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Kristallnacht
German storm troopers attacked Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues and killed close to 100 Jews. They smashed the windows of Jewish stores, deeming the night as kristallnacht, or
Night of Broken Glass', because the city's main streets were covered with shattered glass. -
Germany's Lighting Attack
Hitler surprise attacked Poland using the blitzkrieg military strategy for the first time. France and Britain quickly declared war on Germany after this, but Poland had already fallen. -
The Soviets Make Their Move
Stalin sent Soviet troop into Poland to occupy the eastern half and then started annexing countries to the north like Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and FInland though because of the Finns' resistance they suffered heavy losses. -
The Soviets Make Their Move
Stalin sent troops to occupy the eastern half of Poland and began annexing countries like Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and after some resistance and heavy loses to the Soviets Finland. Finnish troops had the advantage of a tough winter on their side, they fiercely defended their land and often slid through the deep snow on skis and attacked Soviet positions. By 1940, Finland was forced to accept Stalin's terms of surrender. -
Hitler Moves on France
As part of a strategy to strike at France Hitler started a dramatic sweep through the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. While the allies were distracted with those countries Hitler sent an even larger force past the Maginot Line towards France. -
The Phony War
French and British troops had mobilized their armies to the Maginot Line on France's border with Germany after declaring war on them. They waited for something to happen, both sides just stared at one another. People began to jokingly call it the "sitting war" and some newspapers referred to it as the "phony war". The calm quickly ended in April 1940 when Hitler launched a surprise attack on Denmark and Norway. Denmark fell 4 hours after the attack and Norway fell after 2 months. -
Rescue at Dunkirk
German troops had cornered Allied troops around the French City of Lille where they were heavily outgunned and outmanned. The allies retreated to the beaches of Dunkirk with their backs to the sea with nowhere to go. Great Britain started a massive rescue attempt with 850 ships in their fleet including civilian craft like yachts, motorboats, and lifeboats. They were able to save 338,000 allied troops. -
France Falls
After Dunkirk the resistance against German forces in France began to diminish. On June 14th Paris fell and on the 22nd the leaders of France finally surrendered. Charles de Gaulle set up a government-in-exile in London after the France fell. -
Battle of Britain
After the defeat of France Hitler started to focused his attention on Britain. Hitler started off by bombing great Britain, Hitler's plan was to knock out the Royal Air Force and then land 250,000 soldiers on England's shores. But this plan never worked because the RAF's resistance and the two new technological devices of radar and the Enigma which helped them decode German secret messages. Hitler was forced to call of the attack which showed the Allies that the Hitler's attacks could be blocked -
Britain Takes Back North Africa
After Mussolini had taken control of North Africa and the Suez Canal from Britain, Britain struck back and by February 1941 the British had swept 500 miles across North Africa and had taken 130,000 Italian prisoners. Hitler sent reinforcements and the British were taken by surprise and forced to retreat east to Tobruk. In June 1942 the German and Italian forces seized Tobruk, a shattering loss for the allies. -
War in the Balkans
In an effort to prepare for an invasion of the USSR, Hitler expanded his influence to the Balkans. Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary joined the Axis Powers through the threat of force but Greece and Yugoslavia resisted. Hitler invaded both countries and within 3 weeks both countries fell. -
Hitler Invades the Soviet Union
Once Hitler had the Balkans in control he moved on the Soviet Union with Operation Barbarossa, his plan to invade the USSR. He took them by surprise, the Soviet Union had the largest army but they were unprepared and unequipped. The invasion rolled on for weeks, the Russians used the scorched-earth strategy to leave nothing behind for the German troops to claim. Hitler's advance on the Russians cost them 500,000 German lives and gained them almost nothing. -
Atlantic Charter
Roosevelt, president of the United States at the time, and Churchill met secretly and issued a join declaration called the Atlantic Charter. It allowed free trade among nations and the right for people to choose their own government, it also served as the Allies peace plan at the end of the war. -
The Bombing of Pearl Harbor
Early in the morning on December 7th, 1941 the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. U.S. officials were aware that an attack was coming but they had no idea when. In just two hours they had sunk 19 ships. 2,300 Americans were killed in the attack and more than 1,100 were wounded. Soon after the U.S. declared war on Japan. -
The Allies Take the Offensive
With a high morale after the Battle of Midway, the Allies took the offensive in the war. General Douglas MacArthur developed an 'island-hopping" strategy that proved very successful in taking back many islands from Japan. -
The Allies Strike Back
After suffering many defeats to Japan, the Allies were still anxious to attack. Especially America who wanted revenge for Pearl Harbor. In April 1942, sixteen B-25 bombers led by Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle flew over Japan and bombed Tokyo along with other Japanese cities. The attack did little damage, but ti showed the Allies that Japan was vulnerable. -
The Battle of Midway
Admiral Yamamoto led an attack on the Island of Midway, but the Allies new they were coming because of an intercepted message. Yamamoto hoped to draw out the whole American fleet from Pearl Harbor. The Americans lied in wait while Japan initiated the attack, and then stuck. The plan worked and the Allies destroyed 332 Japanese planes, all four aircraft carriers, and a support ship. This battle was the turning point of the war in the Pacific. -
Battle of Guadalcanal
Military leaders learned that the Japanese were building a huge air base on the island of Guadalcanal and decided to intervene before they could. The US along with help from Australia successfully seized the airfield, but with both sides pouring in new troops, total control of the island turned into a struggle. After 6 months of fighting Japan abandoned the island they came to call "the Island of Death" after losing 24,000 of their 36,000 man army. -
The Battle of Stalingrad
The Germans began mercilessly bombing Stalingrad at night setting fire to almost everything and reducing it to rubble. Germans controlled 90% of the city by November, but then another Russian winter settled in. The Soviets surrounded the city and trapped all German soldiers inside, cutting off their supply. 90,000 of the Germany's army of 330,000 finally surrendered after the rest died off. The defense of Stalingrad was costly to the Russians but it finally put them on the offensive. -
The North African Campaign and The Battle of El Alamein
Led by General Bernard Montgomery, British troops took the Axis soldiers in the Egyptian village of El Alamein by surprise and Rommel's army was quickly defeated after some resistance. Shortly after this the Allies launched Operation Torch, led by General Dwight D. Eisenhower. An Allied force of more than 100,000 soldiers landed in Morocco and Algeria and crushed Rommel's Afrika Korps. -
The Invasion of Italy
The Allies began a campaign on Italy to topple Mussolini from power. On September 3rd Italy finally surrendered, but the Germans seized control of northern Italy and put Mussolini back in charge. On June 4, 1944 the Germans retreated and the Allies marched on Rome, although fighting in Italy didn't stop until Germany fell from power. -
The D-Day Invasion
The Allies began gathering a large invasion force in Britain to attack France, which was under the control of Germany. The Germans knew an attack was coming, but didn't know where. The allies set up a huge dummy-army to throw off the Germans and make them think the Allies were attacking somewhere else. The day known as D-Day finally came and all the forces attacked on a 60 mile stretch of beach in Normandy. -
V-E Day
General Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender of the Third Reich from the German military. President Roosevelt died about a month back and was not alive to witness the surrender. After nearly 6 years of fighting, the war had finally ended. -
The Surrender of Japan
The United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6th and 9th causing many casualties and crushing the confidence of the Japanese. On September 2nd, 1945, Japan finally surrendered bringing an end to World War II.
