Timeline WWII

Year
1939

1940

Events
SeptemberGerman invasion of Poland, U.K. and France declare war on Germany, Soviet
Union invades Poland
November-MarchSoviet Union invades Finland
April-JuneGermany invades Denmark and Norway
May-JuneGermany attacks and invades western Europe (Luxembourg, Belgium,
northern France)
JuneItaly invades southern France
June-AugustSoviet Union invades Baltic states
SeptemberItaly invades Egypt (British colony)

1941

OctoberItaly invades Greece

June-NovemberGermany and other Axis powers invade Soviet Union

1942

DecemberJapan bombs Pearl Harbor, U.S. declares war on Japan, Axis declares war on
U.S.
Maybeginning of British bombing campaign of Germany
JuneU.S. and British naval forces block Japan in Pacific at Midway

1943

August-NovemberU.S. halts Japan advancing towards Australia at Guadalcanal

NovemberU.S. and British invasion of North Africa
MayAxis surrender to Allies in North Africa
SeptemberItalian surrender to Allies, German invasion of Italy, Mussolini reestablished

1944

1945

NovemberSoviet liberation of Kiev

JuneAllies liberate Rome; Invasion of Normandy (D-Day); Soviet attack in Belarus
driving Germans back
AugustAllied liberation of France, Belgium, and part of the Netherlands
JanuarySoviets liberate Warsaw and Krakow
AprilHitler commits suicide
MayGermany surrenders to Allies; Allied troops conquer Okinawa
Augustatomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
SeptemberJapan surrenders, end of World War II

Timeline WWII

Symbols and
Motifs

Animals
Swastika
Foreign lands and people
Jungle; beach

Concerns

Heroism and Sacrifice

Collective efforts v. Individual efforts
Conformism v. Individualism
Isolationism v. Interventionism
Racismespecially as it is linked with values
Cross-cultural communication
Remembrance and memory and their meaning

Themes

The value of personal narratives

Purpose?
What individual narratives claim about extremity, about human experience,
about human morality
Why we read about intense combat
Who owns the narrative?
Unspeakable experience
What can be communicated through language?
What cannot be explained through language systems?
What can be told?
What can a particular audience hear?
The nature of morality
Evil and its manifestations
Situational morality
Good v. Evil
Multiplicity of perspectives
How point-of-view mediates understanding
Properly understood as a post-war theme

Theoretical
Dimensions

Modernism v. Postmodernism
Modernism as literary period
Postmodernism as style
Post-1945 shifts in literary expression
New inclusion of immigrant/transnational voices

Timeline WWII
Question of the museum or memorial