Imperialist rivalry had grown more intense with the "new imperialism" of the late 19th and early 20th cent. The great powers had come into conflict over spheres of influence in China and over territories in Africa, and the Eastern Question, created by the decline of the Ottoman Empire, had produced several disturbing controversies. Particularly unsettling was the policy of Germany. It embarked late but aggressively on colonial expansion under Emperor William II, came into conflict with France over Morocco, and seemed to threaten Great Britain by its rapid naval expansion.

1915
Stalemate continues on the Western Front. The Lusitania passenger liner is sunk, with 1,200 lives lost. London attacked from the air by German Zeppelins. Except for the conquest of most of Germany's overseas colonies by the British and Japanese, the year 1916 opened with a dark outlook for the Allies. The stalemate on the Western Front had not been affected in 1915 by the second battle of Ypres, in which the Germans used poison gas for the first time on the Western Front, nor by the French offensive in Artois–in which a slight advance of the French under Henri Pétain was paid for with heavy losses–nor by the offensive of Marshal Joffre in Champagne, nor by the British advance toward Lens and Loos.

In Feb., 1916, the Germans tried to break the deadlock by mounting a massive assault on Verdun (see Verdun, battle of). The French, rallying with the cry, "They shall not pass!" held fast despite enormous losses, and in July the British and French took the offensive along the Somme River where tanks were used for the first time by the British. By November they had gained a few thousand yards and lost thousands of men. By December, a French counteroffensive at Verdun had restored the approximate positions of Jan., 1916. Despite signs of exhaustion on both sides, the war went on.

1916
A million casualties in ten months: Germany aims to 'bleed France white'. At sea the Battle of Jutland takes place. Armed uprisings in Dublin: the Irish Republic is proclaimed. The neutrality of the United States had been seriously imperiled after the sinking of the Lusitania (1915). At the end of 1916, Germany, whose surface fleet had been bottled up since the indecisive battle of Jutland, announced that it would begin unrestricted submarine warfare in an effort to break British control of the seas. In protest the United States broke off relations with Germany and entered the war. American participation meant that the Allies now had at their command almost unlimited industrial and manpower resources, which were to be decisive in winning the war.

1917
German Army retreats to the Hindenburg Line. United States joins the war and assists the Allies. Tank, submarine and gas warfare intensifies. Royal family change their surname to Windsor to appear more British. A unified Allied command in the West was created in Apr., 1918. It was headed by Marshal Foch, but under him the national commanders (Sir Douglas Haig for Britain, King Albert I for Belgium, and General Pershing for the United States) retained considerable authority. The Central Powers, however, had gained new strength through the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (Mar., 1918) with Russia. The resources of Ukraine seemed at their disposal, enabling them to balance to some extent the effects of the Allied blockade; most important, their forces could now be concentrated on the Western Front.

1918
Germany launches major offensive on the Western Front. Allies launch successful counter-offensives at the Marne and Amiens.
Armistice signed on November 11, ending the war at 11am. World War I and the resulting peace treaties (see Versailles, Treaty of; Saint-Germain, Treaty of; Trianon, Treaty of; Neuilly, Treaty of; Sèvres, Treaty of) radically changed the face of Europe and precipitated political, social, and economic changes. By the Treaty of Versailles Germany was forced to acknowledge guilt for the war. World War I ended, the immense suffering it had caused gave rise to a general revulsion to any kind of war, and a large part of mankind placed its hopes in the newly created League of Nations. This League of Nations as a forum in which nations could settle their disputes. The league’s powers were limited to persuasion and various levels of moral and economic sanctions that the members were free to carry out as they saw fit. To calculate the total losses caused by the war is impossible. About 10 million dead and 20 million wounded is a conservative estimate.

-------------------------------------------------------------------WORLD WAR II
1931
Japan's rapidly expanding industrial economy required vast imports of raw materials as well as large markets for its finished export goods. The most obvious source of imports and outlet for exports was neighboring China, the world's most populous country.
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---------------------------------The 1931, 1941, 1945 Time Magazine Cover of Adolph Hitler
1932
The Nazi Party receives the largest share of the vote in German elections, but they fail to gain a majority.Franklin D.Roosevelt was elected President of the United States.

1933
President Hindenburg, under the sway of the ultra-conservatives, appoints Hitler as Chancellor of Germany, and the Period of National-Socialismn begins. Hitler speakes to the Commanders of the "Reichswehr", his first speech; obtaining "Lebensraum im Osten" and ruthless "Germanisierung" of the capture areas. Period of Gleichschaltung (co-ordination under Nazi control) of most aspects of German society. Official boycott of Jewish shops and professional men. The Nazis open the first concentration camp at Dachau, just outside Munich, Germany. The first prisoners arrived in Oranienburg in march 1933. The SA and SS intimidate the German population, lay hand on the country, German becomes a authoritarian state. The Waffen-SS of the 1930's was originally Hitler's personal troops, under his direct command for whatever purposes he wanted to use them for. It was a very small organization at that time, and didn't expand tremendously until 1943. Japan's removes it's country from the League of Nations and moves against Manchuria.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Josef-Goebbels
----------------------------'We shall go down in history as the greatest statesmen of all time, or as
----------------------------the greatest criminals.' The Last Known Words of Paul Josef Goebbels

Joseph Goebbels rewarded with the position of Reich Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. He played a crucial role in bringing Hitler to the centre of the political stage.Goebbels became involved with the Nazis in the 1920s, directly allying himself with Hitler in 1926. He built up the Nazi following in Berlin between 1926-30. Goebbels was made responsible for the Nazi party propaganda machine in 1929 and between 1933-45 he served as Minister of Enlightenment and Propaganda. After the defeat of German forces at Stalingrad he took on the role as Reich Commissioner for Total Mobilisation. He committed suicide on 1 May 1945 in Hitler's bunker.Germany removes it's country from the League of Nations and its withdrawl from all disarmament talks.Germany signs a ten-year treaty of non-aggression with Poland.

