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Began on September 1, 1939

Germany justified the invasion with false claims of Polish persecution of ethnic Germans.

The attack involved over 1.5 million troops including tanks, bombers and fighter planes.

Polish defenses were quickly defeated by the german forces

History.com

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Began on December 7, 1941

Hundreds of Japanese planes surprise attacked the US Navy base

More than 20 ships and 300 planes were attacked and more than 2,400 people were killed

The next day the US declared war on Japan

https://www.history.com/articles/pearl-harbor

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Began on March 24, 1945

Tuskegee airmen set out on the longest escort mission they would fly during WWII

Bombers ran a gauntlet of over 1600 miles into the hear of Hitler's germany and back

https://www.history.com/articles/the-tuskegee-airmen-5-fascinating-facts

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First nuclear explosion July 16, 1945

Plutonium implosion device was tested at a site 210 miles south of Los Alamos, New Mexico

The code name for the test was "Trinity."

The success of the Trinity test meant the U.S. military could use an atomic bomb

https://www.afnwc.af.mil/About-Us/History/Trinity-Nuclear-Test/#:~:text=Department%20of%20Energy)-,The%20world's%20first%20nuclear%20explosion%20occurred%20on%20July%2016%2C%201945,the%20test%20was%20%22Trinity.%22

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Began 1942-1945

The Tuskegee Airmen trained in the Great Lakes after graduation

Nearly 200 planes crashed into the Great Lakes during WW2

they used P-47 and P-51 airplanes

P-47 and P-51 airplanes were used for escorting bombers and engaging in air-to-air combat

https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/18aviatorsdown/history.html

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/sites/default/files/2017-07/tuskegee-airmen.pdf

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It began on December 13, 1937.

Manchuria was an industrial area known for its rich mineral and coal reserves.

The Japanese army captured Nanjing and killed as many as 300,000 civilians.

Also killed numerous unarmed Chinese soldiers.

https://sfi.usc.edu/collections/nanjing-massacre

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In December of 1937, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese military invaded Nanjing, China, and engaged in a campaign of mass killing. Some of the witnesses live on in our Nanjing collection.

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Midway Atoll, United States Minor Outlying Islands

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Began June 1942 and ended a couple hours later

Marked a turning point in the Pacific War

Planes engaged in dogfights

The US Navy won.

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Began in June 1944

American carrier-based aircraft, including Hellcats and Avengers, clashed with Japanese aircraft in a battle

The sheer scale of the engagement solidified the shift in air power in favor of the Allies.

The Battle of the Philippine Sea earned the moniker "The Marianas Turkey Shoot"

https://avi-8.com/blogs/the-aviation-journal/dogfights-in-the-pacific-legendary-aerial-battles-of-world-war-ii?srsltid=AfmBOopYpZy_hW8SZeFRY1MBjc-6zyFoyNk6-RQEzG5V4EXVn9mYwVpi

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Began September 3, 1939 and ended May 8, 1945

World War II's longest continuous campaign

Over five years, thousands of ships engage in 100-plus battles in the Atlantic Ocean

100,000 lives lost

history.com

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It began on October 3, 1935.

The Italians committed atrocities against the independent African state.

Poisonous gas, aerial bombardment, flame throwers, and concentration camps were all involved.

https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/ethiopia-invaded/

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Ethiopia, one of the only two independent African nations at the time, was invaded on Oct. 3, 1935 by Fascist Italy under Benito Mussolini.

The Italians committed countless atrocities on the independent African state. Poisonous gas, aerial bombardment, flame throwers, and concentration camps were all employed.

Black outrage throughout the world was unified. The League of Nations, forerunner to the United Nations, was criticized sharply.

From Kingston to Johannesburg, from Detroit to Ghana, from Port-of-Spain to Paris, Black men and women offered to go fight in defense of Ethiopia. [From BlackFacts.]

