Eyewitness to World War II
6 total works
Be an eyewitness to the past with vivid narratives that bring history to life. Zoom in on key moments in time that changed everything. Find out what led to these historic turning points and discover how they affect life today. These four titles focus on significant events of World War II.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt called 7 December 1941 "a date which will live in infamy". Early that morning hundreds of Japanese fighter planes unexpectedly attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. More than 2,000 Americans were killed and the battleships of the Pacific Fleet lay in ruins. The brutal attack launched the United States into war, a conflict that engulfed the world.
Hoping to finally end World War II, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, on 6 August 1945. Three days later, the US dropped another massive bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. The result was total devastation. Within seconds of the blasts, more than 120,000 men, women and children died. Thousands more would die from radiation sickness in the months to come. The war was over but the ongoing fear of nuclear destruction had begun.
Nearly 8,000 Jewish-owned businesses, schools, hospitals and homes were destroyed during one night of brutality in November 1938. German Nazis and their supporters took to the streets of Germany and Austria bent on destruction. They burnt hundreds of synagogues to the ground, killed more than 100 Jews and sent 30,000 more to concentration camps. Kristallnacht, "the night of broken glass", would mark the beginning of the Holocaust.
