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A chaotic situation in China provided excellent opportunities for Japanese expansion. It happened because Japan had a desire to be an imperial power. Most Chinese turned to nationalism.
http://apjjf.org/-Diana-Lary/3449/article.html -
Episode of mass murder and rape committed by Japanese troops during the Second Sino-Japanese War Took decades to recover
http://world.time.com/2012/12/13/the-nanjing-massacre-scenes-from-a-hideous-slaughter-75-years-ago/ -
Luftwaffe attacked Polish town. German troops opened fire. This happened because Hitler wanted to overturn the Treaty of Versailles.
https://www.roosevelt.nl/sites/zl-roosevelt/files/styles/image_inline_medium/public/german_invasion_350.jpg?itok=byrNK32f -
Tactic used against Poland, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Yugoslavia and Greece.
https://www.ushmm.org/lcmedia/photo/lc/image/alpha/cd104.jpg -
Japanese attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. More than 2,000 Americans died in the attacks and another 1,000 were wounded.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor -
March in Philippines of 66 miles that POWs were forced to endure in April 1942.
https://www.britannica.com/event/Bataan-Death-March -
Germans entered the ghetto to deport its inhabitants. Jewish underground organizations began creating an armed self-defense unit in response to this.
https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/gallery.php?ModuleId=10005188&MediaType=ph -
The Western Allies of World War II launched an attack on Normandy, France. A few months before, several U.S. soldiers and sailors were killed when Germans torpedoed a surprise landing. As a result, an Allied victory German army retreated towards Paris.
https://www.stratfor.com/image/allied-invasion-normandy -
This was an attempt by the Germans to push the Allied front line from France to Belgium. The German army was ruined as a result.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/117th_Infantry_North_Carolina_NG_at_St._Vith_1945.jpg -
The Allies and the Soviets were given orders to release the prisoners in Nazi concentration camps. Many former prisoners were afraid to return to their normal lives.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/117th_Infantry_North_Carolina_NG_at_St._Vith_1945.jpg -
Americans launched an invasion of the Japanese island known as Iwo Jima. The Japanese were defeated by the Americans after only a month.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/37mm_Gun_fires_against_cave_positions_at_Iwo_Jima.jpg/295px-37mm_Gun_fires_against_cave_positions_at_Iwo_Jima.jpg -
Americans invaded Okinawa and engaged the Japanese in the bloodiest battle of the war. The Allies ended up winning the battle, but Okinawa is still Japanese territory.
http://battleofokinawatuhs.weebly.com/ -
The defeat of the Nazi war machine occurred on this day. The leader of the Nazis committed suicide a month before. The Germans ended up surrendering and a majority of them were taken prisoner by the Russians.
http://i.infopls.com/images/mirrorveday.gif -
An American bomber by the name of Enola Gay dropped a 10,000 lb. bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. 80 thousand citizens were killed in the blast while another tens of thousands died from radiation poisoning and injuries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki -
The country of Japan surrendered aboard the U.S.S. Missouri. Pres. Harry Truman announced the news at a press conference. Immediately, Americans began to celebrate.
http://time.com/3517476/v-j-day-1945-a-nation-lets-loose/
