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Third Geneva Convention
Adopted in 1929, the Third Geneva Convention set an international standard on how prisoners of war could be treated. The convention stated "Prisoners of war, shall at all times be humanely treated and protected, particularly against acts of violence..."
The Japanese defied these standards during the Bataan Death March when they abused and murdered American and Filipino troops being held as prisoners of war. -
Letter from Einstein to Roosevelt
Brilliant Jewish physicist from Europe, Albert Einstein, wrote a letter to President Roosevelt alerting him to the German's ability to build an insanely powerful new type of bomb. -
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The Manhattan Project
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Bataan Death March
11,000 American and Filpino soldiers on Corregidor island surrender to the Japanese. With the fall of the Bataan Peninsula, the Japanese took over 76,000 American and Filipino soldiers prisonor and were force-marched 60 miles to a railroad junction. Many of the soldiers were already sick and weak and 10,000 died during the march. After the march, the soldiers were sent to prison camps where at least 15,000 more died. -
Battle of the Coral Sea
A mostly American naval group engaged a much a larger Japanese fleet in the Coral Sea, northeast of Australia. The battle lasted 5 days. Both sides lost more than half of their planes and the Americans lost the Lexington and the Yorktown, another carrier, was badly damaged. The battle was a tie but the United States successfully prevented the Japanese from invading Australia. This was the first ever naval combat to be carried out entirely by aircraft. Ended on May 8, 1942. -
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Battle of Guadalcanal
More than 11,000 marines landed on the island beginning in August, 1942. The 2,200 Japanese who were defending the island fled into the jungle, the marines on their heels. This battle was one of the first that marines fought in the jungle. The Americans took control of the waters surrounding the island which limited Japanese reinforcements. The battle lasted 5 months and finally ended in February of 1943 when the Japanese surrendered the island and left. -
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island-hopping
Island-hopping, a military strategy of selectively attacking specific enemy-held islands and bypassing others, was used in 1943 and 1944. Gneral MacArthur and Admiral William Halsey island-hopped the Solomon Islands while Admiral Nimitz did the same in the GIlbert Islands. After Nimitz seized the island of Tarawa, he used it to launch bombing raids on Japan. By the time they reached the Mariana Islands they were within range to bomb Japan itself. By 1944 they were bombing Japanese cities. -
Battle of Leyte Gulf
The largest naval battle in history(more than 280 warships were used) took place when General MacArthur returned to the Philipines to save the Filipinos. The first battle in which the Japanese used kamikazes, or suicide bombers, to attack the US naval fleet. The Japanese high command ordered every ship still afloat to attack the American fleet. Despite these tactics, the US Navy came out victorious. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
Began in February 1945 when US marines stormed the island of Iwo Jima after bombing it for 74 days. Over 110,000 marines took part in the campaign and opposed fewer than 25,000 Japanese. This battle was one of the bloodiest of WWII and only 216 Japanese were taken prisoner. Americans suffered about 25,000 casualties and awarded 27 Medals of Honor for acts in Iwo Jima. The battle ended on March 16, 1945. -
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Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
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End of WWII
WWII ended on September 2, 1945 after Japan surrendered to the Allies following the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
