-
The beginning of Blitzkrieg
On September 1, 1939,Poland was invaded by Germany and Russia. Germany invading from the West, while Russia attacks from the East. Germany and Russia then divide Poland down the middle. ¨Blitzkrieg¨ signifies lightning war and was used for war during this time. This word is effective due to Germany defeating Poland quickly. (Notes) -
The Falling of France
The Battle of France began in 1940. Case Yellow was an operation when the armored units of Germany cut off allied units which had advanced into the country of Belgium at the Ardennes. When the British and the French saw themselves pushed back by the operation, the British evacuated their British Expeditionary Force with other French divisions in Operation Dynamo. (HistoryNet.com) -
Battle of Britain
Hitler planned attack on Great Britain by pushing them to submission and continuing to bomb them. This battle took place for eleven months. Everyday during this period included harsh bombing. Being the first ¨loss¨ Germany had, they were very unsuccessful in the attack. (Notes) -
Lend Lease Act
The Lend Lease Act had been passed in 1941 by FDR. The act was passed to the US not wanting to get involved in the Europe war, but could not let Britain lose. Instead America helped by supplying weapons, tanks, ammunition and other stuff to help them win. (Notes) -
Operation Barbarossa
Adolf Hitler launched his armies eastward in a massive invasion of the Soviet Union: three great army groups with over three million German soldiers, 150 divisions, and three thousand tanks smashed across the frontier into Soviet territory. The invasion covered a front from the North Cape to the Black Sea, a distance of two thousand miles. (History.com) -
Pearl Harbor Bombing
The attack of Pearl Harbor and kamikaze the pacific fleet navy was caused by the Japanese. Japan attacked due to America stopping the exporting of oil to them. Also, Japan wanted to start their own empire which the US was in the way of. (Notes) -
U.S. Declares War
After the attacking on Pearl Harbor, the US had then declared war on Japan. Three days later, Japan and Germany then declared war on the US. Although US declared war first, Germany is fought first due to being seen as a bigger threat.(Notes) -
Bataan Death March
U.S. surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on the main Philippine island of Luzon to the Japanese during World War II, the approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make an arduous 65-mile march to prison camps. (History.com) -
Battle of Midway
Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States defeated Japan in one of the most decisive naval battles of World War II. Thanks in part to major advances in code breaking, the United States was able to preempt and counter Japan’s planned ambush of its few remaining aircraft carriers, inflicting permanent damage on the Japanese Navy. (History.com) -
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was the successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad in the U.S.S.R. during World War II. It stopped the German advance into the Soviet Union and marked the turning of the tide of war in favor of the Allies. The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the bloodiest battles in history, with combined military and civilian casualties of nearly 2 million. (History.com) -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Residents of the Jewish ghetto in Nazi-occupied Warsaw, Poland, staged an armed revolt against deportations to extermination camps. The Warsaw ghetto uprising inspired other revolts in extermination camps and ghettos throughout German-occupied Eastern Europe. (History.com) -
D-Day, Liberation begins
the Battle of Normandy resulted in the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control. Code named Operation Overlord, the battle began on June 6, 1944, also known as D-Day, when some 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region. (History.com) -
Battle of the Bulge
Adolph Hitler attempted to split the Allied armies in northwest Europe by means of a surprise blitzkrieg thrust through the Ardennes to Antwerp. Caught off-guard, American units fought desperate battles to stem the German advance at St.-Vith, Elsenborn Ridge, Houffalize and Bastogne. As the Germans drove deeper into the Ardennes in an attempt to secure vital bridgeheads, the Allied line took on the appearance of a large bulge, giving rise to the battle’s name. -
Concentration Camps (Liberation)
German Gestapo began a murder spree in the camps, shooting sick prisoners and blowing up crematoria in a desperate attempt to destroy the evidence of their crimes. When the Red Army finally broke through, Soviet soldiers encountered 648 corpses and more than 7,000 starving camp survivors. There were also six storehouses filled with literally hundreds of thousands of women’s dresses, men’s suits, and shoes that the Germans did not have time to burn. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The American amphibious invasion of Iwo Jima during World War II stemmed from the need for a base near the Japanese coast. Following elaborate preparatory air and naval bombardment, three U.S. marine divisions landed on the island in February 1945. Iwo Jima was defended by roughly 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops, who fought from an elaborate network of caves, dugouts, tunnels and underground installations. -
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
An American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people.(History.com)