1934
Beginning of Germans great economic war preparation, decided by the "Reichsverteidigungsrat" in Germany.
Germany began to rearm and to create an air force. In 1935 it regained the Saar and in March 1936, the army re-occupied the demilitarised Rhineland. Two years later, Anschluss (union) with Austria was achieved. Hitler was making ready for outright war. The Night of the Long Knives, Hitler eliminates much of the political and military opposition within Germany; more than 1.000 people are assassinated and others are removed from positions of influence. Hitler purges the Nazi Party of all who could oppose him. The SS murders over 1000 of Hitler's most dangerous opponents within and outside of the Nazi Party.
German President von Hindenburg dies; Adolf Hitler declares himself Führer as well as Chancellor of Germany and demands the loyalty of the armed forces and civilians. The Nazi salute and cries of 'Heil Hitler!', already compulsory between Party members since 1926, now become the standard political idealogy in German life. The Soviet Union joins the League of Nations.

1935-36
Germany introduces compulsory military service and announces plans to create 36 divisions. Germany presents the existence of the Luftwaffe, infringe The Treaty of Versailles. Promulgation of the Nuremberg Laws relegates Jews to a separate second-class status in Germany, prohibits intermarriage and sexual relations with Germans. German military re-occupation of the Rhineland successfully challenges France's willingness to act in defense of the Versailles settlement.

1937-39
The Soviet Communist Party purges the Soviet Army. Over 35.000 are arrested and executed. Japan's plan for the extension is along the coast of weak China, in no connection with the actions in Europe. Japanese forces capture Nanking, real China. "Kristallnacht" (Night of Broken Glass): Nazi authorities orchestrate a nationwide program against Germany's Jewish population. Nazi destroy the homes, shops and synagogues of Jews in Germany following the murder of German diplomat Ernst vom Rath, a diplomatic assistant, by Herschel Grynszpan a French Jew in the German Embassy in Paris. Adolf Hitler set the press the task, to prepare the german people for a very long war. Limitation freedom of movement for Jews; forbidden driving licence, visit theatre, concert and cinema for the Jews.

----------
----------------------------------------------The Numerous Hitler Rallies In The Late 1930's
1940
Germany creates General Council for War Economy under Goering. Finland signs a treaty with Russia (Moskow) giving up a large amount of territory. Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini hold a conference at Brenner Pass; Italy joins the war with Germany. German troops invade Denmark and Norway. Himmler order to built Concentration Camp Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss becomes Commandant. German troops invade the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.Holland and Belgium British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigns. Winston Churchill (65 years) formed a National Government and became Prime Minister of Great Britain (England). The German invasion of Belgium resulted in an Anglo-French advance to a new defence line intended to protect the Channel ports. The main German attack had not come where it was expected but through the Ardennes where the terrain was believed to be too difficult for an invading force and was therefore only lightly defended. In a devastatingly rapid advance, the Blitzkrieg, the Germans broke through the French line and drove northwards towards the sea.
The Netherlands surrenders to Nazi Germany. The Fascist Government of Italy declares war on England and France, Italian troops invade France and bomb Malta for thefirst time. Malta is used as a bomber base for raids against Italy and Lybia, the aircraft used were Wellingtons.

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-----------------------------Brussels bombed into submission in
-----------------------------------------------------------------1940 by the Nazi Luftwauffer

Paul Reynaud resigns as Premier of France. From London Charles de Gaulle, becomes "Leader of the Free France", talks for the first time to the people of France; continue the War. Hitler and Mussolini meet in Munchen. France allows Japan to penetrate Japanese troops in North-Indo China.France (General Huntziger) signs an armistice with Germany at Compiegne (Rethondes), France.The Battle of Britain begins, maybe "Operation Seelowe", invasion in England, the first great air-attack on England on 10 July.Adolf Hitler broadcasts for peace to England, it is immediately rejected.A US decision to limit its exports of oil places an immediate and continuing problem with the Japanese who have come to rely on foreign supplies. Their stocks dwindle from this day and cause them to look to the Dutch East Indies and Malaysia. "Adlerangriff": Göring orders the Luftwaffe to destroy the RAF defence-system (fighters and radar) within 4 days. The first large wave of German bombers assault England. Hitler Begin the "Blitzkrieg" of London, attacks from the air, marking the first air blitz of the city. More than 900 aircraft attack London. By this action the German effectively 'invade England from the air, but within another 10 days Hitler will have cancelled his plans for Operation 'Sealion', the full-scale invasion of England. Goering's Luftwaffe fails to bring Britain to her knees.

----------------
--------Hitler--------------Goering-----------Goebbels---------Himmler------------Hess-----------Bormann-------Doenitz--------------Speer

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Selective Service bill, which begins America's first peace-time draft.
Germany, Italy, and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact in Berlin. Aim is to discourage the United States for a more active involvement in the war.German troops invade Romania to "defend" its oil fields. Hitler postpones Operation 'Sealion' until the spring of 1941. His priorities are now elsewhere and Goring has been unable to achieve the vital air superiority. The operation will never receive the go-ahead. Over 16.000.000 men register for the draft in the United States.The battle of Britain ends. This day marks the end of the continuous Luftwaffe raiding campaign. British forces land on the Greek island of Crete, a strategically important island, and began to mine the waters off Greece. Franklin Delano Roosevelt elected for the third time as President. Visit from Molotow to Berlin. Conference of Hitler and von Ribbentrop about Sowjet Unions joining to the Pact of Three. British aircraft attack Taranto Harbor, Italy. Hungary and some days later Rumania declares its support for Germany and Italy.
Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini hold a conference at Berghof.

