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Japanese invasion of China
Largest Asian war in the twentieth century. Japan surrendered in 1945. Was the result of Japanese imperialist policy aiming to dominate China politically and militarily.Chinese nationalism and notions of self determination stoked the coals of war. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Second_Sino-Japanese_War -
Rape of Nanking
Japanese General Matsui Iwane wanted the city of Nanking to be destroyed. The city was burned and Japanese troops launched a campaign of atrocities against civilians. The Japanese butchered 150,000 male "war prisoners", massacred an additional 50,000 male civilians and raped 20,000 women and girls of all ages, many were killed in the process. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-rape-of-nanking -
Germany's invasion of Poland
1.5 million German troops invade Poland. German Luftwaffe bombed Polish airfields, and German warships and U-boats attacked Polish naval forces. On September 3, Britain and France declared war on Germany. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germans-invade-poland -
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German Blitzkrieg
"Lightning war" Its a military tactic designed to create disorganized enemy forces through the use of mobile forces and locally concentrated firepower. They tried it out in Poland in 1939 before successfully employing the tactic with invasions of Belgium, the Netherlands and France in 1940. http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/blitzkrieg -
Pearl Harbor
The Japanese managed to destroy neatly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships, and more than 300 airplanes. More than 2,000 American soldiers and sailors died in the attack and 1,000 were wounded. President Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan and Congress approved. Three days later, Japanese allies Germany and Italy also declared war on the United States. http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor -
Bataan Death March
75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make an arduous 65-mile march to prison camps. The marchers were in intense heat and had harsh treatment by Japanese guards, They traveled from Mariveles to to San Fernando. After the war, an American military tribunal tried Lieutenant General Homma Masaharu, in the Philippines. http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bataan-death-march
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Warsaw Ghetto uprising
German authorities deported or murdered around 300,000 Jews in the Warsaw ghetto. When SS and police units entered the ghetto that morning, the streets were deserted. Nearly all of the residents of the ghetto had gone into hiding places or bunkers.
The Germans deported almost all of the remaining Jews, approximately 42,000, to the Lublin/Majdanek concentration camp https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005188 -
D-Day
Thousands of paratroopers and glider troops were already on the ground behind enemy lines, securing bridges and exit roads. Approximately 156,000 Allied troops had successfully stormed Normandy’s beaches. The Allies had seized the vital port of Cherbourg, landed approximately 850,000 men and 150,000 vehicles in Normandy, and were poised to continue their march across France. http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day
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Battle of the Bulge
The objective was to split the Allied armies by means of a surprise blitzkrieg thrust through the Ardennes to Antwerp, marking a repeat of what the Germans had done three times previously. They had a draw with the Allies in the west http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-the-bulge
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Liberation of concentration camps
Allied troops noticed tens of thousands of concentration camp prisoners. They were suffering from starvation and disease. Soviet forces finally liberated the Stutthof, Sachsenhausen, and Ravensbrueck concentration camps. Liberators confronted unspeakable conditions in the Nazi camps, where piles of corpses lay unburied. https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005131
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Battle of Iwo Jima
America invaded Iwo Jima in need of a base near the japanese coast. The marines wiped out the defending forces after a month of battle. It earned a place in American lore.
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http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-iwo-jima -
Battle of Okinawa
involved the 287,000 troops of the U.S. Tenth Army against 130,000 soldiers of the Japanese Thirty-second Army. Japan had lost more than 77,000 soldiers and the Allies had 14,000 dead.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-okinawa
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VE Day
Europe laid down their arms and surrendered. The Russians took approximately 2 million prisoners in the period just before and after the German surrender.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/victory-in-europe
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Dropping of the atomic bombs
American bomber Enola Gay dropped a five ton bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. It killed 80,000 people and ruined the city for four square miles. A few days later, Japan surrendered after another bomb was dropped killing 40,000 people.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/atomic-bomb-dropped-on-hiroshima
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VJ Day
Japan surrendered to the Allies, ending World War II. Another day is September 2, when the formal surrender took place. Japan’s capitulation in the Pacific brought six years of hostilities to a final and highly anticipated close.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/v-j-day
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