout Russia. Kursk was an important railway hub that was still controlled in a pocket by Russians, but it could be used to transport supplies around Russia. Hitler waited for too long to avoid winter and the Russians prepared. By the end of the offensive the Germans only covered 20km and the majority of their panzer divisions were damaged. -
Invasion of Sicily
Operation Husky involved Allied troops invading Sicily in July which involved large scale air and sea landings. Sicily was a key target as it later allowed allied forces to cross into Axis Italy. It was a long fight to reach the other side, but on the 17 of August General Patton (US) reached Messina a town on the edge of Sicily next to Italy as the Germans and Italians had a large scale retreat across Sicily into Italy. -
Italian campaign
Sicily was captured in the summer of 1943 After the deffeat at Sicily the iItalian goverment forced Mussolinii to resign. -
Invasion of Italy
Two divisions of the British 8th army cross into the mainland of Italy and soon invasions all around Italy were conducted by the Allies. and soon Italy becomes split in two, one half controlled by the Axis the other controlled by the Allies. But the Italians were tiresome of war and had no interest in fighting at the start of the war and many Italians surrender to the Allies. -
Benito Mussolini
After the invasion of Sicily in 1943 the allies had made extensive progress across Italy. Since the Italians lacked the spirit to fight mass surrenders were common. Benito Mussolini was eventually arrested, but freed by German paratroopers and when he tried to flee for the second time he was found and killed by partisans. The invasion of Italy was bloody, but in the end Italy had been knocked out of the war and Mussolini the father of Fascism dead. -
D-Day
D-day stood for Deliverance Day and was the largest Allied invasion of WW2. The invasion involved allied Paratroopers being dropped into France to clear towns and roads while the main invasion would involve beach landings on five different beaches. Over all the invasion was a success although there were many casualties from various beaches, the most being the Omaha beach which had US troops attacking it. After the first landings reinforcements were able to land at abundance. -
Operation Market Garden
Holland was captured early on during the war by the Germans. Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery devised a plan that could end the war by Christmas. If paratroopers could capture the bridges throughout Holland then they could transport troops and tanks into Germany quickly. Unfortunately the Germans were able to destroy and hold the bridges across Holland forcing the allies to retreat. The war was still to go on for another year. -
Battle of the Bulge
The Germans were thought to of been unable to launch another offensive, but Hitler needed to re capture lost territory in France. The objective was to capture crossings over the River Meuse and then Antwerp. Even though the German progress looked promising at the start, Allied troops were able to eventually hold their ground. This prevented the Germans from continuing their assault and forcing them to retreat into Germany. -
Yalta Conference
The big three discuss the reorganization of post war Europe (Stalin,Roosevelt,Churchill). The big three discused the fate of germany and the post war world for eight days in Yalta in the soviot Union. Roosevelt wanted stalins support for a peace keeping orginization to be called the United Nations. -
The Battle for Iwo Jima (Operation Detachment)
US Marines landed on Iwo Jima to try and capture the airfields on the island that would allow them to attack Japan. The Japanese had tunnelled into Mount Suribachi with artillery firing down onto the US troops. Eventually the US Marines were able to overrun the Japanese positions, but few prisoners were taken due to mass suicide by the Japanese. A famous monument was based of the Marines who captured Mount Suribachi and raised an American flag on top of it. This was the final major battle of WW2 -
Roosevelt's Death
Roosevelt did not live to see V-E Day. While posing for a portrait in warm springs Georgia, Roosevelt slupmed over in his chair and had a stroke and died. -
The Reichstag Burns
After fierce fighting throughout Germany, the Germans were finally pushed back to Berlin and encircled by US and Russian troops. It was gruesome fighting as the Russians wanted to beat the US to Berlin (and they did). The Reichstag was under siege by the Russians and was nearly destroyed by bombing raids, but in the 30th of April a Russian flag was raised at the top of the Reichstag after fierce fighting between Russian and German troops. -
Hitler's Death
Hitler was holed up in a bunker in Berlin with the few soldiers left in Berlin. Hitler married his long-time mistress Eva Braun in the bunker. Hitler then went to his study with Eva Braun were she poisoned herself and Hitler shot himself with his own pistol. Their bodies were burnt to stop the Soviets from parading their dead bodies. -
Nuremberg Trials
Trials against the defeated Nazi Germany after World War 2. The trials consisted of 24 surviving Nazi leaders. Of those 24 only 12 were sentenced to death the others sent to prison in later trials 200 more Nazis. -
V-E Day
President Roosevelt did not live to see V-E Day. Hitler killed himself and had his body burned to avoid the disgrace of capitulation. A week after Hitlers death Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender of the Third Reich. -
Battle of Okinawa
Codenamed Operation Iceberg was an allied victory and the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War. By the time the battle had ended more than 7,600 americans had died and 110,000 Japanese soldiers died. Due to Okinawa the allies decided not to invade Japan seeing the Japanese die for a little island forcasted an invasion of the mainland. -
Hiroshima and Nakasaki
The secret develpment of 'The Manhattan Project' led to the creation of the atomic bomb. The first bomb to be dropped was on Hiroshima which was called "Little Boy" caused the most devastation anyone had ever seen with one bomb. Everything within a one kilometre radius melted,even humans as the temperature approached 3000 degrees celcius. Nagaskai was hit by a larger more powerful bomb known as the "Fat Man". Some 120000 people died by these bombs dropping and more from the radiation years later -
V-J Day
V-J Day was declared because the Japanese Emporer was horrified at the distruction of the atomic bombs america had unleashed. On September 2 formal surrender cerimonies took place on the U.S battle ship Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Macarthur says today the guns are silent. -
Japan Surrenders
Japan admits unconditional defeat on board the USS Missouri even though they wanted to fight on, but they could not risk another bomb attack. Japan was humiliated by its defeat, but reluctantly signed the papers dictating their surrender. Although communication was poor and many still believed the war was still on. Fact: the last person to surrender in WW2 was Hiroo Onoda who surrendered in 1974 after keeping his post for 30 years; he was relieved by his previous commander.