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Period: to
1935-1950
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Japanese Invasion of China
Source Also known as the Sino-Japanese War, it started in 1937 when Japan invaded China. This war happened because the Japanese claimed that they were fired on by the Chinese troops at the Marco Polo bridge. By 1945 the Japanese were controlling the Chinese and controlled more people than they did when the war started, and in Nanking there were over 250,000 deaths and overall there were 4 million Chinese casualties.
"The Japan-China War". HistoryLearningSite.co.uk. 2014. Web. -
Rape of Nanking
Source 1 / Source 2 The Rape of Nanking happened in 1937 during the Sino-Japanese war when the Japanese marched into China's capital, Nanking, and killed hundreds of thousants of civilians. It lasted from December 1937 to the beginning of February 1938, Japanese soldiers would shoot Chinese people for whatever reason they could come up with to kill them. This event caused a lot of people to die and it took ages for the city and the people inside it to recover from the disaster. -
German Blitzkrieg
SourceThe German Blitzkrieg, also known as German Lightning War, was a military tactic that used mainly military mobile weapons on the ground like tanks. Germany tried to use this tactic when they attacked Poland but it finally worked in Belgium, the Netherlands, and France. This strategy helped Germany destroy the places they were after with the military potential on wheels along with radios. -
Germany's Invasion of Poland
SourceGermany and Poland had a nonaggression pact that was put into play in 1934, but then Germany broke this pact by invading Poland on September 1, 1939. Germany did this because the German-Soviet pact said that Poland was divided between the two powers and it gave Germany a good reason to attack them. After Poland lost the German military stayed in Poland when they invaded the Soviet Union and was left under Germany's occupation until early 1945. -
Fall of Paris
The Fall of Paris happened in 1940 when Germany invaded France with the blitzkrieg strategy and in a few weeks a big part of the British force along with some French defenders left France. The citizens were running and then France declared Paris an Open city and on June 14 the Germans enter Paris and take control of the city with no trouble at all. Meanwhile the French government is heading south to the city of Bordeaux and a new government is formed where Marshall Petain suggests that France an -
Battle of Britain
Source During the summer and fall of 1940 German and British air forces fought above the UK, and it ended when the Royal Air Force proved to be more superior over the German Luftwaffe. When the French dropped out of World War II, Britain was left alone to fight against Germany. Germany attacked London only the first attack was successful, but the second one failed and then British fighters shot down a lot of Germans, which resulted in Hitler suspending the Battle of Britain. -
Operation Barbarossa
Source Operation Barbarossa was the code name of the on the Soviet Union done by the Germans, which began on June 22. Germany was successful at first but at the Battle of Stalingrad the Soviet Union beat Hitler and became the turning point of the war. Germany did this because Hitler hated the idea of communism and the Soviet Union was a communist country. Germany lost when the Soviet Union started to counterattack them and marked a setback on German military effort. -
Pearl Harbor
Source On December 7, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked Pearl Harbor, an American Naval base. The Japanese had managed to destroy about 20 naval vessels, almost 200 airplanes, and killed nearly 2,000 soldiers. Japan did this because the USA cut of oil trading with them and bombed Pearl Harbor because of it. This attack caused the US to declare war on Japan and influenced the involvement of the US in World War II, entering in the war only two years after Pearl Harbor. -
Wannsee Conference
Source The Wannsee Conference, which was held on January 20, was a conference held in Berlin by Reinhard Heydrich to put together the "Final Solution". This "Final Solution" would be an attempt to kill out the remaining entire population of Jews in Germany, which was estimated to be be 11 million people. After this conference a great amount of Jews were deported from Ghettos to get murdered. -
Battle of Stalingrad
Source The Battle Of Stalingrad happened on July 17, 1942 to February 2, 1943 in the Soviet city Stalingrad, which is now called Volgrogad. Before then Germany had a streak of defeating cities but the Battle of Stalingrad stopped that streak. The Soviet Union ended up winning that battle and it stopped Germany from going any further into the Soviet Union and turned the war in favor of the Allies. But the battle was an extremely bloody battle, with nearly 2 million civilian casualties. -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Source German forces intended to liquidate the Warsaw Ghetto on April 13, also known as the eve of Passover. That morning when SS and police officers went to the ghetto that morning all the inhabitants gone and hidden somewhere or in bunkers. Jews that were armed with guns and homemade grenades they fought against the Germans and forced them to leave outside of the walls of the ghetto. The Germans did end up winning and directed the Jews out of the Ghetto. -
D-Day
Source D-Day began on June 6, 1944 when Allied forces invaded Normandy, France. This was code named Operation Overlord and 150,000 American, Britain, and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along France. Earlier on the Allied powers made a plan to mislead the Germans about their intended target. By late August, France had been liberated and later on the Allied powers beat the Germans. -
Battle of the Bulge
Source In December, 1944, Hitler attempt to split up the Allied armies and surprise them with a Blitzkrieg as they made their way through the Ardennes Mountains. In the middle of December, German armies launched a war in the Ardennes and the Germans ended up losing that battle. This battle caused a lot of German soldiers to die, which was greater than the army could take. -
Liberation of Concentraion Camps
Source The concentration camps that held Jews for work and would end up killing them after began to get liberated in 1944 by the Soviet forces - they were the first to go after major concentration camps. The Soviets liberated a major concentration camp, Auschwitz, in January 1945. After the liberation of Auschwitz the Soviets continued to liberate more camps in the Baltic States and Poland. The US liberated the camp of Buchenwald, and British Forces mainly focused on Northern Germany. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
Source The Battle of Iwo Jima is when American troops invaded Iwo Jima because they needed a base near the Japanese coast. In February three US marine divisions landed on the island and defeated Japan's defending forces after about only a month of fighting against nearly 23,000 Japanese troops. The American win got a photograph that was taken by photographer Joe Rosenthal that was given to the US marine corps, and it allowed US troops to move into the island. -
Battle of Okinawa
Source 1 / Source 2 The Battle of Okinawa was the last and the biggest battle on the Pacific islands and it involved over 200,000 American soldiers and over 100,000 Japanese soldiers. America attacked Okinawa because they needed to advance to the main island and as a base to invade it. It started on April 1 and continued through June 22, 1945. -
VE Day
Source VE day is on May 8, 1945, which without being abbreviated is called Victory day in Europe. On the day before German General Jodi surrendered which ended the war in Europe. VE day officially announced the end of World War 2 in Europe and is officially a holiday. This day could be celebrated by bonfires and until the end of may could you get cotton bunting without coupons. -
Dropping of Atomic Bombs
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VJ Day
Source On August 14 the Japanese surrendered to the US and the day after it was announced to the whole world and it sparked celebrations in the ending of World War 2. On September 2 a formal ceremony was held and an official signing for the surrender held in Tokyo Bay and then President Truman announced it as VJ Day. The Japanese surrendered because of the atomic bombs they dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. -
Nuremberg Trials
Source The Nuremburg Trials were held because it was to give justice to Nazi war criminals over 13 trials between 1945 to 1949. Hitler committed suicide before the occasion so could never be brought to trial, but a lot of German industrialists, lawyers, doctors and others were charged for crimes against peace and humanity. People considered these trials as a step towards the establishment of international law.