1941 The Nazi Extermination Camps Begin Full Operation.& The Final Solution
Nazi extermination camps begin full operation. These include Auschwitz, Bamberg, Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald, Chelmno, Jena, Sobibor and Treblinka. Over 2.600.000 Polish Jews are among those killed during the course of the war. Over 12.000 people would be killed daily at Auschwitz alone. By 1945 nearly 6 million Jews and more than 3 million Communists, gypsies, socialists and other dissidents will be exterminated. Concentration camps fell into varous categories. There were death or extermination camps, where the inmates were slaughtered on arrival or soon afterwards. There were labour camps, where they were fed the minimum and worked to death; and experimental camps where 'scientific' and 'medical' experiments were carried out on the hapless prisoners. There were sick camps for those who were to die when the guards decided and not before, and training camps where the SS passed on the techniques of brutality and mass murder. There were even recuperation camps, where Jews were kept in case they were needed as hostages or for exchange or sale. The Lend-Lease Act becomes law. Three months after the invasion, the United States extended assistance to the Soviet Union through this Lend-Lease Act.
Germany invades Yugoslavia (till 17 April) and Greece (till 30 April). German forces capture Athens, Greece.The British force in Iraq comes under attack by Iraqis. Joseph Stalin becomes the Premier of the Soviet Union. Great Britain takes control of Iraq and are reinforced by the arrival of 21st Indian Division at Basra. German bombers assault London in what tums out to be the final heavy mission of the Battle of Britain. More than 500 aircraft drop high­explosive and incendiary bombs which result in many fires and cause more than 3,000 casualties induding many dead. Some 27 German aircraft are lost. In the preceding ten months approximately 50.000 metric tons of bombs have been dropped on the UK, but the Battle of Britain has heen lost, and with it has gone Germany's chance of winning the war. Partly because of their lack of long-range fighters and heavy bombers, but also because of the eventual mastery of the RAF fighter squadrons and their tactics, the Germans will regard this as first significant turning­point in World War Two. Walter Schellenberg of the RSHA tells the German military commander in France that further Jewish emigration should be prevented in view of transportation problems and the fact that a "Final Solution [Endloesung] of the Jewish question" is foreseeable.
----------------------------
The German battleship Bismarck sunk the British Royal Navy battle cruiser HMS Hood. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt order all German assets frozen. The Department of States also closes all German consul and propaganda offices in the United States. Hitler convinces Mussolini to allow Rommel to invade Egypt and set aside the invasion of Malta, named "Operation Hercules". Mussolini accepts the proposal after heavy consideration. Malta was a strategic point for British convoys which supplied Commonwealth forces in Africa. The invasion of Malta would take form in the landing of three Italian parachute battalions and one German parachute division and bombarded by both Italian and German aircraft. After the capture of Malta, Rommel would drive the Axis forces into Egypt.Germany declares war on and begins the invasion of the Soviet Union. The Eastern Front quickly becomes 2,000-miles wide. Italy (60,000 men to Ukraine), Finland, and Romania also joined the German battle against the Soviet Union and declare war.At a meeting in Berlin, Himmler reveals the plan for the Final Solution to his subordinate, Höss, and puts him in charge of developing a large-scale killing center at Auschwitz. The Japanese occupy French Indo-China with the consent of the Vichy French Government. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders all Japanese assets frozen. He also orders the suspension of all trade with Japan and lay an embargo on oil, give rise to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Göring's orders Heydrich to "evacuate" all European jews; The formal order for the planning of a coordinated Final Solution of the Jewish problem throughout Nazi-occupied Europe, already drafted by Eichmann, is signed by Goering.Eichman joined the Nazi Party in 1932 and served as a guard in the Dachau concentration camp for two years. With the union of Germany and Austria in 1938 and the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939, Eichmann was in charge of Jewish emigration. In 1941 he became head of the Gestapo Department and was responsible for 'the final solution'. He was interned by US troops in 1945 pending trial as a war criminal, but escaped to South America. Israeli agents located him in Argentina in the 1960s and he was tried in Jerusalem and hanged in May 1962.

----------------------------
Nazi Programs of Manipulation Extended to the Children of Germany, Known as The Hitler Youth

USA puts complete oil embargo on Japan.The American agreed the Lend-Lease plan to the Soviet Union. American and British governments warn Japan not to invade Siam (Thailand). U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill meet at Placentia Bay, off the coast of Newfoundland, and sign the Atlantic Charter, a document outlining the Allied war aims.The Origin of the "United Nations" come into. British and Soviet troops invade Persia (Iran), to save the oilfields of Abadan and the important railways and ways to Russia for the supply of war material for Russia. The efficacy of Zyklon B (prussic acid) is tested on 600 Russian POWs and 298 sick prisoners at Auschwitz. General deportation of German Jews begins.The first British raid on Berlin, 1700 km. In the early years of the war, bombing Germany was the only means of striking directly at the enemy's homeland and war production. Plans for a major bombing offensive, known as the strategic air offensive, were ambitious, but limited by technical difficulties in the early stages. German forces encircle Leningrad, the Soviet Union and take the 90-day offensive against the city. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares a shoot-on-sight order against all German and Italian shipping. Riza Khan is forced to abdicate the Persian throne. British and Soviet forces jointly occupy the country. Japanese Commander order for preperation of actions in the Pacific. German forces capture Kiev, after six weeks of fighting, the capital of the Soviet Ukraine. German High Command releases 650.000 russian soldiers prisoners of war have been taken, 884 tanks and 3.718 guns. Soviet loss of life reached half a million, Germany lost 100.000 men.
Conference at Moskow; Stalin, Harriman (United States) and Beaverbrook (United Kingdom).

