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Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor
On January 30 1933 the President Paul von Hindenburg named Adolf Hitler leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party). This was due to Hitler's promise to Germans to give them bread and jobs after WW1 that left Germany upset and desperate. -
Nazis announce Nuremberg Laws
Nazis announce new laws which showed many of the racial theories in Nazi ideology. This law excluded Jews from Reich citizenship and prohibited them from marrying a person from German or related blood. -
Italy invades Ethiopia
Benito Mussolini (the leader of Italy) had taken Hitler's plan to expand Germany into territories he thought were German land. They called this war "one sided" and "boring". Ethiopia was conquered by Italy in 7 months. -
Italy, Germany, and Japan sign Anti-Comintern Pact
This pact was an anti-communist pact between Nazis and the Empire of Japan. This was so that incase of an attack by the Soviet Union (socialist state in Eurasia from 1922-1991) against Germany or Japan the two countries would figure out what they would do to safeguard their common interests. Also, that neither of them would make any treaties with the Soviet Union. -
Anschluss- Germany takes over Austria with no fighting
Anschluss is the term used meaning a Greater Germany. This was Hitler's idea to create a greater German Reich this included all ethnic Germans and all the land it lost after WW1. -
Full invasion and takeover of Czechoslovakia
This began with Germany taking over Czechoslovakia's western and southern border under the terms of the Munich agreement (this agreement allows Hitler to join portions of Czechoslovakia along the countries borders that are mainly inhabited by Germans and this new annexation is called Sudetenland.) This agreement left the rest of Czechoslovakia defenseless and powerless. On March 15th Germany moved into the rest of Czechoslovakia. -
German-Soviet Non-Agression Pact
This pact states that the two countries will take no military action against each other for next 10 years. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin viewed this pact as a way to keep peace with Germany however, Hitler viewed it as a way to invade Poland unopposed. This pact also contained a secret agreement to later divide Eastern Europe. Hitler also broke the anti-communist pact with Japan that states neither of them can sign treaties with the Soviet Union. -
Germany invades Poland
German forces takeover Poland from land and air using the "blitzkrieg" strategy. This strategy was to use a lot of bombing earlier on to destroy Poland's air capacity, their railroads, communication lines and so on. This was then followed by a land invasion with a lot of tanks, soldiers, and artillery. infantry then moved in to pick up anything remaining. Poland was helpless due to the massive amount of troops and the Soviet Union could not do anything because of the non-aggression pact. -
Britain declares war on Germany
Since Britain and France had sworn to defend Poland the two countries had sent an ultimatum to Hitler to demand him to withdrawl from Poland and he declined to respond. On Spetember 3rd Prime Minister Chamberlain (PM of the UK from 1869-1940) announed that a state of war existed between them and Germany. WW2 has begun. -
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Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of Atlantic was the longest continuous military campaign. It was a constant struggle between the convoy system -Britain(all merchant ships crossing the Atlantic Ocean would travel in groups) and Wolf packs-German (tactics used against convoys.) Submarines would hunt and sink all ships and destroy all resources and soldiers travelling to Europe. -
Canada declares war on Germany
When Britain declared war on Germany it did not automatically mean Canada goes to war like in WW1. However, since Canada was united in support of Britain and France. After Parliament debated over it Canada declared war on September 10th. -
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Battle of Britain
Germany's target was to destroy British air fields and weaken their defenses to allow for an invasion. The Royal Air Force (RAF) defended Britain against Luftwaffe. This war also goes overnight which gave it the name "blitz". They could not destroy Britains air defense and failed to force an armistice. This resulted in British victory. -
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Invasion of Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa was a code name for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union. The purpose of the operation was to conquer the Western Soviet Union so it could be filled with Germans again. The German forces conquered important economic areas of Soviet Union.However, the Germans ended up stalling in the Battle of Moscow and they ended up being pushed back. -
Pearl Harbour Attack
This was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service against the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Hawaii which led to America entering the war. -
Japanese-Canadian Internment
It was the removal and detainment of Japanese Canadians from British Columbia . This was after Japan invaded Hong Kong and Malaya (December 8th 1941) and the attack on Pearl Harbor. This was hard on the Japanese because they ended up having interrogations, job losses and they were forced to go back to their home. -
Battle of El Alamein
This battle was fought in Egypt between the Axis forces (Germany and Italy) and Allied forces (Britain, British India, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand.) The battle resulted in being a draw however, it paused the Axis's in Egypt. -
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Battle of Stalingrad
This was a major battle that the Nazi's fought the Soviet Union for control of the city Stalingrad in Southern Russia. This battle is called the bloodiest battle in history warfare. By mid-November 1942 the Germans (6th army) pushed the Soviet Union back but by the 19th of November the Red army which is a Soviet Union launched Operation Uranus which destroyed the armies protecting Germany. The Axis army was overrun and the 6th army surrendered and got cut off. -
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Second Battle of Stalingrad
This battle was due to the fact that Germany lost the battle for the city Stalingrad and wanted to erase the fact that they got defeated and they wanted revenge. The 6th army got resurrected but was more trained specifically for Stalingrad. Russia had snipers and machine guns to resist the Germans but Germany had new tactics such as the nerve gas and suicide squad. Germany won, robbed the rest of the place, killed every last person in a Soviet uniform, and killed people for revenge. -
Dieppe Raid
This attack was an Allied attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe. The raid took place on the Northern coast of France. The Allied commanders were forced to retreat. Their objective was to hold the port for a few hours, and destroy port structures. However, none of these goals were met. The Allied forces was lacking and the raiding force was trapped on the beach. German took it's victory. -
Italian Campaign
This was the last stage for the Allied powers to get ride of the Axis powers. The leaders for the Allied powers (Britain and America) planned to invade Italy. This campaign consisted of many beach landings and land battles from Sicily to Italian Mainland toward Nazi Germany. On July 24th 1943 Italy's PM was arrested however, the Germans escaped. This only ended when the war in Europe ended. -
D-Day
On that day 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on 5 beaches in order to liberate Western Europe from Nazi Germany's control. There was planning done to mislead the Germans about where they were going to invade. By late August 1944 France was free and by spring Germany was defeated. -
Germany Surrenders
Germany officially surrendered to the Allies bringing an end to the war for good. The reason Germany surrendered was because in the spring of 1945 the Soviets were approaching the German capital of Berlin and seeing that defeat was inevitable they surrendered. -
Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima
On that day an American B-29 bomber dropped the world's first deployed atomic bomb on the Japanese city, Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out more than 90% of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people. And more would die later from radiation exposure. This bomb was called "little boy". -
Atomic Bomb on Nagasaki
On this day the U.S dropped a second A-bomb in Japan in the city Nagasaki. This bomb killed an estimated 40,000 people. The bomb was called "fat man". Although the U.S already bombed Japan it was not enough to make them surrender so this second bomb made Japan surrender unconditionally.
