Timeline of World War II 1930-1945

1. Timeline of World War II 1930-1945 Part I of II

2. 1929 The World Depression 25% unemployment The questioning of Democracy (tennis story)

3. 1931 Japan Invades Manchuria China, it violates the Versailles Treaty

4. Mussolini’s tanks, machine guns, poison gas, and airplanes overwhelmed the country. The League of Nations voted to stop selling weapons to Italy. 1931 Italy Invades Ethiopia

5. 1933 Hitler comes to power Beginning of Anti-Semitism: Hostility towards Jews

6. 1935 Hitler defies Treaty of Versailles by building up his army. The world thought Hitler was better than communism.

7. The Spanish Civil War: 1936A testing ground for Hitler's weapons. Guernica: Why did Pablo Picasso paint this Cubist piece of art following the war?

8. 1938 Kristallnacht: The night of the broken glass. Beginning of Anti-Semitism

9. Germany annexed Austria in 1938

10. Hitler’s next victim, Czechoslovakia Sept. 1938

11. 1938 Appeasement: giving in to avoid war Great Britain and France give Hitler a bone, Sudentanland.

12. April 1939: Germany Invades Denmark & Norway

13. May 1939: Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister

14. August 1939Nazi-Soviet Pact No fighting if the other went to war. Divide up Poland between them.

15. 1939September 1stHitler invades Poland bringing France and Great Britain into the war.

16. September 3 1939: Britain and France Declare War on Germany

17. Miracle of Dunkirk: The British will save 300,000 men and women from Nazi rule in France. (May 10th, 1940)

18. Battle of Britain Sept. 2nd 1940Operation Sea Lion / London Blitz190,000 tons of bombs dropped on London

19. September 27, 1940 Tripartite Pact signed between Japan, Italy and Germany

20. March Roosevelt Signs the Lend-Lease Act Lend-Lease was the name of the program under which the United States of America supplied Great Britain, the Soviet Union, China, France and other Allied nations with vast amounts of war material between 1941 and 1945.

21. June 1941Invasion of Russia by Hitler “Operation Barbarossa” The Russians lost 2.5 million people defending their country. As the Russians were forced backwards they burned crops and destroyed factories. However, Hitler was successful he forgot about -20 degree temps and winter.

22. September, 1941Hitler Makes Jews Wear Star of David Hitler will pull many trains and supplies back from the front in Russia to begin moving on his FINAL SOLUTION. The Jews will first be moved into ghettos, and from there moved into death camps. More than 6 million Jews will be decimated.

23. December 7, 1941Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor Japan had been trying to conquer China for years and was using 12,000 tons of fuel a day. Most of their resources were purchased from the US. We decided to FREEZE trade with Japan. (80% of oil came from US)

24. Pearl HarborDec. 7, 1941 2403 Americans will die and we will lose 19 ships on this dreadful day.

25. United States Action • US Declares war on Japan • April 1942 Japanese-Americans sent to relocation centers • Begins policy of “island hopping.” • Drops 2 atomic bombs on Japanese soil. (Hiroshima & Nagasaki)

26. World War II1942-45 Part II

27. Battles of Midway and Coral Sea • Occurred six months after Pearl Harbor • Allies attacked Japanese fleets • U.S. won and weakened Japanese • Allowed U.S. to take an offensive position

28. Midway Atoll

29. November 1942 Operations Supercharge and Torch Begin in North Africa In Egypt the British commander Montgomery stopped the German generals (Rommel) advance. Victories in Africa will allow the US and the British to defeat the Italians within a month.

30. July 1942 Battle of Stalingrad begins Hitler will lose 300,000 men. Soldiers were street fighting and would fight for 2 weeks for one building. Hitler will lose this battle.

31. 1943 July 9, 1943: U.S. and British takes Italy and Mussolini resigns

32. June 6, 1944D-Day or Operation Overlord

34. D-Day June 6th, 1944 • Allied invasion of the Coast of France at Normandy • 176,000 troops • Allies suffered horrible losses • Eventually broke through German lines • Resulted in the liberation of France from Germans

35. August 1944Liberation of Paris

36. December 1944Battle of the Bulge • The goal of these operations as planned by the Germans was to split the British and American Allied line in half, capturing Antwerp and then proceeding to encircle and destroy four Allied armies, forcing the Western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty in the Axis’ favor. The US troops had more casualties here than anywhere else, 19,000.

37. January 1945Soviets Liberate Auschwitz

38. February 1945 Dresden is Destroyed by Allied Bombing This was a 10 day bombing period that bombed a huge industrial center killing 135,000 people.

39. April 30, 1945Adolf Hitler commits suicide and his body is burned.

40. May 7, 1945Unconditional Surrender by Germany

41. May 8, 1945V-E (Victory in Europe) Day

42. Ending the war with the Japanese • Military leaders estimated that an attack on Japan would cost allies 1 million men Alternative: -Manhattan Project • Production of an atomic bomb

44. To use or not to use that is the question? • Truman decided to use the bomb against Japan • Hiroshima August 6, 1945 70,000 died • Nagasaki August 9, 1945 40,000 died • Japan Surrenders (Emperor Hirohito)

45. Little known facts: The atomic bombs left shadows of people and things burned into the concrete in Japan. The shadows would be their for 10 years after the dropping of the bomb.

46. THE WAR IS OVER