In The Forgotten Fight Against Fascism, William Katz describes the organized response by African Americans in the United States,

In the midst of a worldwide "Great Depression," citizens in the distant United States were aroused to help Ethiopia. Black men trained for military action - an estimated 8,000 in Chicago, 5,000 in Detroit, 2,000 in Kansas City. In New York City, where a thousand men drilled, nurse Salaria Kea of Harlem Hospital collected funds that sent a 75-bed hospital and two tons of medical supplies to Ethiopia.

W. E. B. Du Bois and Paul Robeson addressed a "Harlem League Against War and Fascism" rally and A. Philip Randolph linked Mussolini's invasion to "the terrible repression of Black people in the United States."

A people's march for Ethiopia in Harlem drew 25,000 African Americans and anti-fascist Italian Americans.

Read the " Appeal to the League of Nations " by Haile Selassie, June, 1936. Here is an excerpt:

I, Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia, am here today to claim that justice which is due to my people, and the assistance promised to it eight months ago, when fifty nations asserted that aggression had been committed in violation of international treaties.

There is no precedent for a Head of State himself speaking in this assembly. But there is also no precedent for a people being victim of such injustice and being at present threatened by abandonment to its aggressor.

Also, there has never before been an example of any Government proceeding to the systematic extermination of a nation by barbarous means, in violation of the most solemn promises made by the nations of the earth that there should not be used against innocent human beings the terrible poison of harmful gases.

It is to defend a people struggling for its age-old independence that the head of the Ethiopian Empire has come to Geneva to fulfil this supreme duty, after having himself fought at the head of his armies.

. . . What reply shall I have to take back to my people?

Learn more at BlackPast.

We welcome photos or newspaper reports on the international solidarity described in this post. Please email to: zep@zinnedproject.org

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Oct. 3, 1935: Ethiopia Invaded by Italy - Zinn Education Project

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Ethiopia, one of the only two independent African nations at the time, was invaded on Oct. 3, 1935 by Fascist Italy under Benito Mussolini. The Italians committed countless atrocities on the independent African state. Poisonous gas, aerial bombardment, flame throwers, and concentration camps were all employed. Black outrage throughout the world was unified.

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It began on May 26 and ended on June 4, 1940

A German invasion around the French coastal town of Dunkirk

Adolf Hitler halting Germany's advance there,

Germany claims victory

history.com

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It began on September 2, 1945.

Japanese representatives signed the official instrument of surrender.

Signed the importance attached to the Emperor's role by the Americans.

https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/surrender-of-japan#:~:text=On%20September%202%2C%201945%2C%20Japanese,Truman.

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Transcript

INSTRUMENT OF SURRENDER

We, acting by command of and in behalf of the Emperor of Japan, the Japanese Government and the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, hereby accept the provisions set forth in the declaration issued by the heads of the Governments of the United States, China, and Great Britain on 26 July 1945 at Potsdam, and subsequently adhered to by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which four powers are hereafter referred to as the Allied Powers.

We hereby proclaim the unconditional surrender to the Allied Powers of the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters and of all Japanese armed forces and all armed forces under the Japanese control wherever situated.

We hereby command all Japanese forces wherever situated and the Japanese people to cease hostilities forthwith, to preserve and save from damage all ships, aircraft, and military and civil property and to comply with all requirements which my be imposed by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers or by agencies of the Japanese Government at his direction.

We hereby command the Japanese Imperial Headquarters to issue at once orders to the Commanders of all Japanese forces and all forces under Japanese control wherever situated to surrender unconditionally themselves and all forces under their control.

We hereby command all civil, military and naval officials to obey and enforce all proclamations, and orders and directives deemed by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers to be proper to effectuate this surrender and issued by him or under his authority and we direct all such officials to remain at their posts and to continue to perform their non-combatant duties unless specifically relieved by him or under his authority.

We hereby undertake for the Emperor, the Japanese Government and their successors to carry out the provisions of the Potsdam Declaration in good faith, and to issue whatever orders and take whatever actions may be required by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers or by any other designated representative of the Allied Powers for the purpose of giving effect to that Declaration.

