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The Invasion of Manchuria
The Japanese people had a very low opinion of the Chinese and, therefore, would have given no thought to the Manchurian people whatsoever. It was also believed in Japan that Manchuria was rich in minerals, forestry and rich agricultural land. With the problems that Japan was experiencing at home, Manchuria seemed an obvious solution to these problems. -
The Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest continuous military campaign in World War II. During WWII both the Allies and Axis Powers fought for control of the Atlantic Ocean. The Allies wanted to use the Atlantic to resupply Great Britain and the Soviet Union in the fight against Germany and Italy. The reason why this was the longest was because it began immediately upon the British declaration of war against Germany in September 1939 and ended with Germany's surrender to the Allies in May 1945 -
Blitzkrieg into Poland
Blitzkrieg is a military tactic designed to create a disorganization among the enemy forces. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler claimed the massive invasion was a defensive action, but Britain and France were not convinced. they declared war on Germany, initiating World War II. To Hitler, the conquest of Poland would bring living space for the German people. -
Dunkirk
The Battle of Dunkirk was a military operation that took place in Dunkirk, France, during the Second World War. As part of the Battle of France on the Western Front, the Battle of Dunkirk was the defense and evacuation to Britain of British and other Allied forces. It evacuated allied soldiers during World War II from the beaches and harbor of Dunkirk, in the north of France. -
German invasion of France
German forces defeated Allied forces conquered France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Italy entered the war on 10 June 1940 and attempted an invasion of France.. Initially, British and French commanders had believed that German forces would attack through central Belgium as they had in World War I, and rushed forces to the Franco-Belgian border to meet the German attack. -
Battle of Britain / The Blitz
The Battle of Britain was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force defended the United Kingdom against large-scale attacks by the German Air Force Germany began bombing British airfields, keyports and military bases. Both sides took a toll they lost heavily during the Battle of Britain. -
Germany takes Greece
After Nazi Germany invaded Greece to assist its ally, Fascist Italy, which had been at war with Greece since October 1940. All of Greece was occupied by June 1941. The occupation in the mainland lasted until Germany and its ally Bulgaria were forced to withdraw under Allied pressure in early October 1944. However, German remained in control of Crete until after the end of World War II in Europe, surrendering these islands in May and June 1945. -
Operation Barbarossa
Under the codename Operation "Barbarossa," Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in the largest German military operation of World War II.The outcome was that the Soviets defeated the Germans and ruled a divided Germany with a puppet government until the early 1990s when the Soviet Union fell.The failure of German troops to defeat Soviet forces in the campaign signaled a crucial turning point in the war. -
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor was a surprise attack. The Japanese planes attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory. The bombing killed more than 2,300 Americans that day. It completely destroyed the American battleship U.S.S -
Philippines 1942
The invasion of the Philippines started on 8 December 1941, ten hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. At Pearl Harbor, American aircraft were severely damaged in the initial Japanese attack. Lacking air cover, the American Asiatic Fleet in the Philippines withdrew to Java on 12 December 1941. -
The Battle and March of Bataan
After the April 9, 1942, U.S. surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on the main Philippine island of Luzon to the Japanese during World War II, approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make an arduous 65-mile march to prison camps. The Battle of Bataan represented the most intense phase of Imperial Japan's invasion of the Philippines during World War II. -
Coral Sea
The Battle of Midway was a naval battle in the Pacific Ocean. The Battle of the Coral Sea was important for several reasons. It was the first pure carrier vs. carrier battle in history as neither surface fleet sighted the other. It was an important turning point in the war in the Pacific because, for the first time, the Allies had stopped the Japanese advance. -
Doolittle Raid
The Doolittle Raid, also known as the Tokyo Raid, on Saturday, April 18, 1942, was an air raid by the United States on the Japanese capital Tokyo and other places on the island of Honshu during World War II, the first air operation to strike the Japanese Home Islands. -
The Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was a World War II naval battle, fought almost entirely with aircraft, in which the United States destroyed Japan's first-line carrier strength and most of its best trained naval pilots.The United States Navy defeated a Japanese attack against Midway Atoll, marking a turning point in the war in the Pacific theatre. Fought just a month after the Battle of the Coral Sea, Midway was the turning point of the Pacific Campaign. -
Battle of Stalingrad
It was a battle between Germany and Soviet troops. The battle ended with the surrender of an entire German army. Stalingrad is considered a major turning point of the war in favor of the Allies.The first reason is that the Battle of Stalingrad marked the end of Germany's advances into eastern Europe and Russia. The second reason is that this battle was the first major German loss during WWII. After the Germans lost in Stalingrad, they did not advance any farther into eastern Europe or Russia. -
The Battle of Guadalcanal
The Battle of Guadalcanal was the first major victory for the Allies in the Pacific. With Japanese troops stationed in this section of the Solomon Islands, U.S. marines launched a surprise attack in August 1942 and took control of an air base under construction. The Battle of Guadalcanal was a major battle between the United States and Japan in World War II. The battle marked the first time since entering the war that the United States had gone on the offensive and attacked the Japanese. -
The Battle of El Alamein
The Battle of El Alamein was primarily fought between two of the outstanding commanders of World War Two, Montgomery, who succeeded the dismissed Auchinleck, and Rommel. The Allied victory at El Alamein lead to the retreat of the Afrika Korps and the German surrender in North Africa in May 1943.Rommel started his attack in April of 1941. The British lost battle after battle and kept retreating. The British were pushed all the way back to a little village called El Alamein. -
Operation Torch
Operation Torch was the British-United States invasion of French North Africa during the North African Campaign of the Second World War which started on 8 November 1942.
