W
orld War II began on September 1, 1939, when Adolf Hitler invaded Poland. The United States tried to remain neutral until a crushing blow at Pearl Harbor sent America overseas in all directions to fight against fascist regimes. The war cost millions of lives, resulted in the use of atomic bombs, mortified the world with the Holocaust, and proved democracy could triumph over the totalitarian state.
Timeline
Other: Japan attacks Pearl Harbor
Dec 7, 1941
Other: Japan surrenders
Aug 14, 1945
Other: Wannsee Conference implements the Final Solution
Jan 1942
Other: Battle of Britain
Other: France surrenders to Nazi army
Jun 22, 1940
Other: Soviet troops liberate Auschwitz
Jan 27, 1945
Other: Formal Japanese surrender, V-J day
Sep 2, 1945
Other: Battle of Iwo Jima
Other: U.S. forces invade Okinawa
Apr 1, 1945
Other: Hitler commits suicide
Apr 30, 1945
Other: First day of the Nuremberg Trials
Nov 20, 1945
Other: Munich Conference
Sep 29, 1938
Other: Hitler declares himself Fuhrer
Aug 2, 1934
Other: Kristallnacht (“Night of Broken Glass”)
Nov 9, 1938
Other: Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
Aug 23, 1939
Other: Nazi Army invades Poland
Sep 1, 1939
American Losses: Other Deaths in Service
113,842
American Losses: Battle Deaths
291,557
American Losses: Non-mortal Woundings
671,846
American Losses: Total Servicemembers (Worldwide)
16,112,566
American Losses: Total Casualties
1,077,245
Location
Manila, Philippines
Location
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
Location
Moscow, Russia
Location
London, England
Location
Hiroshima, Japan
Location
Nagasaki, Japan
Other: V-E Day
May 8, 1945
Other: U.S. Enters the War
Dec 8, 1941
Location
Normandy, France
Other: Battle of Midway
Other: Battle of the Bulge
Other: D-Day Invasion of France
Jun 6, 1944
Other: Battle of Leyte Gulf
Other: Battle of Stalingrad
Location
Okinawa, Japan
Location
Berlin, Germany
Other Facts
U.S. General, Europe
General Dwight D. Eisenhower
Germany
Adolf Hitler
U.S. General, Pacific
General Douglas MacArthur
Great Britain, Prime Minister
Winston Churchill
Italy
Benito Mussolini
U.S. President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Soviet Union
Joseph Stalin
