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Germany & The Soviet Union invade Poland 

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Germany & The Soviet Union invade Poland 

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Stalin and Hitler signed the German Soviet pact in August of 1939, which paved the way for the invasion of Poland. On September 1, 1939 under Hitlers rule Germany invades Poland. Hitler accused people in Poland of persecuting ethnic Germans that lived in Poland. Two days later Britain and France, allies of Poland declared war on Germany.

Why it was significant:
The invasion of Poland is essentially what sparked World War 2

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German invades western Europe, German forces invaded Belgium and the Netherlands, they used something called lightning war or Blitzkrieg, a military tactic that uses speed of movement intended to achieve victory quickly.

Why this is important:
This invasion resulted in many Jews under German control.

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Germany invaded northern France in the early 1940s, once again using the strategy of blitzkrieg. Now that Germany had control of Dunkirk, France, they had an advantage over British soldiers and allied troops were caught in a pincer. A pincer is a military tactic that attacks from both sides. In the battle of Dunkirk British soldiers were surrounded on the beach. Germany had trapped them and cut off all the British's supplies, they had no resources, no food, or communication to get help.

Why it is significant:

The battle of Dunkirk boosted morale. If all the men would have been captured it would have been the loss of some of Britain's only trained troops and overall would have been the collapse of the allies.

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On March 11, 1941 the United States began the Lend-Lease policy. This policy allowed President Franklin Roosevelt to lend rather than sell supplies such as food, oil, and war supplies to the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union.

Why is this significant:
The United States played a role in helping the allies even before they were "forced" to join the war. The United states played a huge role in ending this war.

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Click through this timeline to better understand how the Axis and Allies engaged in conflict throughout the Pacific between 1935 and 1945.

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Strain between Japan and the United States had been going on for decades before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Japan had been on route for global expansion, they forced their way into China and were the reason for many mass killings. The United States was supporting the Chinese against the Japanese. Because of this the U.S. stopped shipments of certain materials such as airplanes, machine tools, and oil. The plan for attacking pearl harbor was to stop the U.S.’s pacific ships, which would give the Japanese time to continue taking control of the Pacific without the U.S. interfering. On December 7, 1941 Japan bombed the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor.

Why it was significant:

Pearl Harbor forced the United States into world war 2. With the U.S. in the war Japan will later on surrender after the dropping of the atomic bomb.

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Isaroku Yamamoto, a commander of the Japanese navy wanted to replicate the success of Pearl Harbor and take down the U.S. with a surprise attack on the base at Midway Island. However this plan became faulty when the U.S. Navy began breaking Japan's communication codes. The U.S. knew about Yamamoto's plan weeks before the attack took place so they were able to prepare and listen in on the Japanese navy’s plans. After a battle between Japan and the U.S. the knowledge gained through breaking communications left the U.S. as victors.

Why it was significant:

The victory of the United States left Japan on the defensive side for the rest of world war 2. The loss drained Japanese morale which “turned the tide” for the remainder of the war.

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Under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, Russian forces had stopped a German attack in the west. The goal of that German attack was to take over Moscow. Despite other suspicion Hitler and the Nazis had their eyes set on Stalingrad the city served as an industrial center in Russia that produced artillery for the country’s troops. Hitler wanted all the men in Stalingrad to be killed and the women to be deported. The Russians in Stalingrad already had an idea of what Hitler wanted and they shipped out much of the artillery, but many people had not yet evacuated. After a lot of fighting, as winter came German soldiers grew weak and Russia became victorious.

Why it was significant:

This was one of Hitlers first losses that put Germany on the defensive side for the first time and the win for Russia boosted morale as it continued to battle on the eastern front

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After WW1 Germany had power in northwestern France. The Americans and the British were planning a major allied invasion on northwestern France. Hitler was aware of these plans about an attack but didn't know where it would take place. A deception plan was taking place in order to trick german troops about where the invasion would be, leading them away from normandy where it would actually take place. After lots of planning the invasion was a success, after less than a week on June 11 allied troops had successfully taken over the beaches.

Why it was significant:

The allies defeated Germany and caused Germany to surrender. The win of this battle caught Hitler off guard and left him weaker as he was confused and questioning many things.

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U.S. drops atomic bombs on Japanese Cities

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U.S. drops atomic bombs on Japanese Cities

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Even before the United States dropped the atomic bombs on these Japanese cities they had been planning it for years. Around the time the bombs were dropped Germany had been previously defeated by allied powers. But Japan was different, they vowed to fight to the end in the Pacific although they had little chance of winning. Although there are many reason been said about why the U.S. dropped these atomic bombs, one of them was that President Truman wanted to avoid a hight casualty rate. Truman hoped that the dropping of the bombs would lead to a quick end to the war.

Why it is significant:

Many historians have come to their conclusion that they believe the dropping of the atomic bombs are what led to the cold war. It also helped to progress to the end of World War 2.

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Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - Causes, Impact & Lives Lost

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On August 6, 1945, during World War II (1939-45), an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima, immediately killing 80,000 people. Three days later, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people.

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In the summer of 1945 the Japanese navy and air force were destroyed. They demilitarized, the US occupied Japan until they got rid of all their weapons, boats, and planes.