Operation Torch marked the introduction of American forces into the European theater against the Germans from North Africa. It was the successful invasion by combined British and American forces of French North Africa in November, 1942 during World War -
The Battle of Kursk
The Battle of Kursk was a Second World War engagement between German and Soviet forces on the Eastern Front near Kursk in the Soviet Union during. .However, it is not a given that Kursk is the turning point for the Soviet Union. The Battle of Moscow blunted the real political threat against Moscow by turning back the Germans in the winter months. Stalingrad defeated the Germans attempt to capture the important oil fields in the Caucasus region. -
Japanese Surrender
67 years ago on September 2, 1945, the Japanese formally surrendered to the Allies aboard the USS Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay, officially ending World War Two. This is a three minute Newsreel about the surrender ceremony. On August 14, 1945, it was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally the Allies, effectively ending World War II. Since then, both August 14 and August 15 have been known as “Victory over Japan Day,” or simply “V-J Day.” -
The Battle of Anzio
The Battle of Anzio was a battle of the Italian Campaign of World War II that took place in January. The operation was opposed by German forces in the area of Anzio and Neptune. Through sheer bravery and heroism, the Allies held the beachhead. Finally, with long awaited reinforcements, the Allies broke out in late May and ultimately marched victoriously into Rome, in June 1944. The strategic importance of the Battle of Anzio in Italy is well documented. -
D-day
D-day refers to the allied forces' invasion at Normandy on June 6, 1944 during World War II. It is widely regarded as the single most important event in WWII and led to its conclusion in Europe. It resulted in the freedom of France. The day (June 6, 1944) in World War II on which Allied forces invaded northern France by means of beach landings in Normandy. -
Philippines 1944-45
The Philippines campaign, the Battle of the Philippines or the Liberation of the Philippines, was the American and Filipino campaign to defeat and expel the Imperial Japanese forces occupying the Philippines during World War II. -
The Battle of Leyte Gulf
Battle of Leyte Gulf, was a sea battle of World War II that crippled the Japanese Combined Fleet, permitted U.S. invasion of the Philippines, and reinforced the Allies' control of the Pacific. It was important because It was the largest naval battle ever fought. Also it was the scene of the first organized use of Kamikaze (suicide) aircraft by the Japanese. -
The Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. The battle also severely depleted Germany's armored forces, and they were largely unable to replace them.The attack is strictly known as the Ardennes Offensive but because the initial attack by the Germans created a bulge in the Allied front line, it has become more commonly known as the Battle of the Bulge. -
Yalta Conference
The February 1945 Yalta Conference was the second wartime meeting of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. During the conference, the three leaders agreed to demand Germany's unconditional surrender and began plans for a post-war world. -
The Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima was a major battle in which the United States Marine Corps landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. Despite its size, Iwo Jima was considered to have great tactical importance. There were two airfields on the island under Japan's control, they could be used by Japanese fighter planes to attack American bombers on their flights to Japan. -
Hitler's Suicide & the German Surrender
By the spring of 1945, the Soviets were approaching the German capital of Berlin from the east and the Western Allies were approaching it from the west. Knowing that defeat was imminent, Hitler committed suicide. On April 30, 1945, as Russian troops fought to within yards of his subterranean bunker, Adolph Hitler put a pistol to his head, pulled the trigger and closed the curtain on the Third Reich.killed himself by gunshot on 30 April 1945 in his bunker in Berlin -
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
During the final stage of World War II, the United States detonated two nuclear weapons over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively. The bombing of Nagasaki on August 9th was the last major act of World War Two and within days the Japanese had surrendered. -
Japanese Surrender
67 years ago on September 2, 1945, the Japanese formally surrendered to the Allies aboard the USS Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay, officially ending World War Two. This is a three minute Newsreel about the surrender ceremony. On August 14, 1945, it was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally the Allies, effectively ending World War II. Since then, both August 14 and August 15 have been known as “Victory over Japan Day,” or simply “V-J Day.”
