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Japanese invasion of China
This was known as the Second Sino-Japanese war. It was sparked with skirmishes on the frontier which became known as the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. China was united and supported by western powers. The fighting was bloody ending in the death of between 10 to 20 million chinese civilians. The conflict ended in a stalemate and to break this stalemate their were sanctions placed on Japan, resulting to the bombing of Pear Harbor in response. -
Germany's invasion of Poland
The strategy used by the Germans to invade Poland was blitzkrieging them. Giving Poland no time to respond to the invasion and the Polish army serverly unprepared for invasion not helping their situation. Also there was no hope for aid from the Soviet Union due to the non-aggression pack they made with Germany. This invasion was the last straw and kicked off the war. -
German Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg is a German term for "lighting war". This strategy caught the enemies unprepared. It was first attempted in Poland and was used again in the invasions of Belgium, the Netherlands and France in 1940. This expanded Germany's territory greatly within a short time frame. -
Rape of Nanking
The Japanese army marched into China's captial city Nanking murdering 300,000 out of the 600,000 citizens within six weeks. The Japanese army rampaged throughout the city, citywide burnings, stabbings, drownings, strangulations, rapes, thefts, and massive property destruction happended through out the six weeks. After all the carnage, the japanese pacified the population through the use of highly addictive drugs, such as opium and heroin. -
Fall of Paris
This is the day when german forces began occupying the city of Paris. By the time British forces got to Paris, 2 million Parisians had already fled the city. Those who were still in the city were subjected to arrests, interrogations, and spying. But there was still hope for France as Canadian troops moved through West France. -
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the German codename for the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. There were three different great army groups that attacked the frontier of the Soviet Union. Operation Barbarossa was the turning point of the war. The failure of the Germans in Stalingrad led to the decline of Germany's power. -
Pearl Harbor
Just before 8:00 a.m. Japan launched a suprise attack on the american naval base, Pearl Harbor, in Honolulu, Hawii. This attack was in response to the embargo placed on the nation due to its aggressive expansion. The intent of this attack was to cripple the US navy since it was the only thing that could respond to Japan. Three days after the attack Japan allied with Germany and Italy, forcing the US to finally join the war. -
Wannsee Conference
The Wannsee Conference was the meeting of senior German officals held in Berlin. The purpose of the conference was to come up with a final solution for the jewish question. This solution called for all jews within German occupied territory to be deported to Poland. There were representatives from many government ministries in attenedance to come up with the solution. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was the Russian's succesful defense of Stalingrad. The Russians surrounded the german army in Stalingrad and sieged the city. There were tremendous losses on both sides until the poorly supplied german army surrendered after many long months. -
Operation Gomorrah
This operation is where British bombers raided Hamburg, Germany, at night, and US bombed The city during the day. These bombing went on for a full week, known as "Blitz Week". The bombings were Britian's response to the bombing raids on London. Operation Gomorrah devastated the city and german morale. -
D-Day
More than 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline, Normandy Beach. The allies wanted to capture Normandy because it would give the allies a place to land troops to fight on the frontlines against Germany. The storming of the beach was costly due to the German's fortified position on the high ground. -
Operation Thunderclap
Operation Thunderclap was the code for the cancelled operation which was shelved but never actually implemented. The operation envisioned a large attack on Berlin which was believed to cause massive german casualties, many of which would include key german officials, thus shattering their morale. Although it was later decided that the plan was impractical. -
Battle of the Bulge
This was Hitler's attempt to divide the allied forces in northwestern Europe. He tried doing this by a suprise blitzkrieg, through the Ardennes to Antwerp. The allied troops were caught off guard. This was a repeat of what Germany had done three times before. But this time a shortage of fuel and the allied forces punished Hitler's ambition. This was the costliest action ever fought by the US. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The amphibious invasion of Iwo Jima arose from the the need for a base near the coast of the Japan. After carefully being planned out, three divisions of US marines landed on Iwo Jima. The island was heavily defended and fortified by around 23,000 japanese troops. The fight lasted for a month before the US captured the island. -
Battle of Okinawa
This battle was the last and biggest pacific island battle in World War 2. In this battle the Japanese forces changed their tactics, instead of defending the water front they instead chose to defend deeper into the island, this was intended to gain them time. At the same time of this Japan sent out mass airstrikes which were "suicide missions", they also sent out their last battleship, the Yamato, to a similar fate. Both sides saw massive losses. -
VE Day
On this day people in both the US, Great Britain and the previously occupied territories celebrated the victory against Germany. Although there were still a few conflicts between the Soviet Union and Germany, which is why VE day was celebrated later in Mosco. -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
This is when the US became the first and only country to use a atomic bomb in wartime when they bombed with the "little boy" Hiroshima. Then a few days later the US used the "fat man" on Nagasaki. This was the US's attempt to try to get the japanese to surreneder. -
VJ Day
This day was when it was announced that Japan had surrendered. On September 2, 1945, is when Japan’s formal surrender took place aboard the U.S.S. Missouri. This came several months after the Nazi surrender, finally ending 6 years of war.
