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Germany Invades Poland
LOCATION: Poland Germans attack Poland which causes the Allied Powers France and Britain to formally declare war on Germany. -
Germans bomb Paris
LOCATION: Paris Paris was bombed by the Germans, resulting in 45 deaths and 149 people being wounded for a total of 194 affected by the bombings. -
Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor
LOCATION: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Japanese fighter planes, bombed Pearl Harbor sinking most of the American Naval fleet and killing thousands of servicemen. -
Battle of Midway
LOCATION: Midway Islands The Battle of Midway, fought over and near the tiny U.S. mid-Pacific base at Midway atoll, represents the strategic high water mark of Japan's Pacific Ocean war. Prior to this action, Japan possessed general naval superiority over the United States and could usually choose where and when to attack. After Midway, the two opposing fleets were essentially equals, and the United States soon took the offensive. -
D-Day
LOCATION: Normandy, France 60,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end on June 6, the Allies gained a foot- hold in Normandy. -
Soviets capture Warsaw
LOCATION: Warsaw, Poland Soviet troops liberate the Polish capital from German occupation. After Stalin mobilized 180 divisions against the Germans in Poland and East Prussia, Gen. Georgi Zhukov’s troops crossed the Vistula north and south of the Polish capital, liberating the city from Germans—and grabbing it for the USSR. By that time, Warsaw’s prewar population of approximately 1.3 million had been reduced to a mere 153,000. -
The Yalta Conference
LOCATION: Livadia Palace near Yalta in Crimea. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, along with U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt and Soviet Leader Josef Stalin, attend the conference at Yalta for the purpose of discussing Europe's post-war reorganization. -
FDR Dies, Truman Becomes President
LOCATION: Washington D.C In Washington, President Roosevelt's health had noticeably deteriorated. Roosevelt was on the verge of leading his nation to triumph in the Second World War. Germany teetered on the brink of defeat, and the Japanese empire was crumbling under the blows of the American military. He suffered a massive stroke and died. -
Atomic Bomb Dropped on Hiroshima
LOCATION: Hiroshima, Japan At approximately 8:15 a.m. Hiroshima time the Enola Gay released "Little Boy," its 9,700-pound uranium bomb, over the city. Tibbets immediately dove away to avoid the anticipated shock wave. Forty-three seconds later, a huge explosion lit the morning sky as Little Boy detonated 1,900 feet above the city, directly over a parade field where soldiers of the Japanese Second Army were doing calisthenics. -
Nuremberg war crimes trials begin
LOCATION: Nuremberg, Germany. Held for the purpose of bringing Nazi war criminals to justice, the Nuremberg trials were a series of 13 trials carried out in Nuremberg, Germany, between 1945 and 1949. The defendants, who included Nazi Party officials and high-ranking military officers along with German industrialists, lawyers and doctors, were indicted on such charges as crimes against peace and crimes against humanity.