We hereby command the Japanese Imperial Government and the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters at once to liberate all allied prisoners of war and civilian internees now under Japanese control and to provide for their protection, care, maintenance and immediate transportation to places as directed.

The authority of the Emperor and the Japanese Government to rule the state shall be subject to the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers who will take such steps as he deems proper to effectuate these terms of surrender.

Signed at TOKYO BAY, JAPAN at 0904 I on the SECOND day of SEPTEMBER, 1945

MAMORU SHIGMITSU
By Command and in behalf of the Emperor
of Japan and the Japanese Government

YOSHIJIRO UMEZU
By Command and in behalf of the Japanese
Imperial General Headquarters

Accepted at TOKYO BAY, JAPAN at 0903 I on the SECOND day of SEPTEMBER, 1945, for the United States, Republic of China, United Kingdom and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and in the interests of the other United Nations at war with Japan.

DOUGLAS MAC ARTHUR
Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers

C.W. NIMITZ
United States Representative

HSU YUNG-CH'ANG
Republic of China Representative

BRUCE FRASER
United Kingdom Representative

KUZMA DEREVYANKO
Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics Representative

THOMAS BLAMEY
Commonwealth of Australia
Representative

L. MOORE COSGRAVE
Dominion of Canada Representative

JACQUES LE CLERC
Provisional Government of the French
Republic Representative

C.E.L. HELFRICH
Kingdom of the Netherlands
Representative

LEONARD M. ISITT
Dominion of New Zealand Representative

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EnlargeDownload Link Citation: Instrument of Surrender; September 2, 1945; Records of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff; Record Group 218; National Archives. View All Pages in the National Archives Catalog View Transcript Aboard the USS Missouri, this instrument of surrender was signed on September 2, 1945, by the Japanese envoys Foreign Minister Mamora Shigemitsu and Gen.

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Born 1929 died February 1945

Anne was 10 years old, Nazi Germany invaded Poland

The diary Anne received for her 13th birthday, and she was famous for her short stories about when she was hiding.

https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/who-was-anne-frank/

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Born September 30, 1928, and died July 2, 2016

Holocaust survivor, author, Nobel Peace Prize winner

Ellie was 15 when he was captured by the Nazis and sent away to a concentration camp

He is most famous for his book, Night, which describes his experiences in the Holocaust

TCi Textbook, Pages 426-427

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Began in 1942.

A surgeon named Dr. Lytle sent a letter to the White House with an idea for a weapon that he believed would wreak havoc on Japan.

The idea was to attach explosive devices to bats and drop them out of a plane.

The weapon was named bat bombs.

Inspired by a trip to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.

https://www.history.com/articles/weird-weapons-world-war-ii

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7 Weird Weapons From World War II | HISTORY

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From dead rats implanted with bombs, to a giant explosive wheel, these World War II weapons were creative, but not very successful.

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On February 3, 1945, they sailed for Britain

They worked seven days a week.

They organized the mail by creating information cards with serial numbers for proper identification.

https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/6888th.htm#:~:text=The%20unit%20was%20broken%20into,who%20it%20was%20intended%20for.

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Began in January 1933 and ended in May 1945

Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power in Germany.

Nazis targeted jews because they were prejudiced against and hated Jews.

The Nazis blamed jews for Germany’s defeat in World War I

By the end of the war, 6 million Jews and millions of other victims were dead.

Nazis used the government to target and eliminate Jews from German society.

They also enacted discriminatory laws and organized violence targeting Germany's Jews.

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/introduction-to-the-holocaust

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Began on April to May 1945

Three Soviet army groups attacked the city from the north, east, and south

Hitler, who was trying to save Berlin, ordered all men not already in the army, most were either young, old, or sick, to take up arms.

https://www.worldatlas.com/world-wars/major-battles-of-world-war-ii.html

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Began on April 1 and ended June 22, 1945

About 12,000 Allied troops and 100,000 Japanese soldiers died.

