-
Japanese invasion of China
Seeking raw materials to fuel its growing industries, Japan invaded the Chinese province of Manchuria in 1931. By 1937 Japan controlled large sections of China, and accusations of war crimes against the Chinese became commonplace. -
Rape of Nanking
The Rape of Nanjing was an episode of mass murder and mass rape committed by Imperial Japanese troops against the residents of Nanjing, at that time the capital of China, during the Second Sino-Japanese War. -
Germany's invasion of Poland
Germany invaded Poland to regain lost territory and ultimately rule their neighbor to the east. The German invasion of Poland was a primer on how Hitler intended to wage war. -
German Blitzkrieg
The Blitzkrieg, or "lightening war", military tactic was calculated to create psychological shock and resultant disorganization in enemy forces through the employment of surprise, speed, and superiority in material or firepower. -
Fall of Paris
The Battle of France, also known as the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands during the Second World War. In 1940, France had declared war on Germany, following the German invasion of Poland. -
Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbour was an attack initiated by Japan. They had targeted the US Naval Base on the Hawaiian Island of O'ahu. It happened during WWII and caused the United States to join the Allied Powers in the second world war. -
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa during World War II was a code name for the German invasion of the Soviet Union, which was launched on June 22, 1941. The failure of German troops to defeat Soviet forces in the campaign signaled a crucial turning point in the war. -
Wannsee Conference
The Wannsee Conference, held on January 20, 1942 was called to coordinate the "Final Solution to the Jewish Problem". As a result, a network of extermination camps was established in which 1.7 million Jews were murdered in 1942-1943. -
Bataan Death March
The Bataan Death March was the forcible transfer by the Imperial Japanese Army of 60,000–80,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war where the prisoners were loaded onto trains. -
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II that took place in June 1942, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea. -
Operation Gomorrah
The Allied bombing of Hamburg during World War II included numerous attacks on civilians and civic infrastructure. As a large city and industrial center, Hamburg's shipyards, U-boat pens, and the Hamburg area oil refineries were attacked throughout the war. -
Allied invasion of Italy
The Allied invasion of Italy was the Allied amphibious landing on mainland Italy that took place in September of 1943 during the early stages of the Italian campaign of World War II. -
D-Day (Normandy Invasion)
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. -
Operation Thunderclap
In 1944, during World War II, a plan called Operation Thunderclap was proposed. The idea was to bomb Berlin, which would inflict many casualties. However, the project was never put into action. -
Battle of Iwo Jima (1945)
The Battle of Iwo Jima was a major battle in which the United States Marine Corps and Navy captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. It had been one of the bloodiest battles in Marine Corps history. -
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Counteroffensive, was a major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II which took place from 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945. -
Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army and United States Marine Corps forces against the Imperial Japanese Army. -
VE Day
Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany’s unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the end of World War II in Europe. -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
The United States detonated two nuclear weapons over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the only use of nuclear weapons in armed conflict. -
VJ Day
Victory over Japan Day is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end.