The United States extended assistance to the Soviet Union through its Lend-Lease Act of March 1941. German forces are within 60 miles of Moscow.The Soviets set-up a temporary capital at Kuibyshev. Begin of systematic deportation of jews to Polen and East-Europe. A German U-boat, U-552 (Type VIIC, the "Red Devil" boat) commanded by Erich Topp, accidently sank the first WW II U.S. warship to be lost in war, the Navy destroyer Reuben James. Over 100 U.S. sailors were killed. Japanese aircraft launch a surprise attack on American naval forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The Imperial Government of Japan declares war to Britain, Canada, Australia and the United States. Losses United States: 8 American battleships, 3 Cruisers and 3 Destroyers destroyed; 2344 killed, 876 wounded, 966 missing. The United States declares war on Japan, US finds itself at war with both Japan and Germany. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill informs the British parliament that Britain is at war with Japan. Gassing of Jews begins at Chelmno (Kulmhof). Other death camps come "on line" later: Belzec (March 1942); Sobibor (April-May 1942); Treblinka (July 1942). Japanese troops invade The Philippines and Malaya, attack Hongkong, bomb Guam.Germany and Italy declare war on the United States and sign new military alliance with Japan.
Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania declare war on the United States. Hitler take up Supreme Command of the Wehrmacht, Von Brauchitsch retire. Japanese troops land in the Philippines near Luzon with about 7.000 men. British forces surrender Hong Kong to the Japanese.

1942 The Declaration of the United Nations.
Twenty-six nations sign the Declaration of the United Nations. Japanese troops enter Manila, The Philippines, the Americans withdraw to the peninsula of Bataan. "Der Wannsee Conference" is held in Berlin, subject was to coordinate the Final Solution; Reinhard Heydrich, subordinate of Himmler and head of the RSHA (Reichssicherheitshauptamt) presides. Eichmann takes official notes at the meeting which survive as evidence, present were too Schöngarth and Freisler. First Jews (Slowakia) arrives at Auschwitz, Birkenau for gassing. The Doolittle raid, starting from Carrier "Hornet" with North American B-25B Mitchells, on Tokyo and Yokohama, Japan. Persecution of Jews: Order to wear the "Star of David" to all Jews in Europe. End of the American armed resistance (11.574 men) on The Philippines. Japanese troops capture Corregidor. British troops draw back at the border of India. The Battle of Midway. Begin of the 4-day air-naval battle of Midway. In this battle of planes; Japanese lost carriers "Akagi", "Kaga" , "Soryu" and "Hiryu", American lost carrier "Yorktown", sank by a Japanese submarine. The Nazi German Africa Corps under (just) Field Marshall Erwin Rommel capture Tobruk, about 25.000 British prisoners of war.
Lieutenant General Dwight D. Eisenhower commander of U.S. forces in Europe. Himmler, on his second visit to Auschwitz, personally witnesses killing procedures using Zyklon B. U.S. Marines land at Guadalcanal, the Solomon Islands. The American begin landings in the Solomons, troops gain footholds on Guadalcanal, Tulagi and Gavutu.When the Guadalcanal campaign began, it was the first land offensive by the United States against any Axis power. It continued to be the only land offensive by the United States until the major Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942. Gandhi and his chief supporters of committee "Quit India" are jailed in India causing mass riots. German troops reach Maikop oil-field in Russia.
Russian bombers raid on Berlin and other German cities. The Battle of Alam Halfa (Egypt), British forces under General Montgomery defeat Rommel's Afrika Korps. Rommel attacks at Alam Halfa, but is repulsed and his armour is considerably weakened. Generals Alexander and Montgomery came, Generals Auchinleck and Ritchie are gone. The Eighth Army receives 300 Sherman tanks in September. German troops at the centre of Stalingrad. The Air-Sea battle of Guadalcanal Naval Battles of Guadalcanal; the turning point in the Pacific. Los Alamos is selected as the site for an Atomic Bomb Laboratory. Robert Oppenheimer is named the Director. German Armygroup "Hoth", with 2 tankdiv., try to set free the surrounded Germans at Stalingrad.Von Paulus with the permission of Hitler to do a break out of Stalingrad provided that Stalingrad must be hold.
Japanese troops land on Wake island.

