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Japanese Invasion of China
Japan invaded Manchura without declarations of war, to obtain oil, rubber, and lumber to make up for lack of resources in Japan and population overcrowding. China pleaded to the League of Nations to drive Japan out. The LoN could only punish nations bu economic sanction which had little effect on Japan. The League could not eforce its authority and lost its most powerful member in the Far East. http://inter-wars.weebly.com/japan-invades-manchuria-1931.html -
Rape of Nanking
During six weeks, Imperial Japanese Army forces brutally murdered hundreds of Chinese thousands civilians and military.Chinese soldiers were hunted down and killed by the thousands, and left in mass graves. Entire families were massacred, and even the elderly and infants were targeted for execution, while tens of thousands of women were raped. http://www.history.com/topics/nanjing-massacre -
Ribbentrop/Molotov Pact http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/german-soviet-nonaggression-pact
Shortly before World War II broke out in Europe–enemies Germany and the Soviet Union surprised the world by signing the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact in which the two countries agreed to take no military action against each other for the next 10 years.With Europe on the brink of another major war, Joseph Stalin\ viewed the pact as a way to keep his nation on peaceful terms with Germany, while giving him time to build up the military. Adolf Hitler used the pact to invade Poland unapposed. -
German invasion of Poland
Hitler had devised his plan to invade Poland from both East and West. Having Nazi army forces coming from the East and Soviet forces coming from the west. Britain and France were trying to avoid war with Germany so they let him do whatever. Hitler moved into Poland using blitzkreig battle practices, which involved action from both air and ground. Poland fought hard although they were still taken over by Nazi and Soviet forces. http://www.secondworldwarhistory.com/invasion-of-poland.asp -
German Blitzkrieg
Tried in Polant in 1939, successfully employed in invasions of Belgium, the Netherlands, and France in 1940. Blitzkrieg is a military tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of moblie forces and locally concentrated firepower. Successful execution results in short military campaigns which preserves human lives and limits the expenditure of artillery. http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/blitzkrieg -
The Fall of Paris
Winston Churchill urged France to wait a little longer not to sue for peace, that America would enter the war and come to its aid. French premier Paul Reynaud telegrammed President Franklin Roosevelt, asking for just such aid-a declaration of war, and if not that, any and all help possible. Roosevelt replied that the United States was prepared to send material aid.German tanks rolled into Paris, 2 million Parisians had already fled, -
Operation Barabossa
Hitler wanted to extend his invasion into the Soviet Union in order to form his "German Empire". German forces attacked from the Eastern front. The opperation was optimistic with the use of the blitzkrieg. A massive air campaign that also involved cars, tanks, aircraft, artillery, supply trucks, and 600,000 horses. Due to this battle Nazis gained Soviet territory. http://www.secondworldwarhistory.com/operation-barbarossa-the-drive-on-smolensk.asp -
Pearl Harbor http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor
The Japanese plan was simple:Destroy the Pacific Fleet. That way the Americans would not be able to fight back as Japan’s armed forces spread across the South Pacific, after months of planning and practice, the Japanese launched their attack. Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii.The barrage lasted just two hours, more than 2,000 Americans dead, and 1,000 wounded.This attack caused the US to declare war on Japan, and enter WW2 -
Wannssee Conference
This was the meeting that 15 Nazi bureaucrats had to discuss the result of the "final solution." At this meeting they discussed who they woulc carry out the "final solution" which they decided to set up concentration camps. The entire project was put in the hands of Heinrich Himmler and his SS and Gestapo. This was the set up for the systematic murder of Jews in Europe which later was called the Holocaust. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/635490/Wannsee-Conference -
Bataan Death March http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bataan-death-march
After the April 9, 1942, U.S. surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on the main Philippine island of Luzon to the Japanese during World War II (1939-45), the approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make an arduous 65-mile march to prison camps. The marchers made the trek in intense heat and were subjected to harsh treatment by Japanese guards. Thousands perished in what became known as the Bataan Death March. -
Kasserine Pass
