World War II timeline

Development of World War II 1939 August 24th: Hitler and Stalin sign the Nazi-Soviet Pact, agreeing not to attack each other and to divide Poland between them. September: Germany and the USSR invade Poland. WWII begins. Poland collapses in a few days. Canada enters the War with Britain. The Battle of the Atlantic begins. September 2nd: Britain and France declare war on Germany, but didn't send troops to defend Poland. 1940 April: Hitler invades Denmark and Norway. Norway would provide naval bases. Winston Churchill replaces Chamberlain (British PM). May: Hitler invades France, swept the Netherlands and Belgium and conquers most of France in two months. It was called the "blitzkrieg" or "lightning war". May 26th to June 4th: 340.000 BEF and French troops were evacuated from Dunkirk. France lost 40% of its army and 80% of its equipment. June 12th: Italy declares war on France. June 21st: France surrenders and becomes part of the Axis alliance. South-east France becomes a self-governing region, run by Marshal Pétain, who declared his intention to cooperate with the Nazis. July 1st: The first German aircraft crosses the English Channel. The air war known as "Battle of Britain" begins. Britain wins this war because their air force was better than the German Luftwaffe. September: the Luftwaffe begins the air raid in London, instead of attacking the RAF. This is known

  • Word count: 891
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
Access this essay

Did the PLO's Peaceful Methods Achieve More or Less Than Terrorism

Q2-Did the PLO's Peaceful Methods Achieve More or Less Than Terrorism Since the 1960's the Arafat led PLO had gained worldwide publicity and acknowledgement for its cause of destruction against Israel. This was achieved through various peaceful methods but maybe more famous or infamous for its terrorist activities such as the Munich Olympics killings. Although the PLO was mostly remembered worldwide for its terrorist activity it was also involved in peace talks which some may view as more affective. The PLO started originally by mounting surprise, guerrilla attacks on Israeli military targets but was rapidly realized to be pointless as small, unequipped, Palestinian splinter cells were not going to unravel the might that was the Israeli army. The PLO soon resorted to terrorism which proved much more successful in attracting attention for their cause. They used several methods such as taking hostages at public events as seen at the Munich Olympics, which was especially beneficial as it was broadcast around the globe getting maximum coverage for the PLO. They also hijacked several airliners killing the people on board and blowing up the plane. Again this attracted masses of publicity. After a while Arafat realised that the terrorism was not working as well as it once was. Also Arafat saw that he was losing support from his followers as the Israelis were obviously not

  • Word count: 897
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
Access this essay

Has the USA's Role in Foreign affairs changed from 1962 to the Present day? Why has this change Occurred?

Has the USA's Role in Foreign affairs changed from 1962 to the Present day? Why has this change Occurred? The USA has always played a major role in foreign affairs but that role has changed throughout the course of history. Before 1962 America's main aim was to stop the spread of communism through the tactic of containment. Russia was the USA's biggest threat and for years they fought a Cold War with the other superpower country. From 1945 to 1962 America used war through other countries to attack communism. This way the USA and the Soviet Union weren't fighting directly. An organisation containing western powers was set up. They agreed to work together and oppose communist Russia. They called this pact NATO. In 1950 another confrontation between the USA and communism occurred called the Korean War. After the Second World War the North of Korea had been freed by the Communist Soviets and the South by the Capitalist USA. The North attempted to invade the South and another war broke out between the two beliefs. The peak of the cold war was in Autumn of 1962 when the Cuban Missile crisis occurred. It's the closest that the world has ever come to total destruction. In 1969 the Communism North of Vietnam, aided by China, began to spread to the Capitalist South and America went back to war. Many American citizens didn't agree with the invasion and after

  • Word count: 532
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
Access this essay