1943
German force surrender at Stalingrad, Soviet Union. Norsk Hydro 'heavy water' plant raid. Norwegian soldiers, trained in the UK and dropped by the RAF, inflicts damage to the 'heavy water' plant at the Norsk Hydro power station near Ryukan. Although German nuclear physicists had been early leaders in research, Nazi Gennany made no real progress towards the creation of an atomic bomb. It was a German scientist who had discovered atomic fission and Germans had first published the theory of the chain-reacting pile. When the Anglo-American atomic homb was being developed during WW II, it was feared that the Gemans were conducting parallel research. A 'heavy water' plant was attacked and destroyed in Norway by a Norwegian resistance group in the hope that this would delay German production. But it not until November 1944 that the Allies were sure that German research not progressed beyond a comparatively primitive stage, and that atomic physists had not been given any significant priority for their work. Once again, Hitler's production planning relied on conventional weaponry, while Himmler tried to divert the scientists to projects that he favoured ideologically. Furthermore, the early purging from the universities of suspected intellectuals and Jews had seriously weakened the research teams, many members of which had chosen to emigrate to the USA. Heavy water is used in certain types of nuclear reactors where it acts as a neutron moderator to slow down neutrons so that they can react with the uranium in the reactor. Failure attempt murder on Hitler. Von Tresckow places a bomb in Hitlers plane flying from Smolensk to his headquaters; bomb did not explode. American P-38s from the 13th Air Force launched from Guadalcanal, flew to Bougainvillea and shot down Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto plane and killing him.
Operation Mincemeat was a highly successful Allied deception plan against Axis Forces. The operation involved releasing a dead man in a life jacket off the coast of Spain. A briefcase attached to the body contained fake documents identifying the man as a Major William Martin and copies of fake Allied war plans which stated that the Allies were planning an invasion of Sardinia, rather than Sicily. Local fishermen pulled out the corpse and intelligence materials. The documents were sent to Axis commanders and who were fooled by them. This information quickly reached Hitler who, on 12 May, demanded that "measures regarding Sardinia and the Peloponnese take precedence over everything else". Operation Husky commenced on 9 July, with the Allies attacking the southern tip of Sicily. The island was taken by the Allies by 7 August. Mussolini had been stripped of his power on 25 July. End of the war in North-Africa.Bizerta and Tunis capture by the Allied, all Germans dislogde or capture in North-Africa; 252.000 Germans and Italian prisoners of war. After the British victory at the battle of El Alamein in November 1942, General Rommel's army retreated across north Africa to a defensive position in Tunisia. The Allies brought in enormous new forces by landing on the coasts of Morocco and Algeria. Rommel's attempt at fresh offensives failed and General Montgomery broke through his positions in early April 1943. Forced to retreat again, Rommel's forces were deprived of food and supplies by the Allies. They surrendered on 13 May 1943.

Commander-in-chief of the U-boats decision to stop the attacks on convoys at the Atlantic, after heavy losses.
Doenitz, Grossadmiral Karl (1891-1980) Doenitz specialised in submarine warfare from 1916 and in the 1936-39 period built up the German U-Boat fleet. He played a key role in the Battle of the Atlantic during the Second World War, devising the tactic of hunting allied vessels in packs. He replaced Admiral Raeder as Commander in Chief of the German Navy in 1943 and retained the position until 1945. Hitler's final testament appointed Doenitz as President of the German Reich. He was sentenced to ten years imprisonment at the Nuremberg Trials and released from Spandau in 1956. The Italian Fascist Grand Council passes a vote of censure against Benito Mussolini.Field Marshall Pietro Badoglio is appointed the Prime Minister of Italy. Mussolini is imprisoned in the Grand Sasso Hotel on the Grand Sasso plateau in the Abruzzi mountains.Marshal Badoglio is asked to fotm a new government after King Victor Emmanuel III relieves Mussolini of his office. The ambitious dictator, who has lacked any organisational or leadership attributes is arrested as he leaves the meeting.. Roosevelt and Churchill meet in Quebec to discuss plans for the invasion of Normandy ( Operation Overlord ). Supreme Commander for the invasion is agreed to be an American. U.S. will remain in command of Pacific operations. Allied troops reach Messina and occupy all of Sicily, Italy. 597 RAF bombers bomb German Rocket Launching Site Peenemünde. The production of the V1 Flying Bomb began in Germany in 1942, but the actual launch was delayed until 1944 because of successful Allied bombing of bomb sites.Wernher von Braun(1912-1977), Braun was made technical director of the rocket research station at Peenemunde in 1936. In the 1940s he developed the V-2 (Vergeltungswaffe or reprisal) weapon. These rockets were capable of carrying a ton of explosives for 200 miles and were used on Britain in 1944-45. Braun surrendered to US forces in 1945 and was taken to the USA. He took American citizenship and became director of the US Ballistic Missile Agency, developing the rocket which launched the US space satellite from Cape Canaveral in 1958 and the Saturn rockets used in the Apollo missions. Ninety Nazi German paratroopers lead by Lieutenant Colonel Otto Skorzeny "liberate" Benito Mussolini from the Grand Sasso Hotel.

1944
Marshal Badoglio announce: "Italy declares war on Germany" (in the presence of General Maxwell Taylor). 44 Nations sign in Washington the "United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Association". The "Big Three," Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin meet in Teheran, Iran. Two American divisions land on the island Eniwetok.Hideki Tojo is named chief of the Japanese Army General Staff and becomes the military dictator of Japan. American B-24 bombers drop 2,000 tons of bombs on Berlin, Germany. Japanese forces invade India. General Charles de Gaulle becomes head of the French Provisional Government in London, England.Begin of American systematic bombardements on Romania oil-fields from South-Italy. Allied air force launch a 30-hour air offensive on France and Germany. The German Army's military intelligence unit, the Abwehr, is removed from the control of the Wehrmacht by Hitler. Its chief, Admiral Canaris, is dismissed and all secret service activities are placed in the hands of Heinrich Himmler, the SS leader. Canaris has been clandestinely conspiring against Hitler. Allied forces launch the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France. Preparations for the invasion of Europe by the Allies involved enormous movements of men and equipment and considerable secrecy in order to conceal the exact timing and destination from the Germans. The men did not know until the last possible moment where and when they were going. From 1942 onwards many people believed and hoped that the opening of a 'second front' on the continent would soon be possible. But it was not until the end of 1943 that serious preparations for the re-invasion of Europe across the Channel began. In the south of England seemingly endless convoys of military vehicles and troops of all the Allied nations poured along the roads and railways of Britain towards the sealed coastal area. V-1 named "Vergeltungswaffe". Germany launches its first V-1 rocket attack on England, till 20 June 8000 V-1's fired to London. General de Gaulle returns to France. U.S B-29 Superfortress bomber make their first raid on Japan from bases in China. Soviet forces recapture Minsk. The entire Government of Japan resigns, Emperor Hirohito asks General Kuniaka Koiso to form a new government. Adolf Hitler is wounded in an murder attempt at his headquarters "Wolfschanze" in Rastenburg, East Prussia. Failed attempt by German conservatives to overthrow the Nazi government and kill Hitler (who survives the bomb blast relatively unhurt). U.S. Army and Marines invade Guam. General Eisenhower moves his command headquarters from England to Normandy, France. U.S. Army and Marines capture Guam.