German General Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps launch an offensive against an Allied defensive line in Tunisia, North Africa. The Kasserine Pass was the site of the United States’ first major battle defeat of the war.Rommel had been unable to manage his own forces’ retreats, but the Battle of Kasserine Pass would finally display the “Desert Fox’s” strategic geniusMore than 1,000 American soldiers were killed . http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/battle-of-the-kasserine-pass -
Operation Gomorrah http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/hamburg_bombing_1943.htm
British bombers raid Hamburg, Germany, by night in Operation Gomorrah, while Americans bomb it by day. arris, supported at this time by Winston Churchill, still believed that a devastating attack on a symbolic target would push the Nazis into seeking a peace deal. Cologne, Dortmund and Dusseldorf had all been bombed. The most obvious other target of any symbolic importance to the Germans was Hamburg. The raids lifted morale in Britian, and Hitler refused to visit the city. -
D-Day (Invasion of Normandy)
This was the battle that would decided which side of the war would gain the lead. In preparation to the invasion allied forces focused their attacks on railways, bridges roads, and enemy supply zones. At 6:30 the first of many allied landings began on northern France. The five beach sectors became known as Utah, Omaha, Gold, Sword, and Juno. http://www.secondworldwarhistory.com/d-day-the-allied-invasion-of-france.asp -
Liberation of the Concentration Camps
There were multiple concentration camps spread all around the Nazi territory. In the News of the American troops gaining more ground on Nazi territory, the Officers in charge of the concentration camps were ordered to start burning down and destroying all buildings in the camps. They didnt do a very good job at getting rid of the evidence and left many of the Jews in the camps. Later the US troops reached the camps just to face the atrosities that the Nazis had commited. http://www.bbc.co.uk/his -
Battle of the Bulge http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-the-bulge
Its objective was to split the Allied armies by means of a surprise blitzkrieg thrust through the Ardennes to Antwerp.the Allies’ leadership miscalculated and left the Ardennes lightly defended by only two inexperienced and two battered American divisions.A crucial German shortage of fuel and the gallantry of American troops fighting in the frozen forests of the Ardennes proved fatal to Hitler’s ambition to snatch, if not victory, at least a draw with the Allies in the west.100,000 US casualties -
Battle of Iwo Jima http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-iwo-jima
The American invasion of Iwo Jima was sparked by the desire for a place where B-29 bombers damaged over Japan could land without returning all the way to the Marianas, and for a base for escort fighters that would assist in the bombing campaign.Japanese defense tactics–troops no longer defended at the beach line but rather concentrated inland; consequently, the marines experienced initial success but then got bogged down in costly attritional warfare. 5,700 dead and over 17,400 Americans wounded -
Battle of Okinawa
The Okinawa campaing involved the 287,000 troops of the U.S. Tenth Army against 130,000 soldiers of the Japanese Thirty-second Army. It was one of the biggest battles in the Pacific. Japanese forces changed their tactics in order to gain time. Allied forces perhaps faced their most difficult Pacific campaign. American general Simon B. Buckner by artillery fire, Japanese general Ushijima Mitsuru by suicide. http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-okinawa -
VE Day http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/veday_germany_01.shtml
VE Day officially announced the end of World War Two in EuropeThe German forces in Italy surrendered on 2 MayThe final document of unconditional surrender was signed at General Dwight Eisenhower's headquarters in Reims on 7 MayThe final document of unconditional surrender was signed at General Dwight Eisenhowers headquarters in Reims on 7 May.Winston Churchill and King George VI wanted Monday 7 May to be VE Day,but in the event, bowing to American wishes, victory was celebrated on May 8th. -
Dropping of the Bombs in Hiroshima
The United States was the first country to use atomic weapons during WWII. The bombing of Hiroshima marked the end to WWII. The US began working with atomic weapons in 1940. To avoid cassualties and bring the war to a quick end President Truman ordered for the bombs to be dropped in Hiroshima;it immediately killed 80,000 people. Three days later, another bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki, killing nearly 40,000 http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/atomic-bomb-dropped-on-hiroshima -
VJ Day http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/v-j-day
By 1945the Allies were consistently bombarding Japan from air and sea. Japanese government in Tokyo refused to surrender and on August 6 the AmericanB-29planeEnolaGay dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima killing more than 70000 people and destroying a 5squaremile expanse of the city.Three days later the United States dropped a second atomic bomb onNagasaki killing another 40,000.The following day the Japanese government issued a statement accepting the terms of the Potsdam Declaration
