Matt D's Modern World History Assignment Period 4 - WWII

Homepage/TimeLine

This is my WW2 Homepage I hope you like it.

1938

April 10

Having annexed Austria in March, Germany's Adolph Hitler calls a plebiscite which shows that more than 99 percent of Austrians favor union with Germany's Third Reich.

November 9

The largest pogrom in German history takes place, as Jewish shop windows are smashed, and the shops, as well as homes and synagogues, are looted, destroyed and burned. Between 20,000 and 30,000 Jews are taken to concentration camps.

1939

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August 23

Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia sign a mutual non-aggression pact

September 1

German troops and aircraft attack Poland. Soviet troops will invade Poland from the east on September 17, and Poland will surrender to the Germans on September 27.

September 3

Great Britain and France formally declare war on Germany. 

November 4

Although President Roosevelt has declared American neutrality in the war in Europe, a Neutrality Act is signed that allows the US to send arms and other aid to Britain and France.  

1940

March 18

Mussolini and Hitler announce Italy's formal alliance with Germany against England and France. 

May 10

The German Blitzkrieg begins, as Rotterdam and other Dutch cities are attacked from the air..

June 10

Italy declares war on Britain and France, and U.S. President Roosevelt announces a shift from neutrality to more active support for the Allies against the Axis.    

September 27

Germany, Italy and Japan enter into a 10-year military and economic alliance that comes to be known as the "Axis". 

1941   

June 22

German troops invade Soviet Russia, breaking the "nonaggression" pact signed in 1939. 

December 7

Just before 8 a.m360 Japanese planes attack Pearl Harbor, the U.S. military base on the Hawiian island of Oahu. The attack cripples the U.S. Pacific fleet, and kills more than 2,300 American soldiers, sailors, and civilians. The attack precedes Japan's formal declaration of war, which is delivered by the Japanese foreign minister to the U.S. embassy in Tokyo more than seven hours later.

December 8

President Roosevelt addresses the U.S. Congress, saying that December 7 is "a date that will live in infamy." After a vote of 82-0 in the U.S. Senate, and 388-1 in the House, in favor of declaring war on Japan, Roosevelt signs the declaration of war.

December 11

Germany and Italy declare war on the U.S. President Roosevelt calls an end to official U.S. neutrality in the war in Europe, declaring war on Germany and Italy.
 

1942

February 19

Executive Order 9066 is signed by President Roosevelt, authorizing the transfer of more than 100,000 Japanese-Americans living in coastal Pacific areas to concentration camps in various inland states (and including inland areas of California). The interned Japanese-Americans lose an estimated 400 million dollars in property, as their homes and possessions are taken from them.       

April 9

The Philippines fall to Japanese troops.

May 14

The U.S. Congress establishes The Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) 

June 21

German field marshal Erwin Rommel and his troops capture Tobruk, in Libya.

June 28

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) captures eight German agents that have landed by U-boat on Long Island.   

August 22

The Battle of Stalingrad begins. The battle will claim the lives of 750,000 Russian soldiers, 400,000 German soldiers, nearly 200,000 Romanian soldiers, 130,000 Italian soldiers, and 120,000 Hungarian soldiers.

September 16

The Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS) are established in the U.S.. The armed forces will be supplied with more than 1000 auxiliary pilots through this organization.    

December 24

In Germany, the first surface-to-surface guided missile is launched in Peenemunde. The rocket has been designed by 30 year-old rocket engineer Wernher von Braun.

1943

January 11

President Roosevelt submits his budget to the U.S. Congress. 100 billion of the 109-billion-dollar budget is identified with the war effort.

July 5

The Battle of Kursk begins. Soviet troops will eventually defeat the Germans, after a week of heavy fighting and tens of thousands of casualties on both sides.

July 9

An invasion of Sicily begins by British paratroopers and American airborne troops.

November 6

Soviet troops retake Kiev.

1944

January 20

Russian troops recapture Novgorod, and will retake Leningrad a week later. 

June 6

"D-Day": The Allied invasion of Europe commences just after midnight, as more than 175,000 troops land at Normandy. The largest invasion force in history, it includes 4,000 invasion ships, 600 warships, and 10,000 planes. 

July 3

The Russian city of Minsk is retaken by Russian troops, and 100,000 Germans are captured.

July 20

An assassination attempt on Adolph Hitler, planned by some of Hitler's generals, is unsuccessful.

August 25

Paris is liberated by Allied French troops, after four years of German occupation.

December 16

The Battle of the Bulge begins. It the last major German counteroffensive, as allied troops are pushed back in Belgium's Ardennes Forest. As Allied lines fall back, a "bulge" is created in the center of the line, giving the battle its familiar name Two weeks of intense fighting in brutal winter weather follow before the German offensive is stopped.

1945

January 26

Russian troops find fewer than 3,000 survivors, when they liberate Auschwitz, the Polish death camp. The German S.S. has moved many of the remaining prisoners to camps inside Germany. From 1939 to 1945, one third of the Jews living in the world will have died in German concentration and extermination camps.

February 13

British planes attack the German city of Dresden, bombing with phosphorus and high explosives; the firestorm created by the bombing kills an estimated 135,000.

March 16

On Iwo Jima, a month-long struggle comes to an end, as U.S. forces capture the 8-square-mile island. Possessing Japan's last line of radar defense to warn against American air attacks, Iwo Jima is a strategically significant prelude to the invasion of Okinawa.

April 12

After suffering a massive cerebral hemorrhage, President Roosevelt dies. He is 63. Vice-President Harry S. Truman (1884-1972) is sworn in as President.

April 28

At Lake Como, in Italy, Benito Mussolini and 12 of his former Cabinet officers are executed. German forces in Italy will surrender unconditionally on the 29th.

April 30

With Russian shells falling on Berlin, Hitler marries his mistress Eva Braun in his bombproof Berlin bunker. He then poisons her and kills himself. His remains are never recovered.
 

May 7

Germany surrenders unconditionally to General Eisenhower at Rheims, France, and to the Soviets in Berlin. President Truman pronounces the following day, May 8, V-E Day. The U.S., Russia, England, and France agree to split occupied Germany into eastern and western halves.

August 6

The U.S B-29 Superfortress, Enola Gay, drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese industrial city of Hiroshima. The city is leveled, and an estimated 100,000 people are killed immediately (another 100,000 will die later from radiation sickness and burns). On August 9, a second bomb will be dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki.
 

August 10

The Japanese ask for peace after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and U.S. President Truman declares that August 14th will be V-J (Victory over Japan) Day.