Conference of Dumbarton Oaks, between USA, Great-Britain, Sowjet-Union and China. Allied representatives meet at Dumbarton Oaks, near Washington, D.C., in a conference to discuss postwar security. An agreement is signed to create an assembly of all nations, a council of leading states, and an International Court of Justice. Among those attending are Edward Stettinius (U.S.), Sir Alexander Cadogan (British) and Andrei Gromyko (Soviet Union). This assembly is to be known as the United Nations. The Germans launched the first V-2 rocket and hits England (London). Launched from Wassenaar, a suburb of The Hague still in German hands, the first V-2 rocket to land in England reaches Chiswick in west London. At this point the threat from the V-1 has been chiefly removed by the capture of the launch sites in France, but now the new projectile, fired from mobile launchers, poses a new problem. Its 192-mile flight is completed in five minutes and brings devastation to six houses in Staveley Road, much additional damage, and three people killed and ten injured. This was not the intended target, of course, but those witnessing the event cannot explain the cause of the explosion because the speed of the projectile is such that it arrives before the sound of its passage is heard. Press statements are minimal and the public remains in the dark for two months. The Allies will find it difficult to fly raids against the mobile launch vehicles even though they quickly trace the area in which they are operating. The V-2 programme will have a minimal effect on the war as a whole, the daily bombardment barely equalling the effect of a single Allied bomber over Germany. Hitlers's order the formation of the "Volkssturm". Soviet forces invade Czechoslovakia. British and Greek forces recapture Athens, Greece. Joseph Stalin renounce the neutrality pact between the Soviet Union and Japan. Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected to an unprecedented fourth term as President of the United States. German troops in the Ardennes forest launch a counteroffensive "The Battle of the Bulge", the operation is called : "Herbstnebel", last major attempt to turn back the Allied advance in the west. A German Airborne operation on a small scale was carried out against during the Ardennes offensive, there were a few other major Airborne operations launched by the Germans; at Holland May 1940 and at Crete May 1941. Counter-offensive of General Patton from Arlon into the direction of Bastogne. Patton, General George (1885-1945) Patton commanded an armoured corps in 1941 and fought in Tunisia in 1943. In 1944 his Third Army cut across France in a sweep through Brittany, round Paris, up the Marne and the Moselle, across the Rhine and into northern Bavaria, entering Czechoslovakia in April 1945. He was killed in a road accident in occupied Germany in December 1945.

1945
Russian troops capture Warsaw, Poland. Red Army liberates Auschwitz, finds convincing evidence of SS atrocities of the Holocaust. Concentration camps were established in Germany shortly after Hitler's assumption of power in 1933 as places for anyone out of step with Nazism to be detained. Socialists, communists, blacks, gypsies, vagabonds, trade unionists, and Jews were amongst those seen as undesirable. The outbreak of war brought a radical change in the camp system. New concentration camps were set up throughout occupied Europe to deal with the millions of captive foreign opponents of German domination. In Poland extermination camps were established to implement the 'Final Solution,' the systematic killing of more than six million Jews. The concentration camps varied in size and function but in each there was no regard for human life. Many were massive industrial complexes using the inmates as slaves. Disease, starvation, neglect, overwork, added to the death toll of deliberate murders. Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin hold the Yalta Conference ('The Big Three'). Capture of Belgium. US Marines divisions land on Iwo Jima ( 20 km²), In the Pacific Iwo Jima is strategically and politically to both sides significant. The Americans need the island as a fighter base (Mustangs P-51 fighters) for their Japanese raids (B-29's) and a relief base for damaged bombers. On the first day some 30.000 marines getting ashore, the about 23.000 Japanese soldiers has prepared defences but allows the landing to take place before opening fire. Over the next two months 6.281 US soldiers are killed (in the first 2 days, 4000 US soldiers died), and 21.865 are wounded in capturing the island from 23.000 defenders, 21.000 Japanese soldiers died. U.S. Marines plant a U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima. Turkey and Egypt vote to join the Allies against Germany and Japan. In a massive air raid on Tokyo by 334 US B-29 Superfortresses 100.000 lose their lives, injuring 1,000,000, in the firestorm created among the wood and paper-built houses. The B-29s, stripped of guns for greater bomb load, carrying 2000 tons of incendiaries. 15.8 square miles of Tokyo burn. U.S. Army and Marines (10th USA Army and 4 divisions) invade Okinawa. Invasion Fleet: 1300 ships and 100.000 men. Many "Kamikaze" attacks caused 5.000 dead USA marines. After fight 11.000 Japanese surrender and 110.000 were killed. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies; he is succeeded by his Vice-president, Harry S. Truman. Soviet forces capture Vienna, Austria. British Army liberated Bergen Belsen. By entering these camps, the full horror of the Nazi's attempt to exterminate the Jewish race became clear; mounds of corpses have to be buried by bulldozer. Belsen, Belsen occupied a unique place in the concentration camp system. Initially it had been a special camp for important Jewish prisoners but in the last months of the war it was totally overwhelmed by the influx of prisoners moved from camps in the path of the Allies' advance from east and west. By April 1945 there were 60,000 prisoners in Belsen, living in conditions of the most appalling squalor and disease. Belsen was liberated by the British on 14 April 1945. It became one of the symbols of the worst excesses and inhuman barbarity of the Nazi regime.

