With school back in session, many students around the world are facing the harsh reality of lectures, tests and boring teachers. As a terrible learner, myself, I always dreaded these uninteresting lectures, dedicating more time and energy to shaping the curriculum into something I actually enjoyed learning about. Lectures were reworded into compelling stories about good guys and the bad guys they had to take down, while hand-written note-taking seemed to be plagued with random cartoon illustrations of whatever topic was at hand.

I found out in my senior year of high school that literally every story can be interesting if told correctly to the right audience. So, taking advantage of the GIF-heavy site I write for, I decided to tackle the assignment of transforming a dull history lesson into something a bit more interesting for my readers.

Without further ado, here is the entirety of World War II explained with the help of GIFs. Enjoy!

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1939-1940

Our meme-ery begins in September of 1939 when Germany invades Poland. German units break through Polish defenses along the border and advance on the central city of Warsaw in a massive encirclement attack. After heavy shelling and bombing, Warsaw surrendered to the Germans on September 27, 1939 in a military strategy that may have resembled this...

Two days into the invasion of Poland, however, Poland's allies Britain and France responded by declaring war on Germany. However, realizing the threat of Germany, both forces took the following year to fortify and strengthen an army capable of annihilating the massive German menace.

Amidst this downtime, Germany takes the opportunity to massacre Denmark in an airstrike assault on April 9th, 1940. With a simultaneous march on the ground, Germany is able to invade Denmark in a struggle lasting an unprecedented six hours.

Continuing in the pursuit of dominating Europe, Germany leads the attack on Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, and even France in a fast-paced montage style combat with nobody serving as a competent enough opponent to test German forces. At this point in the war, Germany reigns supreme as the ultimate giant refusing to be knocked down.

On July 10th, 1940, Britain is forced to rejoin the war when Germany brings the fight to their front door with The Battle of Britain. With the majority of Europe conquered, Germany realizes that Britain is the last remaining major country needing invasion. Using an aerial attack to bomb Britain's Royal Air Force, Germany is able to gain the steady upper hand, leaving one really pissed off Britain. Fueled by the lust of German tears, Britain fights back, refusing to succumb to the same fate of allies Poland and France.

After months of combat, Britain ultimately comes out the victor with the knowledge of their home-land layout as well as the invention of radar technology. With Germany finally facing its first loss, Hitler reevaluates his plan of attack while Britain enjoys the better world it just provided.

With Germany taking a brief hiatus, Italy (an ally) expands the war even farther by attempting to invade Greece on October 28th, 1940. Led by Benito Mussolini, the move comes as a complete surprise as his not-yet-fully-trained army would be fighting the much stronger forces of Greece under unfavorable weather conditions. With nearly everyone advising him against this fight, begging him instead to make North Africa a priority to continue into Egypt, Mussolini ignorantly marches forward into Greece.... only to be slaughtered and driven back after only one week of conflict.

1941

Jumping ahead to 1941, Hitler puts into action his plan to invade the Soviet Union. The largest and most ambitious objective the German army has faced thus far, the vast territory would solidify the German army as the monumental threat it wants to be feared as. It's at this point when Hitler's “Final Solution” strategy of murdering the Jews was introduced. Over the next three years, more than 4 million Jewish people would perish in the death camps established in occupied Poland in a genocide known as The Holocaust. It's one of the most remembered parts of the war as well as one of the saddest. Here's a GIF of a puppy and a baby to cheer you up...

Feel better?

Then let's continue on to June 22, 1941 when Hitler orders the invasion of the Soviet Union, codenamed Operation Barbarossa. With Soviet tanks and aircraft greatly outnumbering the Germans’, the only hope the German army had of success was found in the lack of Soviet aerial combat. Capitalizing on this fatal flaw, aerial battle helps the Germans get within 200 miles of Moscow by mid-July. Unfortunately for the Germany army, however, a disagreement between Hitler's strategy and his commanders' halt the next German advance until October, where it was stalled by a Soviet counteroffensive and the arrival of a harsh Soviet winter. We'll pick this up in a few years. Intermission time...

We now venture over to the other side of the globe when the war really starts to get interesting. With Britain combatting Germany in Europe, Japan realizes that the United States (who has remained neutral up to this point) is the only nation capable of resisting Japanese forces. So on December 7th, 1941, Japan goes full playground bully and launches a surprise attack on the United States at the bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, ending the lives of over 2,300 troops. Enraged at the unnecessary bloodshed caused by Japan, Congress votes to go to war with Japan literally the very next day, ushering in the "yeah! 'Murrica" mindset still found in current Republicans.

1942-1944

Japan and the United States take to the seas in a series of naval battles in the spring of 1942 with Japan walking away victorious in nearly every fight. That is until June 3rd, 1942 in which The Battle of Midway sees Japan's first catastrophic defeat, ushering in a major turning point for the fight for the Pacific, in turn creating a turning point for the entire war. With the United State's declaration of war on Japan, Germany declares war on the United States. Speaking of Germany, let's continue where we left off...

When we last left Germany, the army had been stopped by a brutal winter as well as a counteroffensive by Soviet forces. This situation will be indicative of the entire German occupation of the USSR. Germany's army would be spread too thin across the too large country, and although Russia’s initial resistance was weak, the nation's hostile determination, combined with its brutal winters, would serve as the downfall of Germany's mission. 1943 saw Germany losing the battles at both Stalingard and Kursk and forced a full-scale retreat out of the country with the Russians following closely behind in hot, angry pursuit.

With Germany under the terrifying surveillance of the USSR, the world then turns its attention back to the United States and Japan. The two countries continuously fight over the coming year with the trade routes of the Soloman Islands serving as the ultimate region to conquer. While Britain joins forces with India to fight back the Japanese in Burma, appeasement was dealt between the British and the Americans to team up to devastate the Japenese army, take control of the region and successfully send them back home.

As the Japanese fled back home, the new partnership of the United States and Britain felt confident, strong and ready to punish another opposing force. The team sets their eyes to avenge a fallen ally by bringing the fight to now-German occupied France. On June 6th, 1944, the very survival of German forces was at stake when the D-Day invasion of Normandy is launched. With the United States and Britain approaching from one side with the Soviet Union also approaching not far behind, German forces were forced to retreat citing a small army as well as being completely surrounded. Germany is now on the run as both Germany and the war are on their last legs.

1945

It's now 1945 and Allied forces are closing in on Germany from both east and west. The Soviets are the first to reach Berlin, and Germany surrendered in May 1945, shortly after the suicide of Adolf Hitler. The country responsible for starting this entire mess has now unintentionally brought opposing forces together to wipe themselves out. Don't start fights, kids.

With Germany out of the picture, one last enemy remains before the world can calm down again- Japan. Still justifiably angry over the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States flips one ultimate game over switch with the initiation of atomic weaponry. Dropping an atomic bomb on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki left Japan in decimated, irrevocable shape, forcing Japan to surrender just two days later and illustrating just how unstoppable the United States can be when pushed.

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See? Wasn't that just so much more entertaining?