What were the effects of the atom bomb

There were many effects of the atomic bomb. There were Social, Economic, Military, and Political effects. When the bomb exploded at 08:16:02 there was a short bright flash of light accompanied by a heat wave lasting only 1/10th of a second. At ground zero people ceased to exist within a certain distance peoples eye balls melted. When the blast happened it sent off two shockwaves one headed towards the earth and the other shot up into the air sending the Enola gay into major turbulence. Also the blast-waves went across the land as well taking out anything in its way, it covered 2 miles per second the blast destroyed the whole of Hiroshima it took out 70,000 of the 76.000 buildings that were once standing to form a city. After the blast all supplies were cut off including gas, water, electricity these all were a danger to the surviving people that survived the blast in hiding or out of the city. Also the danger was not over yet. A firestorm emerged killing or injuring 90% of all medics. Although these were just some short term effects the bomb cased long term effects like radiation sickness (atomic plague) this causes loss of hair, bleeding, it can also cause cancer and leukaemia in the future apart from radiation sickness people suffered severe burn that still need treatment to this day. In 1945 Hiroshima suffered 140,000 deaths by 1950 they suffered 200,000 deaths and in

  • Word count: 766
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
Access this essay

Cuban Missile Crisis

Andrew Taylor Cuban Missile Crisis 1) You can learn a lot from this source about President Kennedy's reaction to the photographs taken by the U-2 spy plane. We can infer from the source that he saw the missiles were a very bid threat to the country as he said to Robert Kennedy that they were facing great trouble. We can also infer that he was very worried and concerned about this as the meeting with Robert Kennedy was at 9 O'clock in the morning so it was the first thing on his agenda. Also from this source it suggests that he jumped straight to the conclusion that it was the Soviets that were placing the missiles on Cuba. As he called Robert Kennedy and told him that it was the Soviets. This reaction shows the tension between the two superpowers of the USA and the USSR and the lack of trust that they had for each other. But we cannot be sure of this reaction, but the source itself doesn't give other information explaining otherwise. We can also infer that the relations weren't very trusting because of the U-2 spy planes being sent over Cuba, this also shows that Kennedy wasn't comfortable with the fact that Cuba was communist. We can also infer from this that Kennedy was also very concerned with the fact the Cuba was only 90 miles from the US, so this would also make him exceedingly worried about the situation, and since Cuba is only 90 miles away, and he expected the

  • Word count: 2450
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
Access this essay

Why did the Cold War break out between the United States and the Soviet Union between 1945 and 1948

Why did the Cold War break out between the United States and the Soviet Union between 1945 and 1948. The world after World War II was becoming divided into two armed camps; the capitalist one and the communist one. Countries of Eastern and some of the central Europe were under the Soviet, communist control and the countries of Western Europe were under the U.S., capitalist control. The main differences between these two camps were political, economical and their beliefs. The communist countries of Europe only allowed one political party to be in the parliament, the communist party and did not allow their citizens to change their government by voting. Where on the other hand the capitalist countries allowed their citizens to vote and gave several parties a chance to stand as a candidate for seats in the parliament. Even the economies were different, in communist countries there was no private industries or businesses. All industries and businesses were owned by the state for the benefit of everyone, but in capitalist countries it was different, most industry and businesses were privately owned and because of that some were wealthier than the others. The communists believed that everyone was equal and they believed in revolution that would encourage communism in other countries. However, it was different in capitalistic countries; influence was spread to other countries to

  • Word count: 1119
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
Access this essay

In February 1943, the German army surrendered at Stalingrad. Was Hitler's interference the main reason for this defeat? Explain your answer.

In February 1943, the German army surrendered at Stalingrad. Was Hitler's interference the main reason for this defeat? Explain your answer. The defeat at Stalingrad was down to an assortment of factors; no one factor was wholly responsible for the defeat, as is the complexity of history. A number of these factors were, however, down to Hitler either directly or indirectly. One factor was the fact that Hitler was very vague in his directions to the generals; this was problematic as it caused confusion and co-ordination problems between the generals. They had to decide for themselves where to attack, and were given three simple steps to follow: attacking armies, capturing resources and then capturing cities. The idea behind this was to prevent the armies getting bogged down in cities too early. Hitler's vague directions were a relatively minor factor, although led to the generals' battle plans not collaborating efficiently with each other. Other factors stemming from Hitler include overconfidence; due to victories in 1941, Hitler, and the rest of Germany, became all but complacent. When the Russians had retreated, the Germans assumed that this meant they were defeated, which was far from the truth. Hitler, instead of telling his troops to stay wary, as the Russians were still a dangerous foe, encouraged complacency; he boasted about the Wehrmacht's triumph over the Red Army,

  • Word count: 3402
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
Access this essay

Why did a Cold War develop between the USA and the USSR in the years 1945-49?

