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Rise of Fascism and Nazism
Fascism was founded on the principle of nationalist unity, against the divisionist class war ideology of Socialism and Communism. It was started in Italy and then spread throughout Europe. Nazism started with Adolf Hitler with the act of murdering millions of innocent Jews. -
Neutrality Act
Congress passed the first Neutrality Act prohibiting the export of “arms, ammunition, and implements of war” from the United States to foreign nations at war and requiring arms manufacturers in the United States to apply for an export license. -
Germany’s expansion and annexation of Austria
The German armed forces engaged in secret rearmament even before the Nazi takeover of power. The Nazis supported rearmament and rapidly expanded arms production. Military conscription was reintroduced on March 16, 1935, in open violation of the Treaty of Versailles. At the same time, Hitler announced the expansion of the German army to more than 500,000 men. -
Signing of the Non-Aggression Pact
Germany and the Soviet Union surprised the world by signing the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, in which the two countries agreed to take no military action against each other for the next 10 years -
Blitzkrieg attack on Poland
Was a joint invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the beginning of World War II in Europe.The campaign ended on 6 October with Germany and the Soviet Union dividing and annexing the whole of Poland. -
Battle of Britain
The name given to the Second World War air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom. It was the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces. It was also the largest aerial bombing campaign to that date. -
Lend-Lease Act
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. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
A surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack led to the United States' entry into World War II. -
Battle of Midway
Was a crucial and decisive naval battle in the Pacific Theatre of World War II. The Battle of Midway effectively destroyed Japan’s naval strength when the Americans destroyed four of its aircraft carriers. Japan’s navy never recovered from its mauling at Midway and it was on the defensive after this battle. -
Battle of Stalingrad
Was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in the south-western Soviet Union. It is often regarded as the single largest and bloodiest battle in the history of warfare. -
Invasion of Africa by Eisenhower
"Torch” was the name give to the operation. Late in July 1942, it remained to settle the practical details of the operation. The purpose of “Torch” was to hem Rommel’s forces in between U.S. troops on the west and British troops to the east. -
Transition of the US home front to War production
The transition to peacetime was under way on the home front by 1944, though World War II (1939–45) was still raging abroad. In 1943 full industrial and agricultural war production had been achieved; that is, the capability to meet the ongoing Allied needs for war materials and food had been reached. -
D-Day
In the military, D-Day is the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. The best known D-Day is June 6, 1944 initiating the Western Allied effort to liberate mainland Europe from Nazi occupation during World War II. However, many other invasions and operations had a designated D-Day, both before and after that operation. -
Liberation of Madjdanek (concentration camp)
The Majdanek extermination camp in Lublin was liberated by Soviet troops. It was the first of many Nazi concentration camps to be liberated by the Allies. The Polish-Soviet Nazi Crimes Investigation Commission ordered exhumations at Majdanek as part of its efforts to investigate Nazi mass killings in the camp. -
The Battle of the Bulge
Was a major German offensive campaign launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium, France, and Luxembourg on the Western Front toward the end of World War II in Europe. Eric von Manstein planned the offensive with the primary goal to recapture the important harbor of Antwerp. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
A major battle in which the United States Armed Forces landed and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Imperial Army. They had the goal of capturing the entire island, including the three Japanese-controlled airfields to provide a staging area for attacks on the Japanese main islands. -
Battle of Okinawa
Also known as Operation Iceberg. It was the largest amphibious landing in the Pacific theater of World War II. It also resulted in the largest casualties with over 100,000 Japanese casualties and 50,000 casualties for the Allies. -
V-E Day
Victory in Europe Day was the public holiday celebrated on 8 May 1945 to mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces.It thus marked the end of World War II in Europe. -
Bombing of 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. Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Japan’s Emperor Hirohito then announced his country’s unconditional surrender in World War II. -
V-J Day
Victory over Japan Day is a name chosen for the day on which Japan surrendered, in effect ending World War II, and subsequent anniversaries of that event. On September 2, 1945, a formal surrender ceremony was performed in Tokyo Bay, Japan, aboard a battleship.
