Turning points of the Second World War

Predict, then check

Germany is already fighting in the Soviet Union when D-Day happens. Keep that in mind.

In June 1944 the Allies land on the coast of northern France. What does that mean for Germany?

What you need to know

• A turning point is a moment after which the war's direction changed, and historians interpret which events count.
• Blitzkrieg (planes, tanks and foot soldiers in one rapid assault) had beaten four nations by 1940.
• To invade Britain, Germany first had to defeat the RAF. The RAF repulsed the Luftwaffe, and the invasion plans were given up.
• Have a goYou are planning Germany's seaborne invasion of Britain. What has to happen in the air first?

  The RAF has to be defeated.

  The plan put the air fight first, and because the RAF repulsed the Luftwaffe, the invasion never happened.

• In June 1941 Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. At first the Nazis took much of its western parts.
• In December 1941 Japan attacked the USA at Pearl Harbour, so the USA was at war with both Japan and Nazi Germany.
• Have a goA classmate insists Pearl Harbour was just Japan versus America, so Nazi Germany had nothing to do with it. Who was the USA at war with afterwards?

  Both Japan and Nazi Germany.

  Your classmate has stopped at the attack itself, but it brought the USA into the war against both enemies.

• In 1942 the Nazis tried to take Stalingrad and were ultimately unsuccessful after five months of fighting.
• D-Day (June 1944) was the Allied attack on the coast of northern France, so Germany now fought on two fronts.
• Have a goD-Day put Allied troops in northern France. Where was Germany already fighting, on the other side?

  In the Soviet Union, to the east.

  That fighting had not stopped, which is why the landings meant two fronts, not one.

• Germany surrendered in May 1945, surrounded by the Allies from the west and Soviet forces from the east.
• Oak National Academy states that four out of five German soldiers killed in the war died on the Eastern Front.
• In August 1945 the USA dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, leading to the end of the war.

The big picture

The Second World War turned against Nazi Germany and Japan in stages: the Battle of Britain, then 1941-2 (the invasion of the USSR, Pearl Harbour and Stalingrad), D-Day and the atomic bombs. Which moment mattered most is a matter of interpretation.

⚠ Watch out

Mixing up which event belongs to which story. Pearl Harbour (December 1941) brought the USA in. D-Day (June 1944) was in northern France. The Soviet Union's fighting was on the Eastern Front. Keep each event in its own place on the timeline.

Memory hook

S-E-P-B-B: Some Eager Pupils Beat Boredom. Skies (Battle of Britain), East (the USSR and Stalingrad), Pearl Harbour, Beaches (D-Day), Bombs (atomic bombs). Five turning points, in order.

Check yourself

Pick any two turning points from the timeline. For each one, say in one sentence what Germany (or Japan) could do before it, and in another sentence what changed after it.