Many local Okinawans committed suicide rather than surrendering

There was the American decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

https://www.worldatlas.com/world-wars/major-battles-of-world-war-ii.html

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Started June 1944

The Allies attacked Germany to retake France

At the same time, the Soviets pushed the Germans out of Bulgaria and Romania

https://www.worldatlas.com/world-wars/major-battles-of-world-war-ii.html

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Happened in 1942

A 20-year-old, Naomi Parker was working in a machine shop.

In the picture, released through the Acme photo agency, she was bent over a machine.

She was wearing a jumpsuit and heels, with her hair tied back in a polka-dot bandana for safety.

2018, she finally got recognization from the picture.

She was the inspiration for the WWII-era poster girl "Rosie the Riveter"

Died at the age of 96.

https://www.history.com/articles/rosie-the-riveter-inspiration

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Began in July and ended August 1943

Hitler wanted to win this battle to stop the Soviet counteroffensive

This was the last significant military operation

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Began June 22, 1941

Hitler wanted to invade Saint Petersburg, Moscow, and ukraine

A fierce battle in the winter of 1941 to 1942 pushed the Army Group Center from Moscow

Nearly 8 million casualties

https://www.worldatlas.com/world-wars/major-battles-of-world-war-ii.html

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Began on July 10 and ended October 31, 1940

Britain's Royal Air Force and Navy respond to heavy bombing attacks from Germany's Luftwaffe air force

The total British civilian losses were 23 thousand dead and 32,138 wounded, in which almost 3,000 civilians died.

https://www.history.com/articles/world-war-ii-battles-timeline

https://www.normandy1944.info/home/battles/the-battle-of-britain

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Began May 20 to June 1, 1941

Nazi paratroopers invaded the Greek island of Crete

Resulted in heavy losses for the Germans, but fearing a sea assault, Allied forces soon withdrew and evacuated in defeat.

Nearly 4,000 Allies and more than 3,000 Germans were killed. Hitler decries.

https://www.history.com/articles/world-war-ii-battles-timeline

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Began October 2, 1941 to January 7, 1942

The Axis launches a campaign to capture the capital city of Moscow before winter sets in.

The Soviets brought in reinforcements

There was losses on both sides during harsh weather, the Germans were eventually beaten back and forced to retreat.

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September 1939.

Two days after Germany invaded Poland, Britain and France declared war against Germany.

Then WWII started and multiple countries recovering from the traumatic events from WWI.

They tried to remain neutral to avoid invasion and more deaths

https://www.history.com/articles/neutral-countries-world-war-ii

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How the Neutral Countries in World War II Weren’t So Neutral | HISTORY

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Neutrality was often more complex than simply avoiding choosing sides.

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Began in 1933

During World War II, German propaganda highlighted the strength and superiority of the German military while portraying the British and Allied forces in a negative light.

The Allies were depicted either as cowardly and ruthless or as courageous but led astray.

Russian soldiers, in particular, were dehumanized and shown as brutal, fearless killers who charged into battle without concern for their own lives.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goebbels-propaganda/#:~:text=During%20World%20War%20II%20German,attacked%20without%20fear%20of%20death.

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The Man Behind Hitler | Article

USHMM, Courtesy of Library of Congress

"The essence of propaganda consists in winning people over to an idea so sincerely, so vitally, that in the end they succumb to it utterly and can never again escape from it," wrote Joseph Goebbels in his diary. Adolph Hitler agreed. Following the Nazis' rise to power in 1933, he established a Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda with Goebbels as its head. Goebbels promoted the Nazi message through art, music, theater, films, books, radio, and the press, and censored all opposition. Goebbels worked to inflame the anger of Germans over their defeat in World War I and emphasized German cultural and military achievements to boost national pride. He played an important role in creating an atmosphere in Germany that made it possible for the Nazis to commit terrible atrocities against Jews and other minorities.