Why did a Cold War develop between the USA and the USSR in the years 1945-49? After WWII had ended in 1945, two big major countries had not been weakened by the war, USA and the USSR, also known as the 'Superpowers.' The outcome of this led to the development of the Cold War and it started with The Potsdam Conference in July 1945 due to the many changes which took place five months before the conference and this affected the relations between the USA and the USSR. The other main reasons for the development of the Cold War increased with the Truman Doctrine Act of 1947, The Berlin Blockade event at 1948-49 and the Formation of NATO in 1949. The Potsdam Conference in July 1945 was a major reason to the development of the Cold War because it had all started then. Since the Yalta Conference in February 1945, the USA and the USSR had done extreme things behind each other's backs which started to raise questions about their relationship at the Potsdam Conference. During the five months before the meeting, America had elected a new President, Harry Truman after Roosevelt's death in April. The effect of this created new tension between the 'Superpowers,' as communication and agreement became a lot more difficult. This was because Truman's beliefs and ideas were completely different to those of Roosevelt's as he distrusted Stalin and believed that his intentions were to take over the

  • Word count: 1049
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
Access this essay

Were the five-year plans a success?

Were The Five-Year Plans a Success? Whether or not the Five-Year Plans were a success is debatable. Although it wasn't and still isn't hard to be critical of the Five-Year Plans, by 1937 the USSR was a modern state and this saved it from being defeated by Hitler when he invaded in 1941. It was only when Stalin cam into power that the idea of modernising the USSR was put into action. Many areas of USSR hadn't changed much if at all since a hundred years before, they were still far from being modern like many other countries, who already had achieved modernisation years before and were years ahead of the USSR. It was Stalin who was determined to modernise the USSR and that he would succeed. It wasn't even as if it was just the military or just the industry that was "backwards" but all of them, military, industrial and agriculture too, this made the USSR weak and at the risk of being defeated and/or enslaved. Stalin was a very determined man and was adamant that the USSR could improve dramatically. And they would have to develop considerably as they were 50 to 100 years behind the leading, advanced countries and Stalin wanted to catch up with them in 10 years! Stalin wanted his own ideas, the Five-Year Plans, to be put into action as soon as possible so he ended Lenin's NEP and started to try and modernise the USSR his way. His Five-Year Plans may have been his idea

  • Word count: 844
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
Access this essay

Why Was There A Crisis In Cuba And How Was It Resolved?

Why was there a crisis in Cuba, and how was it resolved? For long, Cuba had been an ally of the west. The Americans owned most of the business there; they also owned a naval base in Cuba. However this all changed after a three year guerrilla campaign which eventually saw Batista overthrown and replaced by Fidel Castro. Within Cuba, Castro promoted communism and it eventually became a pro-communist state with its own "sphere of influence". Due to the circumstances, geographically and historically, it was always going to be a test for the American foreign policy of self containment. There were earlier attempts at self containment. For two years from 1959-1961, there was a certain degree of relationship between Castro and the US though it was an uncertain one. Castro took over the American owned businesses in Cuba, but he let the Americans keep the naval base. He assured Americans living in Cuba that they were safe and assured that he was simply trying to run Cuba without interference or without otherwise getting into any problems. This soon changed though when American spies learned that Cuba was receiving arms from the Soviet Union in the summer of 1960. As a result of this the USA broke down diplomatic relations in January 1961 with Cuba. Castro became paranoid at the prospect of a US invasion (though this wasn't to happen). It was getting to a stage though where the US

  • Word count: 1517
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
Access this essay