-
Japanese Invasion
Japan's invasions of China during the 1930s initiated and then expanded the largest war fought between two countries during the twentieth century. For Japan, this was a war fought for resources and geopolitical position. For China, it was a war for national survival. Japan possessed a powerful modern army and pursued a strategy of quick decisive victory.
China responded with masses of soldiers and traded space for time in an attrition strategy. -
Rape Of Nanking
In December of 1937, the Japanese Imperial Army marched into China's capital city of Nanking and proceeded to murder 300,000 out of 600,000 civilians and soldiers in the city. The six weeks of carnage would become known as the Rape of Nanking and represented the single worst atrocity during the World War II era in either the European or Pacific theaters of war. -
Germany's invasion of Poland
The German invasion of Poland was a primer on how Hitler intended to wage war–what would become the “blitzkrieg” strategy. This was characterized by extensive bombing early on to destroy the enemy’s air capacity, railroads, communication lines, and munitions dumps, followed by a massive land invasion with overwhelming numbers of troops, tanks, and artillery. -
German Blitzkrieg
In 1939, Hitler invades Poland on 1 September. Britain and France declare war on Germany two days later. Later on in 1940, rationing starts in the UK.
German 'Blitzkrieg' overwhelms Belgium, Holland and France. Churchill becomes Prime Minister of Britain.
British Expeditionary Force evacuated from Dunkirk.
British victory in Battle of Britain forces Hitler to postpone invasion plans. -
Fall of Paris
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had tried for days to convince the French government to hang on, not to sue for peace, that America would enter the war and come to its aid. -
Operation Barbarossa
Hitler begins Operation Barbarossa - the invasion of Russia. The Blitz continues against Britain's major cities. Allies take Tobruk in North Africa, and resist German attacks. Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, and the US enters the war. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attacking planes came in two waves; the first hit its target at 7:53 AM, the second at 8:55. By 9:55 it was all over. By 1:00 PM the carriers that launched the planes from 274 miles off the coast of Oahu were heading back to Japan. Behind them they left chaos, 2,403 dead, 188 destroyed planes and a crippled Pacific Fleet that included 8 damaged or destroyed battleships. -
Wannsee Conference
Germany suffers setbacks at Stalingrad and El Alamein. Singapore falls to the Japanese in February - around 25,000 prisoners taken. American naval victory at Battle of Midway, in June, marks turning point in Pacific War. Mass murder of Jewish people at Auschwitz begins. -
Battle of Midway
An enormous naval and air battle that raged for four days during World War II at Midway Island, in which planes from American aircraft carriers blunted the Japanese naval threat in the Pacific Ocean after Pearl Harbor. The US had great losses, but they were victorious, because the American navy destroyed four Japanese aircraft carriers and lost only one of its own; this action regained control of the central Pacific for the US.Battle of Midway -
Operation Gomorrah
Surrender at Stalingrad marks Germany's first major defeat. Allied victory in North Africa enables invasion of Italy to be launched. Italy surrenders, but Germany takes over the battle. -
D-Day (Normandy Invasion - 1944)
Over 150,000 Allied soldiers landed on the Normandy beaches of France. The British and Americans, on the Normandy Coast broke loose on July 25 and liberated Paris by August 25. On September 11, 1944, the first US troops crossed into Germany. By December, all of France, most of Belgium, and part of the southern Netherlands had been liberated. -
Battle of the Bulge
Germans launched the last major offensive of the war, Operation Mist, also known as the Ardennes Offensive and the Battle of the Bulge, in attempt to push the Allied front line west from northern France to northwestern Belgium. This battle raged for three weeks, resulting in a massive loss of American and civilian life. -
Operation Thunderclap
This involved the RAF and U.S. Air Force in which they bombed many German cities in 1944-45. Some of which included: Dresden, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Berlin. This was intended to destroy German morale. -
Battle of Iwo Jima (1945); Battle of Okinawa (1945)
These allies fought fierce battles to capture small islands nearby, to use as air supply and bases, near Japanese home lands. These were the last two heavily defeated Japanese islands, that were conquered by the US in 1945. Many Japanese defenders were taken alive, and over 107,000 Japanese military and civilian people died and the Americans lost approximately 6,500 dead and 20,000 thousand wounded. -
V-E Day
V-E Day stands for Victory in Europe Day. V-E Day commemorates the surrender of Nazi Germany to the Allied forces in 1945, which ended World War II in Europe. With their power-mad Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, dead by his own hand, German military leaders signed surrender documents at several locations in Europe on May 7. -
Atom Bombs
Atom Bombs were powerful weapon created from the splitting of atoms. It was used by President Harry S. Truman in the Japanese cities. The atomic bombs have been dropped on the city of Hiroshima, which obliterated the town and on the city of Nagasaki. There was a high number of primarily civilian casualties and massive destruction wrought by a single explosive device, Many Japanese people have been killed in the firebombings that U.S. planes had been carrying out for months. -
VJ Day
Known as “Victory Over Japan Day”or VJ day. Japan ceased fighting and formally surrendered to its allies, -
Fate of the Dictators
Adolf Hitler - Nazi dictator of Germany. He planned and started World War 2 and then committed suicide at the end of the war. Mussolini - Prime minister of Italy. However when It was clear that Italy was losing the war, several days after the invasion Mussolini was replaced and arrested, then in April 1945, he was captured and executed. Joseph Stalin - Very brutal Communist dictator of Russia. After the war ended, Stalin's terrible political terror quickly returned and continued until his death. -
Creation of the United Nations, Creation of NATO
In 1949, The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was established by 12 Western nations: the United States, Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Iceland, Canada, and Portugal. With this the military alliance, which provided for a collective self-defense against Soviet aggression, it greatly increased American influence in Europe.