War and Propaganda
During World War II German propaganda emphasized the prowess of the German army and contrasted it with the British and Allied armies who were depicted as cowards and butchers, or brave but misguided. Russian troops were presented as dehumanized beasts and killers who attacked without fear of death. After the Nazi loss at Stalingrad in February 1943, Goebbels admitted recent losses and argued for total war in his famous Sportpalast speech. While the new strategy prolonged the war, Goebbels recognized that his efforts were failing. A month before his suicide in Berlin, he took note of the Allied propaganda being directed back at him. "Enemy propaganda is beginning to have an uncomfortably noticeable effect on the German people. Anglo-American leaflets are now no longer carelessly thrown aside but are read attentively; British broadcasts have a grateful audience."

British Propaganda
The radio broadcasts were the handiwork of the British Political Warfare Executive (P.W.E.), created by Winston Churchill in 1941 to disseminate propaganda that would damage enemy morale. The British Broadcasting Company's foreign language broadcasts became a key element in the Allied campaign for German loyalties. By 1945 the British had established more than 40 clandestine pseudo-German radio stations using powerful American transmitters. The P.W.E. also delivered subversive messages to the German people through so-called black propaganda, printed postcards and leaflets dropped behind enemy lines. Though a product of Hollywood, William Wyler's award-winning Mrs. Miniver (1942) portrayed the struggle on the British home front and glorified Britain's resolve to fight. The film ended with a rousing sermon in a bombed-out church: "This is the people's war. It is our war. We are the fighters. Fight it, then. Fight it with all that is in us, and may God defend the right." United States President Franklin Roosevelt found the speech so inspiring that he had it printed and airdropped over the European front.

American Propaganda
The Office of War Information (O.W.I.) was the source of such propaganda in the U.S. In 1941 most Americans, especially those who remembered World War I, were still isolationist, believing that their country should rebuild following the Great Depression, not fight a distant war. After the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, most were convinced to support the war, but Roosevelt created the O.W.I. in 1942 to boost wartime production at home and undermine enemy morale in Europe, Asia, and Africa. OWI photographers documented aspects of homefront life and culture such as women in the workforce, and dealt with a wide array of morale issues such as the question of using Japanese Americans as soldiers, and "subversive activities" like the Los Angeles zoot suit riots.

Highly Visible Messages
Other propaganda came in the form of posters, movies, and even cartoons. Inexpensive, accessible, and ever-present in schools, factories, and store windows, posters helped to mobilize Americans to war. A representative poster encouraged Americans to "Stop this Monster that Stops at Nothing. PRODUCE to the Limit!" It depicted a monster with two heads, one Nazi, one Japanese, clutching the Statue of Liberty in one hand and fending off American advances with the other. Nearby a hand holds a wrench with the inscription "production" -- the key to winning the war.

Movies and Cartoons
While most propaganda aimed to boost patriotism, some took on racist overtones. Director Frank Capra produced seven films called Why We Fight, which portrayed Germany, Italy and Japan as nations of inhuman murderers. As World War II progressed, the O.W.I. had a hand in Hollywood, which churned out patriotic films such as Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) with James Cagney, Pin-Up Girl (1944) with Betty Grable as a USO entertainer, and Anchors Aweigh (1945) with Gene Kelly as a dancing sailor. Even cartoon characters got into the act. Warner Brothers sent Popeye and Bugs Bunny to fight the Japanese, while Disney released a short showing Donald Duck incapacitating Hitler with a ripe tomato. The war, movies and cartoons did their part to keep Americans focused on the war effort, even as they were being entertained. The Allied forces fought long and hard against the Nazis in the air and on the ground, but also with the powerful tool of propaganda.

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World War II Propaganda | American Experience | PBS

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The Man Behind Hitler | Article "The essence of propaganda consists in winning people over to an idea so sincerely, so vitally, that in the end they succumb to it utterly and can never again escape from it," wrote Joseph Goebbels in his diary. Adolph Hitler agreed.