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Period: to
World War 2 Timespan
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Japanese Invasion of China
In 1931 Japan invaded Manchuria, China and that place became an independent country ran by a ruler who did everything Japan said. This led to the north of China being taken over by Japan. The Japanese and Chinese were fighting, that caused the Marco Polo Bridge incident occur. The fighting became so large that the two government groups of china agreed to fight alongside each other against Japan. The Japanese ended up capturing most of the country, yet the CCP and KMT forces kept resisting them. -
Rape of Nanking
The Rape of Nanking was the Japanese capture of Nanking, China. And during this the Japanese committed widespread atrocities. This killed thousands of civilians. -
German Blitzkrieg
A German war tactic designed to make the other side (allies) be disorganized. They would breach the enemy defenses and send large armored tanks. Blitzkrieg means lightning war. It happened because the Germans wanted to avoid a long war. This tactic worked successfully against Poland, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxumeborg, France, Yugoslavia, and Greece. -
Germany Invades Poland.
Around 1.5 million German troops invaded Poland. Along with that the Germans bombed the Polish airfields. Hitler said this was a battle of defense. -
Fall of Paris
The fall of Paris was the capturing of France by the Nazis. The French armies were split in two by a surprise German attack through the Ardennes Forest. -
Operation Barbarossa
This was the beginning of the massive invasion of the Soviet union by Nazi Germany with over 3 million German soldiers. This attack was a 3 prong attack. The Germans almost captured Moscow in 1941, but they decided to consolidate for winter and wait for spring to capture the city. They made further attacks in the spring but could not compete with a 2 front war. Operation Barbarossa had failed. -
Pearl Harbor
On the morning of the attack, many Japanese fighter planes attacked. This killed 2000 people and wounded more than 1000 people. This attack was the factor that pulled America into the war. -
Wannsee Conference
The Wannsee Conference was the gathering of 15 high-ranking Nazi party and German government officials. This took place in the suburb of Berlin, Wannsee. During this they discussed what they were going to do about exterminating all of the European Jewish people. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was the turning point in the war between the Germans and the Soviets. The Soviets stopped and encircled the German's 6th army. Because of this the Germans were on the defensive for the rest of the war. -
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was a turning point in the pacific theater. A smaller U.S navel force sank four Japanese aircraft carriers. This prevented the capture of Midway island. -
Operation Gomorrah
Operation Gomorrah was the bombing of Hamburg, Germany. This consisted of the British bombing at night, and Americans bombing during the day. This lasted for about 8 days and 7 nights. Although attacks on Hamburg by the British continued through November. These attacks killed over 30,000 people, and over 9,000 tons of explosives were dropped. -
D-Day (Normandy Invasion)
D-Day, also known as operation overload, was the beginning of the reclaiming of western Europe from Nazi Germany. The Americans, British, and Canadians landed on a 50 mile stretch of beaches along the coast of Normandy, France. This led to the liberating of Paris. About 156,000 American, British, and Canadian forces were used in this battle. There were over 425,000 casualties including Germans and Allies in this battle. -
Operation Thunderclap
Operation Thunderclap was a cancelled code, planning a massive attack on Berlin. This attack was predicted to have 220,000 casualties, killing many key German personal. This plan was never commenced because it was thought that it would not work. -
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was the last desperate attack by the Germans to break the allied lines in Belgium. The Germans had some initial success and created a "bulge" in the line, but the allies got reinforcement from the south and stopped the advance. There were over 100,000 casualties in this battle. -
Liberation of concentration camps
Despite hasty efforts by the Germans, to try to cover up what they did, when Allied troops entered the camps, they saw horrific scenes of dead bodies and starving prisoners. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima started because of the need for a base near the Japanese coast. The Japanese were defended by 23,000 troops. It it was a very bloody battle, the Japanese kept going until the end. In the end the Allies ended up capturing the island. From this battle came the famous picture of American marines raising a flag. -
Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of the Okinawa was another costly battle to capture another Japanese island to set up a bomber base. The Japanese civilians were so determined to not be captured by the allies, that they had a mass suicide -
VE Day
VE Day was the was the day that Nazi Germany surrendered. This did not yet end the war against Japan. -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
The dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima, Japan and Nagaski, Japan was the forcing of the Japanese to surrender without a land battle. -
VJ Day
VJ Day was the official ending of world war 2. The Japanese surrender was signed on the U.S battle ship Missouri in Tokyo Bay. General MacArthur signed for the Allies.
