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Japanese invasion of China
On July 7th 1937, Japan and china launched a full scale attacked that escalated on the marco polo bridge. The two sides saw each other as nothing more but a weak opponet but this was known as the second-sino japanese war.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jun/06/china-war-japan-rana-mitter-review -
Rape of Nanking
In December, 1937, the Japanese imperial army marched into Chinas capital city and proceded to murder 300,000 citizens. The army did this because of chinas resiliance in an earlier battle, and they wanted revenge. This would later be known as the single worst atrocity in World War II.
http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/genocide/nanking.htm -
German Blitzkrieg
In the first phase of World War II in Europe, Germany sought to avoid a long war. Germany's strategy was to defeat its opponents in a series of short campaigns. Germany quickly overran much of Europe and was victorious for more than two years by relying on a new military tactic called the Blitzkrieg (lightning war).
https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005437 -
Germany's invasion of Poland
September, 1939, 1.5 million German troops invade Poland, To Hitler, the conquest of Poland would bring living space for the German people. According to his plan, the racially superior Germans would colonize the territory and the native Slavs would be enslaved.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germans-invade-poland -
Fall of Paris
On June 14th, Parisians awaken to the sound of a German-accented voice announcing via loudspeakers that a curfew was being imposed for 8 p.m. that evening as German troops enter and occupy Paris.
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had tried for days to convince the French government to hang on, that America would enter the war and come to its aid.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germans-enter-paris -
Pearl Harbor
Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The barrage lasted just two hours, but it was devastating: The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 small ships including eight battleships, and more than 300 airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers died in the attack.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor -
Bataan Death March
After the U.S. surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on the Philippine island of Luzon to the Japanese during World War II about 75,000 troops were forced to make an arduous 65-mile march to prison camps. The marchers made the trek in intense heat and were treated harshly by Japanese guards. Thousands perished in what is known as the Bataan Death March.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bataan-death-march -
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. Thanks in part to major advances in code breaking, the United States was able to preempt and counter Japan’s planned ambush of its few remaining aircraft carriers, inflicting permanent damage on the Japanese Navy.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-midway -
Warsaw ghetto uprising
From April 19 to May 16, 1943, during World War II people of the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw, Poland, staged an armed revolt against deportations to extermination camps. The Warsaw ghetto uprising inspired other revolts in extermination camps and ghettos throughout German-occupied Eastern Europe.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/warsaw-ghetto-uprising -
D-Day (Normandy Invasion)
The Battle of Normandy, which lasted from June 1944 to August 1944, resulted in the Allied freeing of Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control.Named Operation Overlord, the battle began on June 6, 1944, also known as D-Day, when 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day -
Liberation of concentration camps
Soviet soldiers were the first to liberate concentration camp prisoners in the final stages of the war. On July 23, 1944, they entered the Majdanek camp in Poland, and later overran several other killing centers. On January 27, 1945, they entered Auschwitz and there found hundreds of sick and exhausted prisoners.
https://www.google.com/search?q=liberation+of+skyrim&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-US:IE-SearchBox&ie=&oe=&gws_rd=ssl#q=liberation+of+concentration+camps -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The American amphibious invasion of Iwo Jima during World War II stemmed from the need for a base near the Japanese coast. Following elaborate preparatory air and naval bombardment, three U.S. marine divisions landed on the island in February 1945.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-iwo-jima -
Battle of Okinawa
Last and biggest of the Pacific island battles of World War II, the Okinawa campaign (April 1—June 22, 1945) involved the 287,000 troops of the U.S. Tenth Army against 130,000 soldiers of the Japanese Thirty-second Army. At stake were air bases vital to the projected invasion of Japan. By the end of the 82 day campaign, Japan had lost more than 77,000 soldiers and the Allies had suffered more than 65,000 casualties.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-okinawa -
VE Day
Victory in Europe Day, known as VE Day was the public holiday celebrated on May 8th to mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/victory-in-europe -
Dropping of the Atomic bomb
On 6 August 1945 a US B-29 bomber dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, instantly killing around 80,000 people. Three days later, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, causing the deaths of 40,000 more. In the months following the attack, roughly 100,000 more people died slow, horrendous deaths as a result of radiation
http://www.history.co.uk/study-topics/history-of-ww2/atomic-bomb -
VJ Day
On August 14, 1945, it was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War II. Since then, both August 14 and August 15 have been known as “Victoryover Japan Day,” or simply “V-J Day.”
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/v-j-day -
Battle of the Bulge
Hitler attempted to split the Allied armies in northwest Europe by means of a surprise blitzkrieg thrust through the Ardennes to Antwerp. Caught off-guard, American units fought desperatly
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-the-bulge