American and Soviet forces meet at Torgau on the Elbe: Hitler's collapsing Reich is cut in two."United Nations" formed in San Francisco. Benito Mussolini, Clara Petacci (his mistress), and sixteen of Mussolini's body-guards are assassinated in the village of Giulino di Messegra, on Lake Como, Italy. Field Marshall Sir Harold Alexander receives the German surrender of Italy.
Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun married in hitler's bunker in Berlin, Germany. Adolf Hitler, Eva Braun, Goebbels and his wife commit suicide in the bunker under the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. Some of Hitler's last words are: "Vor allem verpflichte ich die Führung der Nation und die Gefolgschaft zur peinlichen Einhaltung des Rassegesetze und zum umbarmherzigen Widerstand gegen den weltvergiftiger aller Völker, das internationale Judentum". American forces liberate 33,000 Jews from the Dachau concentration camp. Soviet forces capture Berlin, Germany. 15.00u; German forces (General Weidling) in Berlin surrender to the Red Army (General Tsjoeikow). German surrender at Italy, the Italian campaign ended; 848.000 men killed of which 534.000 Germans. Field Marshal von Rundstedt captive. German Fuehrer Doenitz surrenders Germany. All U-boats are ordered home and all armies are ordered to cease fire.V-E Day - Victory in Europe is celebrated.
Soviet forces discover the body of Dr. Joseph Goebbels, German Minister of Propaganda, his wife and children. All died by suicide. British troops capture German Gestapo chief Heinrich Himmler. He commits suicide upon capture by swallowing poison. American invasionplan for Japan decided: 1 Novembre 1945 landing on Kyoesjoe, summer 1946 landing on the plain of Tokyo. Japan is fire bombed by American bombers. The city burns, uncontrolled, for two days.Chinese take Foochow (18 May) and Nanning (26 May). A aerial view of the industrial part of Tokyo showing extensive damage done by Allied saturation raids 5 June 1945, The Four Powers (the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union, and France) sign the declaration of German defeat. Mass suicides among the Japanese forces on Okinawa (Oruku region), indicates the hopelessness of Japanese situation.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower addresses a joint session of the U.S. Congress. U.S. Army and Marines (with 7th Infantry div.) complete the capture of Okinawa; 112.000 Japanese and 12.500 American are killed, 36.000 wounded. Fifty nations meet in San Francisco, California (USA) and sign the World Security Charter formally establishing the United Nations. President Truman approves plans for invasion of Japan at 1 November 1945, with further landings in the spring 1946. The first atomic device is exploded at Alamogordo (Los Alamos), New Mexico (USA).

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--------------The first atomic device is exploded in August 1945 at Alamogordo, New Mexico, followed
---------by the first atomic weapon dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, from the Enola Gay, a B-29 Bomber

The U.S. delivers a final ultimatum to the Japanese, quit the war or face total destruction. At the Potsdam Conference in defeated Germany, President Truman told Stalin only that the U.S. "had a new weapon of unusual destructive force."
The world's first atomic bomb (Uranium), Little Boy, is dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, from the Enola Gay, a B-29 bomber piloted by Colonel Tibbets of the 509th Composite Group, the first military unit in the history to drop a nuclear bomb in combat. One minute after explosion were 66.000 killed and 69.000 wounded. Japan tries to persuade the Soviets to mediate surrender negotiations. Molotov cancel's the meeting, then The Soviet Union declares war on Japan. Soviet forces invade Manchuria and North-Korea. Emperor Hirohito announces the Japan defeat to his people. Japan accepts an unconditional surrender. The fear of more atomic weapon attacks and the certainty of land defeat by the Soviets have combined to secure the complete surrender. The Allies name 24 Nazi and Prussian officers to face war crimes trials in Nuremberg, Germany.
General MacArthur sets-up his headquarters in Yokohama, Japan. Japanese surrendered in Burma, Major Wako Lisanon, Staff Officer of the Japanese 28th Army, hands his sword to Lieutenant Colonel O C Smyth, commanding 1/10 Gurkha Regiment. There were many such ceremonies as units in the field surrendered. Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signs the instrument of surrender aboard the battleship U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Japan. The Nuremberg Trials begin with 21 leading Nazi officials in the dock including Goering, Donitz, Raeder, Jodl and Keitel. The event discloses to the world the horror of the Nazi regime; Rudolf Hess, who had been an SS- Obergruppenfuhrer, gives appalling details of the systematic mass murder at Auschwitz. The trails continue until October 1946.

