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Japan's Brutal Conquest
"The Japanese invaded China proper, launching the Second Sino-Japanese War. (July 1937). The Japanese Kwantung Army turned a small incident into a full-scale war. Chinese forces were unable to effectively resist the Japanese."
http://histclo.com/essay/war/ww2/camp/pac/china/w2c-inv.html -
Japan Attacks the United States
When the war began in 1939, the United States declared its neutrality. Still, although isolationist feeling remained strong, many Americans sympathized with those who battled the Axis Powers. -
Nazi Soviet Pact
In August 1939, Hitler stunned the world by announcing a nonaggression pact with his great enemy-Joseph Stalin, the Soviet dictator. Nazi-Soviet Pact bound Hitler and Stalin to peaceful relations. -
Invasion of Poland
On September 1, 1939, a week after the Nazi-Soviet Pact, German forces invaded Poland. -
The Axis Attacks
On September 1,1939, Nazi forces stormed into Poland, revealing the enormous power of Hitler's blitzkrieg, or "lighting war." -
Japan and the United States Face Off
When war broke out in Europe in 1939, the Japanese saw a chance to grab European possessions in Southeren Asia. -
The Miracle of Dunkirk
In April 1940, Hitler launched a blitzkrieg against Norway and Denmark, both of which soon fell. -
France Falls
On June 22, 1940, Hitler forced the French to sign the surrender documents in the same railroad car in which Germany occupied northern France. -
Operation Sea Lion
Beginning in August 1940, German bombers began a daily bombardment of England's southern coast. -
Africa and the Balkans
In September 1940, Mussonlini ordered forces from Italy's North African colony of Libya into Egypt. -
Africa and the Balkans
In September 1940, Mussolini ordered forces from Italy's North African colony of Libya into Egypt. -
Germany Launches the Blitz
German bombers first appeared over London late on September 7, 1940, all through the night, relays of aircraft showered high explosives and firebombs on the sprawling capital. -
Life Under Nazi and Japanese Occupation
"Hitler's new order grew out his racial hatred. As his forces took over most of Europe, Hitler set up a type of government in which he had someone else as the leader but behind the scenes, he was the actual leader calling the shots. The Slavs of Eastern Europe were considered to be a non-dominant "race." They were shoved aside to provide for the strongest of the Aryans; the Germans."
https://mrpernaamericanhistory.wikispaces.com/7.+Life+Under+Nazi+and+Japanese+Occupation -
American Involvement Grows
"Proposed in late 1940 and passed in March 1941, the Lend-Lease Act was the principal means for providing U.S. military aid to foreign nations during World War II. It authorized the president to transfer arms or any other defense materials for which Congress appropriated money to “the government of any country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States.”
http://isolationismtowar.weebly.com/american-involvement-grows.html -
Hitler Fails to Take Britiain
German planes continued to bomb London and other cities off and on until May 1941. -
The Nazi Commit Genocide
Germany attacks and invades eastern Poland and the Soviet Union. Einsatzgruppen - armed militias forming mobile killing units - follow the troops and commit mass slaughter of Jews throughout eastern Europe (including the Baltic states) and in the western USSR. The Einsatzgruppen (increased from an initial 4,000 men to 40,000 within a year) target Jews and also Gypsies, Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals and other minorities.
http://www.ppu.org.uk/genocide/g_holocaust1.html -
Germany Invades the Soviet Union
"Under the codename Operation "Barbarossa," Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, in the largest German military operation of World War II."
Ushmm.org -
Desert Fox
When the British army, repulsed these invaders, Hitler sent one of his most brilliant commanders, General Erwin Rommel, to North America. The "Desert Fox," as he was called, chalked up a string of successes in 1941 and 1942 -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
Early on December 7, 1941, Japanese airplanes bombed the American fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. -
Japanese Victories
By 1942, the Japanese empire stretched from Southeast Asia to the western Pacific Ocean.
