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Japanese Invasion of China (1937)
What: Japan invaded China
Why: Japan wanted China's natural resources. Fortunately for Japan, they saw weakness in China that allowed for them to successfully invade.
Effects: China was persistant in resisting Japan, and this caused many massacres. Both sides used scortched earth tactics. After the fall of Nanking, the most infamous massacre occured when Japanese troops slaughtered 300,000 Chinese civilians, and raped 80,000 women. -
Japan invades China citations
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German Blitzkrieg (1939-1940)
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German invasion of Poland (1939)
What: On September 1st, Hitler invaded Poland
Why: Hitler was determined to eradicate all enemies of his Nazi ideology. This tactic of waging war would become known as the "blitzkrieg" strategy. This meant destroying the enemy's railroads, air capacity, comminications, munitions dumps, and land invasions.
Effects: This resulted in Great Britain responding with bombing raids over Germany three days later. -
German invasion of Poland Citations
Citations:
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Operation Barbarossa (1941)
What: Hitler launched his armies in the east to invade the Soviet Union.
Why: To invade Russia and capture Moscow, hopefully forcing them out of the war.
Effects: At first being a massive German victory, it turned into a disaster for Germany and signalled a turning point in the war. -
Operation Barbarossa (1941) Citations
sdSCitations:
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Pearl Harbor (1941)
What: Japanese soldiers invaded Pearl Harbor through two waves of air raids.
Why: Japan bombed Pearl Harbor because America was expanding, and Japan recognized that with America's strong military force, they could not invade China for their natural resources. With America out of the way, Japan felt that they would be able to expand their own power.
Effects: President Roosevelt asked Congress to approve a resolution that declared war on Japan. -
Pearl Harbor (1941) Citations
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Wannsee Conference (1942)
The Wannsee Conference occured when the Nazi officials held a meeting to discuss what the final solution for the Jews would be. Various solutions were suggested, such as mass sterilization.
Effects: In Poland, gas vans were being used and were killing up to 1,000 people a day, and that was the solution that the Nazis were looking for. -
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Operation Gomorrah (1943)
What: British bombers raided Hamburg, Germany. The Americans bombed during the day, however the British did night raids.
Why: Britain had lost many men due to a bombing by Germany in July.
Effects: The bombings continued until November. Hitler was majorly affected and had to come to terms with his defeat. Many Germans were killed during this time. -
Operation Gomorrah (1943) Citations
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D-Day [Normandy Invasion] (1944)
What: Over 150,000 allied troops invaded the beaches of a French coastline, President Eisenhower was confident that it would only end in a victory for the US and their allies.
Why: The goal was to defeat Hitler and his troops to put an end to the war.
Effects: The Normandy Landings were considered the beginning of the end of the war. -
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Battle of Iwo Jima (1945)
What: The invasion happened on a key island in Japan where many Japanese troops were posted.
Why: The invasion occurred as a direct result of the Americans trying to find a place where they could land their damaged bombing aircrafts.
Effects: As a result, the Japanese began to defend the inland more than the coastline from hidden bunkers and trenches to try and wipe out American Soldiers and prevent them from invading. -
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Battle of Okinawa (1945)
What: This was the largest battle of the Pacific Island battles of World War II, It involves over 100,000 US troops and 130,000 Japanese soldiers of the thirty-second army. By the end of the battle, Japan had lost many of their troops. Both side's commanding generals were killed during this battle, and it was the final battle of the Pacific Island battles. Citations:
http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/okinawa/images/ch3p4.jpg
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-okinawa -
Battle of the Bulge (1945)
What: Last German Offensive in the war in an attempt to turn the tide, throwing everything they had on the Western front into a large attack. It appeared to be a big bulge on a map, thus being called the battle of the bulge.
Why: Germany was being beaten badly, and they needed to try and turn the war around.
Effects: The offensive failed and hastened Germany's defeat.
Citations:
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQwLZsdmajoXE-tmmMFzaiAzPZS5xYoNl35d08p6NvQDhSgJyafFA:https:// -
Operation Thunderclap (1945)
What: The plan for Operation Thunderclap was developed by the Allied Command to bomb the eastern cities of Germany.
Why: By bombing the eastern cities of Germany, they had hoped to disrupt the transportation systems for the eastern front.
Effects: It caused massive Damage to Germany.
Citations:
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTf6vTzQw82clj1RUl-EMmp7T1oKv4HUOynSFCpk46qA55_FqURmw:webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20070706011932/http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/images/c -
VE Day (1945)
What: VE day means Victory in Europe Day.
Why: This was celebrating the defeat of the Nazi war machine. German troops throughout Europe had finally laid down their arms on this day, The Germans had tried a mass exodus, however, they were captured by Russians.
Citations:
http://www1.toronto.ca/city_of_toronto/city_clerks/toronto_archives/files/images/f1266_it96241.jpg
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/victory-in-europe -
Dropping of the Atomic Bombs (1945)
What: American aircrafts dropped the world's first atomic bomb over Hiroshima. It killed 80,000 people and wiped out the whole city. Not only did it instantly kill thousands of people, it also caused disease in people that killed them at a later date. A second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.
Why: The American war productions had been building the bomb for two years, but the people who were building them did not know what they were building.
Effects: This prompted the Japanese to surrender. -
Dropping of the Atomic Bombs Citations
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VJ Day (1945)
What: Japan announced their surrender to the allies of the United States which marked the end of World War II.
This day, as well as September 2, 1945, are known as Victory over Japan day, or V-J Day for short. Citations:
http://www.nationalww2museumimages.org/web-assets/images/v-j-day-snapshot1.jpg
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/v-j-day
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