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Japan invades Manchuria
In 1931, the Japanese Army attacked Chinese troops in Manchuria. The event is commonly known as the Manchurian Incident. This was essentially an attempt by Japan to gain control over the whole province. They needed to do this in order to eventually encompass all of East Asia. This was proven to be one of the many causes of World War II. -
Japan invades China, initiating World War II in the Pacific.
This event cause the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Which was a military conflict fought primarily between China and Japan starting in 1937. China fought Japan, with some economic help from Germany, the Soviet Union, the British Empire, and the United States. -
Germany invades Poland, initiating World War II in Europe.
When Germany invaded Poland it was a primer on how Hitler wanted to wage war. Creating what would become the “blitzkrieg” strategy. This was characterized by extensive bombing early on to destroy the enemy’s air capacity. Railroads, communication lines, and munitions dumps also. Then invasion with overwhelming numbers of troops, tanks, and artillery. Afterward infantry moved in, picking off any remaining resistance. -
Germany invades Denmark and Norway.
German forces were able to slip through the mines Britain had laid around Norwegian ports. The order came from a Norwegian commander. The Norwegian government refused, and the Germans responded with a parachute invasion. But an accelerating German offensive in France led Britain to transfer thousand of soldiers from Norway to France, resulting ultimately in a German victory. -
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor.
On December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. It lasted just two hours, but it was devastating. They managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight battleships, and more than 300 airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died in the attack, and another 1,000 were wounded. The day after the assault, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan. -
Battle of Midway
6 months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the US defeated Japan in one of the most decisive naval battles of World War II. Major advances in code breaking, helped the United States to preempt and counter Japan’s planned ambush of its few remaining aircraft carriers. This inflicted permanent damage on the Japanese Navy. It was an important turning point in the Pacific campaign, the victory allowed the United States and its allies to move into an offensive position. -
Normandy Invasion
Normandy Invasion, during World War II, the Allied invasion of western Europe, which was launched on June 6, 1944, with the simultaneous landing of U.S., British, and Canadian forces on five separate beachheads in Normandy, France. By the end of August 1944 all of northern France was liberated, and the invading forces reorganized for the drive into Germany, where they would eventually meet with Soviet forces advancing from the east to bring an end to the Nazi Reich. -
Invasion of Germany
The invasion started with the Western Allies crossing the River Rhine in March 1945. Before fanning out and overrunning all of western Germany from the Baltic in the north to Austria in the south before the Germans surrendered on 8 May 1945. This was also called the "Central Europe Campaign" in United States military histories. -
Germany Surrenders
At first, General Jodl hoped to limit the terms of German surrender to only those forces still fighting the Western Allies. But General Dwight Eisenhower demanded complete surrender of all German forces, those fighting in the East as well as in the West. If this demand was not met, Eisenhower was prepared to seal off the Western front, preventing Germans from fleeing to the West in order to surrender, thereby leaving them in the hands of the enveloping Soviet forces. -
Atomic Bomb
President Harry S. Truman, warned by some of his advisers that any attempt to invade Japan would result in horrific American casualties, ordered that the new weapon be used to bring the war to a speedy end. On August 6, 1945, the American bomber Enola Gay dropped a five-ton bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima.