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------------------------------------------------------------------The Nuremburg Trials 1945

-----------------------------------------------------------WORLD WAR III
1990
On Aug. 2, 1990, Iraqi military forces, on orders from President Saddam Hussein, invaded and occupied the small country of Kuwait. The Persian Gulf War of 1991--from January 16 to February 28--was fought to expel Iraq and restore Kuwaiti independence. The United States forged a broad-based international coalition of nations that confronted the Iraq militarily.
The military coalition of nations consisted of:  Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Honduras, Italy, Kuwait, Morocco, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Niger, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Korea, Spain, Syria Turkey, The United Arab Emirates, The United Kingdom, and the United States. The war also was financed by countries that were unable to send in troops. Switzerland also contributed to the allies, this after being neutral during both World War I and World War II.. The war also created a new opportunity for peacemaking in the Middle East. Shortly after the Iraqi invasion President Bush announced that once the Iraqi forces vacated Kuwait, he would increase efforts to Middle East peace process. After the war, Secretary of State James Baker undertook several trips to the Middle East in an effort that resulted of an international conference on Arab-Israel peace jointly sponsored by the United States and the Soviet Union in Madrid in October 1991. The increased Arab readiness to participate in such talks--representatives of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria as well as a Palestinian delegation participated--brought together by the war.

----------------IRAQ BURNS DURING THE WAR OF 2003
---------------------------

The after effects of the war also enabled the United States to forge closer cooperation with certain regional allies that participated in the coalition. The U.S. signed new defense agreements with several coalition members providing for joint exercises, training, and prepositioning of military equipment. These enabled the administration of U.S. President Bill Clinton to react quickly and decisively when Iraq threatened Kuwait briefly in October 1994 by moving troops toward the Kuwait border.Little Known Info on the War On the final night of the war--within hours of the cease-fire--two U.S. Air force bombers dropped specially designed 5,000-pound bombs on a command bunker fifteen miles northwest of Baghdad in a deliberate attempt to kill Saddam Hussein. The decision to seek United Nations involvement was part of a larger, more cynical strategy of the Bush administration to circumvent Congress, to bypass the constitutional authority of Congress--and only Congress--to declare war.During the very week King Fahd was persuaded to invite U.S. troops to Saudi Arabia in order to defend his monarchy from the alleged threat of an Iraqi invasion, a U.S. intelligence officer who was secretly sent to Kuwait by General H. Norman Schwarzkopf reported that Iraq had began withdrawing its Republican Guard divisions from Kuwait entirely.
Several weeks before the Baghdad was bombed on January 17th, 1991, U.S. intelligence agents successfully inserted a computer virus into Iraq's military computers. It was designed to disable much of Baghdad's air-defense system.The largest tank battle of the war, which has previously has gone unreported in any detail, conclusively demonstrated the superiority of American tanks and fighting doctrine over that of the Soviets. As a whole, the battles of the ground war showed that American military maneuverability clearly outclassed the plodding tactics of the Iraqis, who emphasized pitched engagements and linear movements as they had been taught by their Soviet advisers.

The size of the Iraqi army in the Kuwait Theater of Operations was probably much smaller than claimed by the Pentagon. On the eve of the war, Iraq may have had as few as 300,000 solders, compaired to 540,000 estimated by the Pentagon.  In official reports, the Pentagon has admitted that of the 148 American servicemen and women who perished on the battlefield, 24 percent of the total killed in action were victims of 'friendly fire'. Eleven more Americans were killed when un exploded Allied munitions blew up, raising the 'friendly fire' percent to 31 percent. Most solders said that the thousands of unexploded mines and bomblets they encountered, were more dangerous than enemy fire. On January 29 1991, an Iraqi force, apparently comprising two infantry and one tank battalions, crossed the Kuwait border in the south-eastern front and headed in the direction of Khafji, a deserted Saudi town, some 12 miles from the frontier. Taking the small Saudi garrison by surprise, the Iraqis occupied the town and resisted allied attempts to dislodge them for nearly two days. In the ensuing fighting the Americans suffered their first casualties in ground fighting when 11 marines were killed (7 of them from friendly fire). The Iraqi losses in men and equipment were far higher, amounting to dozens of dead and hundreds of prisoners.

President Bush waited two days after the UN deadline for Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait before ordering the Coalition to begin action against Iraqi forces. The Winds of Desert Storm began howling across Iraq at 0230 hours Baghdad time. This is how President Bush announced the start of Desert Storm to the World. The US-IRAQ was in many views, World War III. In
World War II it most of global nations to fight Hitler's Nazi Germany. The scope of nations who were involved in fighting Iraq's Saddam Hussein in 1990 included, Australia, Britain, Canada, China, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, United States. The scope of these nations are very similar to World War II when the three Axis Pacts of Germany, Italy, and Japan had embarked on world conquest, and in the end, suffered horrific defeat which included the two atomic bombs ( Named Little Boy & Fat Man ) dropped on Japan and the nations of Europe were left in ruins. The 1990 war on Iraq and Saddam Hussein is almost identical in the political and military assault on Germany and Adolph Hitler's Third Reich. This was truly World War III.

In a closing note concerning global nuclear weapons. In 2001, The United States alone had a estimated 60-80 Ohio Class Nuclear ICBM Submarines which carried the nuclear capacity of 23,000 Hiroshima bombs.
-----------------------
------------------------------SSBN OHIO CLASS BALLISTIC MISSILE SUBMARINE, USA

The Ohio class submarine is equipped with the Trident strategic ballistic missile from Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space.The submarine has the capacity for 24 Trident missile tubes in two rows of 12,  capable of carrying up to twelve MIRVs (multiple independent re-entry vehicles), each with a yield of 100 kilotons. The Ohio class submarines serve the United States Navy as the virtually undetectable undersea launch platforms of intercontinental missiles.