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Guided map tour · History
Duration: 6 years (September 1939 – September 1945). Cause: Nazi Germany's expansionism, Japanese imperialism, failure of appeasement, and the unresolved…
Open this tour on the live map →Duration: 6 years (September 1939 – September 1945). Cause: Nazi Germany's expansionism, Japanese imperialism, failure of appeasement, and the unresolved grievances of Versailles. Belligerents: Allies (UK, USSR, USA, France, China, and 50+ nations) vs Axis (Germany, Japan, Italy). Casualties: 70–85 million dead — the deadliest conflict…
At 4:45 AM on September 1, 1939, the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire on the Polish garrison at Westerplatte, Gdańsk. It was the first military action of World War II. Within hours, 1.5 million German troops crossed the Polish border in a devastating "Blitzkrieg." Britain and France declared war on September 3. Poland…
From September 1940 to May 1941, Germany bombed London for 57 consecutive nights. The Blitz killed 43,000 British civilians and destroyed over 1 million homes. Churchill's defiance — "We shall fight on the beaches... we shall never surrender" — became the voice of resistance. The RAF's victory in the Battle of Britain (summer 1940) was…
The Battle of Stalingrad (Aug 1942 – Feb 1943) was the bloodiest battle in human history: ~2 million casualties. Hitler ordered the city taken at any cost. Stalin ordered "Not one step back." Street-by-street fighting reduced the city to rubble. The Soviet encirclement and surrender of the German 6th Army (91,000 POWs) marked the turning…
Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest of the Nazi death camps. Between 1940 and 1945, an estimated 1.1 million people were murdered here — 90% of them Jewish. Victims arrived by train from across occupied Europe. Those deemed "unfit for work" were sent directly to gas chambers. The Holocaust (Shoah) killed approximately 6 million Jews —…
June 6, 1944: Operation Overlord, the largest seaborne invasion in history. 156,000 Allied troops landed on five beaches (Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, Sword) along the Normandy coast. Over 4,400 Allied soldiers died on the first day alone. Within a month, 850,000 troops had landed. D-Day opened the Western Front that would crush Nazi Germany…
At 8:15 AM on August 6, 1945, the B-29 "Enola Gay" dropped "Little Boy" — a uranium bomb — on Hiroshima. 80,000 people died instantly. By year's end, the death toll reached 140,000. Three days later, "Fat Man" was dropped on Nagasaki, killing 70,000. Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945. The atomic bombings remain the only use of nuclear…
By April 1945, Soviet forces encircled Berlin with 2.5 million troops. The Battle of Berlin killed ~175,000 soldiers and up to 125,000 civilians. On April 30, Hitler committed suicide in his bunker. Germany surrendered unconditionally on May 8, 1945 — V-E Day. The city was divided into four occupied zones (US, UK, France, USSR),…
World War II killed 70–85 million people — 3% of the world's population. It destroyed entire nations and redrew every border. From its ashes came: the United Nations (1945), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the Geneva Conventions (1949), the European Union (born as the Coal and Steel Community in 1951), NATO (1949), and…
Write down two facts you learned about this place.
Why does this place matter? Explain in one or two sentences.
Find this place on a blank map: which country and continent is it in?
Write down two facts you learned about this place.
Why does this place matter? Explain in one or two sentences.
Find this place on a blank map: which country and continent is it in?
Write down two facts you learned about this place.
Why does this place matter? Explain in one or two sentences.
Find this place on a blank map: which country and continent is it in?