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Japanese invasion of China
The second Sino-Japanese war took place from July 7, 1937, to September 2, 1945. This was the largest Asian war to occur in the twentieth century and contributed to over fifty percent of casualties in the Pacific war. The war was fought between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The Second Sino-Japanese War came to an end in August 1945, after the United States detonated nuclear weapons over Hiroshima and Nagasaki.The war resulted in Chinese victory. -
Rape of Nanking
The Rape of Nanking took place from December 13, 1937–January 1938. General Matsui Iwane ordered that the city of Nanking be destroyed. Over a six-week period Nanking was destroyed and would take many decades for the city and citizens to recover. The Japanese butchered an estimated 150,000 male “war prisoners,” massacred an additional 50,000 male civilians, and raped at least 20,000 women and girls of all ages many of which were killed in the process. Matsui was found guilty and later executed. -
German Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg a German term for 'lightning war' . Blitzkrieg is a military tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile forces and locally concentrated firepower. Its successful execution results in short military campaigns, which preserves human lives and limits the use of artillery. German forces tried out the blitzkrieg in Poland in 1939 before successfully employing the tactic with invasions of Belgium, the Netherlands and France in 1940. -
Fall of Paris
In the six weeks from 10 May 1940, German forces defeated Allied forces by mobile operations and conquered France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, bringing land operations on the Western Front to an end until 6 June 1944. Italy entered the war on 10 June 1940 and invaded France over the Alps. -
Pearl Harbor
The Attack on Pearl Harbor happened on December 7th, 1941. Japanese airplanes made a surprise attack on the US Navy in Pearl Harbor. They destroyed many ships and killed many soldiers. World War II had been raging in Europe and Asia for two years, but the US had not yet entered the war. The Japan empire was trying to take over Asia but was worried about the US in Hawaii, they attacked in hopes that it would stop them but it instead caused the US to declare war the next day. -
Wannsee Conference
On this day Nazi officials met to discuss the details of the “Final Solution” of the “Jewish question.” In July 1941 Herman Goering who was instructed by Hitler, had demanded Heydrich to submit “as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired final solution of the Jewish question.”Months later, the “gas vans” in Chelmno, Poland which were killed 1,000 people a day, proved to be the “solution” they were looking for. -
Battle of Midway
Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States defeated Japan in one of the most decisive naval battles of World War II.This fleet engagement between U.S. and Japanese navies in the north-central Pacific Ocean resulted from Japan’s desire to sink the American aircraft carriers that had escaped destruction at Pearl Harbor. -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
The Warsaw ghetto uprising was a violent rise in rebellion that occurred from April 19 to May 16, 1943, during World War II. More than 400,000 Jews in Warsaw were confined to an area of the city that was only about 1 square mile. November 1940, this Jewish ghetto was closed off by brick walls, barbed wire and armed guards. Anyone caught leaving was shot immediately. The Nazis controlled the amount of food that was brought into the ghetto, and disease and starvation killed thousands each month. -
Battle of the Bulge
In the Battle of the Bulge, Hitler used a surprise blitzkrieg to split the Allied Armies. This battle has the name 'Battle of the Bulge' because the Allied Armies had the appearance of a big bulge. There were 3 German armies fighting which added up to a quarter million troops. The US army suffered more than 100 000 casualties. -
D-Day (Normandy Invasion)
The Invasion of Normandy. On June 6, 1944 the Allied Forces of Britain, America, Canada, and France attacked German forces on the coast of Normandy, France. With a huge force of over 150,000 soldiers, the Allies attacked and gained a victory that became the turning point for World War II in Europe. -
VE day
VE day meant an end to nearly six years of a war that had cost millions of lives; destroyed homes, families, and cities; and had brought huge suffering to the populations of entire countries.Millions of people celebrated the news that Germany had surrendered, relieved that the intense strain of total war was finally over. -
VJ day
On August 14, 1945, it was announced that Japan had surrendered to the Allies, ending World War II. Since then, both August 14 and August 15 have been known as “Victory over Japan Day,” or just “V-J Day.” -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
As the Allies made their way across Europe at the end of the Second World War, they came across concentration camps filled with sick and starving prisoners.The first major camp to be liberated was Majdanek near Lublin, Poland in July 1944. Surprised by the rapid Soviet advance from the east, the Germans attempted to hide the evidence of mass murder by destroying most of the camp, but parts, including the gas chambers, were left standing. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima was a military campaign between U.S. Marines and the Imperial Army of Japan. It was 750 miles off the coast of Japan, the island of Iwo Jima had three airfields.American armies invaded the island on February 19,1945, It was one of the bloodiest battles of World War II and it’s believed that all but approximately 200 of the 21,000 Japanese forces on the island were killed, as well as about 7,000 Marines. -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
August 6,1945,the American bomber Enola Gay dropped a five ton bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. A blast that was the same to the power of 15000 tons of TNT destroyed four square miles of the city and immediately killed 80000 people. Since the two bombs were dropped, historians have suggested that the weapons had a two objectives.First to bring the war with Japan to an end and spare American lives.Second objective was to demonstrate the new weapon of mass destruction to the Soviet Union. -
Links
https://www.britannica.com/event/Second-Sino-Japanese-War https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-rape-of-nanking https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/blitzkrieg
https://www.ducksters.com/history/world_war_ii/pearl_harbor_attack.php
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_France
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-wannsee-conference
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-midway
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/warsaw-ghetto-uprising -
Links pt.2
https://www.ducksters.com/history/world_war_ii/d-day_invasion_of_normandy.php
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/atomic-bomb-dropped-on-hiroshima
https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-you-need-to-know-about-ve-day
https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/liberation-of-the-concentration-camps
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/v-j-day
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-iwo-jima
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-the-bulge
