5. Hitler and Stalin sign Molotov-Ribbentrop Treaty
In August 1939, Molotov-Ribbentrop Treaty was signed between Hitler and Stalin. It was a non-aggression pact that was signed between Germany and the Soviet Union. The treaty assured that the USSR would not involve themselves in the European war as well as staying “neutral” and in exchange, Hitler would give half of Poland to Stalin. This is significant because Hitler would be able to focus on the west part of the Europe without ever fearing the invasion from Russia.
4. Hitler Breaks Molotov – Ribbentrop Pact
In the June of 1941, Adolf Hitler decided to give up on Britain and turned his sights on the Soviet Union. On June 22th of 1941, Hitler broke the Molotov – Ribbentrop treaty by invading Russia. After only several weeks of invasion, USSR had already lost all the territories that it gained from the Molotov – Ribbentrop non-aggression treaty. Within just six months, 4.3 million Soviet soldiers were either killed or wounded in action and 3 million Soviet soldiers were captured as war prisoners. However the invasion was not successful due to the fact that Joseph Stalin had already received several warnings stating that Germany was likely to attack and that he had enough time build the Soviet military which was able to prevent the German forces from advancing to the Soviet Capital. This event is significant because this invasion caused the USSR to join the Allies, meaning that Hitler would have two enemies on the opposite sides of Germany. That is very important for the Allies because Hitler would have to “split” his military into half in order to focus on both east and west side of Germany, which would make them much weaker.
3. Munich Conference
In September 1938, leaders of four European power houses, Adolf Hitler, Neville Chamberlain, Benito Mussolini and Édouard Daladier decided to have an agreement by the name of “Munich Agreement”, which was negotiated at a conference in Munich, Germany. The Allies have chose to adopt a policy of appeasement with Hitler in order to prevent any more aggressions. As the result, Hitler was allowed keep the territories. Also, Hitler had promised that he would stop the aggression once he took back the land that used to belong to the pre-World-War-I Germany. This is significant because it shows that the Allies still does not want to wage a war against Germany, it is also one of the main factors causing the full scale World War II due to the fact that Hitler was given too much freedom and he was able to do so much without any resistance. If the Allies were to try and stop Hitler sooner, World War II may not even take place.
2. Hitler Re-militarized the Rhineland
In 1936, Adolf Hitler decided to violate the Treaty of Versailles by taking over Rhineland. This is significant in that this is the first time that the German military force invaded another land since World War I. This event is also very important due to the fact that the League of Nations did nothing to stop the German attack. In Hitler's point of view, such reaction basically indicated that the Allies does not want to be dragged into another full scale war, as well as the fact that the Germany is no longer restricted by the Treaty of Versailles and Hitler himself could do whatever he desires without any resistant from the Allies forces.
1. Japan attacks Pearl Harbor
On December 7th, the Imperial Japanese Navy conducted a surprise military strike against the United States naval base that was located at Pearl Harbor by sending around 350 Japanese planes composed of fighters and torpedo bombers. As the result of the war, all eight of the American Navy battleships were either damaged; three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer were either sunk or damaged by the Japanese Imperial Navy force. Also, 188 American aircrafts were destroyed and 3684 Americans were either killed or wounded. Even though the Japanese managed to destroy so much, the operation was not exactly a successful one in that none of the American aircraft carriers were damaged due to the fact that they were absent from the harbor by a stroke of luck. This event is very significant because the Japanese attack had angered the Americans and caused them to join the World War II and committing to it wholeheartedly to victory in World War II.