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Japanese invasion of China
Japan was in need of natural resources and they realized they could take over a place in China. So Japan did and made it a independent state called Manchukuo. -
The Rape of Nanking
Japanese General Matsui Iwane ordered that the city of Nanking be destroyed to break the spirit of Chineses resistance. Most of the city was burned and many people were killed. Around 50,00 male civilians were killed and 20,000 women were raped and killed. Matsui was found guilty of war crimes by the International Military Tribunal and was executed. -
German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact
Before World War 2 broke out in Europe, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union suprised the world and signed the German-Soviet Nonagression Pact. They agreed to take no military action against each other for the next 10 years. The German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact fell apart in June 1941 because Nazi forces invaded the Soviet Union. -
Invasion of Poland
In 1939, 1.5 million German troops invade Poland. At the same time, the German Luftwaffe bombed Polish airfields, and German warships and U-boats attacked Polish naval forces in the Baltic Sea. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler said the massive invasion was defensive but Britain and France were not convinced. -
German Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg is a German word for "lighting war". Its a military tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile forces. German forces tried out the blitzkrieg in Poland. Blitzkrieg defeated the Polish army. -
Fall of Paris
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had tried for days to convince the French government to hang on. By the time German tanks rolled in 2 million Parisians had fled. The U.S. said they will assist and bring aid to the French. -
Pearl Harbor
Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The whole thing only lasted two hours, but it was destructive. The Japanese destroyed about 20 American naval vessels. More than 2,000 American soldiers and sailors. Another 1,000 were wounded. The day after the attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan. -
Bataan Death March
75,000 Filipino and American troops were captured on the Bataan Peninsula and were forced march to a prison camp near Cabanatuan. The prisoners were forced to march 85 miles in six days. They were only given one meal of rice during the whole trip. By the end of the trip hundreds of Americans and many more Filipinos had died. -
Battle of Midway
Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor the U.S. defeated Japan in a decisive naval battle. Thanks to code breaking the U.S. was able to counter Japan's planned ambush. The victory allowed the United States and its allies to move into an offensive position. -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
In Warsaw, Poland, Nazi forces wanted to clear out the city’s Jewish ghetto. After the German took over Poland they started to go into the city's where Jewish citizens lived, called a ghetto, and started to take away their rights. The Jews would be sent to work camps, also known as concentration camps. Disease and starvation killed thousands of people. The Jewish people made a underground resistance group that was named the Jewish Combat Organization. This group fought back against the Nazis. -
Inasion of Italy
The United States and Great Britain were the leading Allied powers, The Allies decided to move next against Italy. The hope was to remove that fascist regime from the war and secure the central Mediterranean. The U.S. and Great Britain successfully drove German and Italian troops from Sicily. -
D-Day
The Battle of Normandy resulted in the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control. This was also code named Operation Overlord. American, British and Canadian forces were all involved. They landed on five beaches along 50-miles. This invasion was one of the largest military assaults in history. This mission took a long time and extensive planning. All of northern France had been liberated which was the missions goal. -
Battle of the Bulge
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-the-bulgeAdolph Hitler attempted to split the Allied armies by a surprise blitzkrieg. The Allies’ leadership miscalculated and left the Ardennes lightly defended by only two inexperienced and two battered American divisions. The once quiet region became crazy. A crucial German shortage of fuel and a large amount of American troops fighting in the frozen forest of the Ardennes proced fatal to Hitler's ambition to snatch. -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
At the concentration camps they had mass murders of prisoners. The prisoners included Jews, homosexuals, disabled, and more. At the begining the nazis tried to cover up the mass muders and destoryed a camp because soviet forces found it. One of the most used ways to kill the prisoners was in the gas chamber. They would make them think they were taking a shower but intead of water posion gas came out and killed the people. To get rid of the bodies they had large cremations where they burned them. -
Battle Of Iwo Jima
The American invasion of Iwo Jima, a key island in the Bonin chain was sparked by the desire for a place where B-29 bombers damaged over Japan could land without returning all the way to the Marianas. Iwo Jima was defended by roughly 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops. In the end the U.S. flag was raised in victory. -
Battle of Okinawa
The Okinawa campaign was the last but biggest of the Pacific island battles of World War 2. This battle involved 287,000 troops of the U.S. Tenth Army against 130,000 Japaneses of the Thirty-second Army. The battle lasted 82-days and Japan ended up losing more than 77,000 soldiers and the U.S. lost more than 65,000. -
Victory in Europe Day
Great Britain and the United States celebrate Victory in Europe Day. Cities in both places put out flags and banners and celebrated. This day the German troops throughout Europe finally laid down their arms. The Russians took approximately 2 million prisoners in the period just before and after the German surrender. -
Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/atomic-bomb-dropped-on-hiroshimaThe U.S. becomes the first and only nation to use atomic weaponry during wartime when it drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The dropping of the atomic bomb was the end of the World War 2. The power of the blast was of 15,000 tons of TNT and immediately killed 80,000 people. Another bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki, three days later, killing nearly 40,000 more people. A few days later, Japan announced its surrender. -
Potsdam Declaration
A day after the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan submits its acquiescence to the Potsdam Conference terms of unconditional surrender. -
Vj Day
After the bombing of the cities in Japan they surrendered. Japan’s formal surrender took place aboard the U.S.S. Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay.
