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1939 BCE
Appeasement
Instituted in the hope of avoiding war, appeasement was the name given to Britain's policy in the 1930s of allowing Hitler to expand German territory unchecked. Most closely associated with British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, it is now widely discredited as a policy of weakness. -
Japanese Invasion of Manchuria
In the 1930s, the Japanese controlled the Manchurian railway. In September 1931, they claimed that Chinese soldiers had sabotaged the railway, and attacked the Chinese army. By February 1932, the Japanese had conquered the whole of Manchuria. Thousands of Chinese soldiers and civilians were killed. -
Japanese Invasion of China
Seeking raw materials to fuel its growing industries, Japan invaded the Chinese province of Manchuria in 1931. By 1937 Japan controlled large sections of China, and accusations of war crimes against the Chinese became commonplace. -
Rape of Nanjing
The Nanjing Massacre or the Rape of Nanjing was an episode of mass murder and mass rape committed by Imperial Japanese troops against the residents of Nanjing, at that time the capital of China, during the Second Sino-Japanese War. -
Anschluss
Anschluss refers to the annexation of Austria in 1938. There was growing support in Austria for the Nazis from 1933. The country had a (non-Nazi) semi-fascist government from around this time. In 1934, the Nazis assassinated the Austrian chancellor Engelbart Dollfuss in the hope of establishing a Nazi regime. -
Tanks or airplanes
Tanks could be used to open a hole in enemy lines, but the brunt of the fighting must be done by infantry units. Early tanks for the Allies had limited transverse movement for the turret, because their primary purpose was to serve as a gun platform for the infantry units coming behind them.
They would try to shoot down the enemy's bomber planes and also protect their own bombers. Fighter planes were armed with high powered machine guns and cannons. -
Western Desert Campaign (Desert War)
The North African campaign of the Second World War took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts (Western Desert Campaign, also known as the Desert War) and in Morocco and Algeria (Operation Torch), as well as Tunisia (Tunisia Campaign). -
Operation Barbarossa
original name Operation Fritz, during World War II, code name for the German invasion of the Soviet Union, which was launched on June 22, 1941. The failure of German troops to defeat Soviet forces in the campaign signaled a crucial turning point in the war. -
Pearl Harbor
surprise aerial attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu Island, Hawaii, by the Japanese that precipitated the entry of the United States into World War II. The strike climaxed a decade of worsening relations between the United States and Japan. -
Battle of Midway
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. -
Battle of Stalingrad
successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd), Russia, U.S.S.R. , during World War II. It stopped the German advance into the Soviet Union and marked the turning of the tide of war in favor of the Allies. -
Tunisia Campaign
The Tunisian campaign was a series of battles that took place in Tunisia during the North African campaign of the Second World War, between Axis and Allied forces. The Allies consisted of British Imperial Forces, including a Greek contingent, with American and French corps. -
Battle of the Bulge
German forces launched a surprise attack on Allied forces in the forested Ardennes region in Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. The battle lasted until January 16, 1945, after the Allied counteroffensive forced German troops to withdraw. -
Crossing the Rhine River
The Allied crossings of the Rhine River allowed US and British troops to advance rapidly into the interior of Germany, helping to bring about the defeat of the Third Reich.