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IMAGEOn July 7, 1937, a skirmish near the Marco Polo Bridge near Beijing, China, led to open warfare between Japan and China. A skirmish between the outclassed China and militaristic Japan occured at Marco Polo Bridge. The Chinese were forced deeper and deeper into China, in a trade of space for time. The Japanese desired Manchuria, an oil field that would allow them to become major traders with the USA.
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A German term for “lightning war,” blitzkrieg is a military tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile forces and locally concentrated firepower.
This method of fighting allowed for a very specific attack battle plan and would allow Nazi Germany to dominate their invasion victims. It was an effective gorilla warfare that would contribute to the success of the German conquering. -
Adolf Hitler's Germany Army elements crossed into neighboring Poland to officially begin World War 2. Nazi Germany invades Poland shortly after signing peace treaty with the Soviet Union that would split Poland between the two. This allowed the Germans to attain a land that has an unusually high population of jews, along with slavs (another target of the Nazis) I would later serve as a buffer between Germany and the Soviet Union.
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On this day in 1940, 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.
Paris falls to German occupation. Huge swaths of citizens fled the city as the Gestapo cracked down upon its citizens. This was a major loss for the Allies and would result in many battle to attempt to reclaim the city. -
Finally, on June 22, 1941, Germany and its allies launched Operation Barbarossa, a massive invasion of the Soviet Union from the Baltic shore in the north to the Black Sea in the South.
The Germans invaded the Soviets in order to attack one of its most dangerous foes and provide a buffer zone between them and Germany. This would lead to the Soviets "flipping sides" and becoming an Ally in WW2. -
<a href='http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor' >December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii.</a Japanese forces attacked the naval base of the US in order to buy time that would allow them to get a stronger foothold in the Indonesian & Malaysian peninsulas. This event would cause the US to dive headstrong into war with Japan.
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Reinhard Heydrich, chief of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), convenes the Wannsee Conference in a villa outside Berlin. Reinhard Heydrich convened a meeting to deliberate the physical elimination of Jews. This meeting was meant to inform and gain the support of those within the meeting. This meeting would offically move the extermination plan set forth by Hitler in 1941.
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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
The Battle of Midway is considered one of the most decisive naval battles to be won by the US in WWII. The battle of Midway took out a very large portioned of the japanese's trained troops and many airborne aircraft and several ships. This allowed the US to attain the upperhand. -
The Battle of Stalingrad (July 17, 1942-Feb. 2, 1943), was the successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in the U.S.S.R. during World War II.
Stalingrad marked the successful defense of Stalingrad by Soviet troops from Germans. The battle would prove one of the bloodies, @ 2 Million dead. Hitler began to ditrust his generals and the victory rallied Stalin and his troops. -
From April 19 to May 16, 1943, during World War II (1939-45), residents of the Jewish ghetto in Nazi-occupied Warsaw, Poland, staged an armed revolt against deportations to extermination camps.
The uprising of the warsaw ghettos resulted in many more uprisings throughout the German occupied Eastern Europe, creating a more difficult to control POW and Jewish camp throughout the German occupied lands. -
All the crew were delighted, said Flight Lt. G.F. Pentnoy. For 50 minutes, RAF crews bombed the city in security.
The most heavily fortified city within Germany was destoryed during this battle through the use of a new radar jamming technology called Window. It allowed the ally bombers to safely bomb the city of Hamburg. -
On June 6, 1944, the Western Allies invaded France’s Normandy coast.
The US, Canada and U.N. attack the coast of Normandy in the largest naval invasion to date. This allowed the troops to secure the closest attack route to reach Paris, France. This would lead to a swooping territorial take over for the Allies against the Axis Powers. -
From February 13 to February 15, 1945, during the final months of World War II (1939-45), Allied forces bombed the historic city of Dresden, located in eastern Germany.
The bombing was said to have been targeted to destroy important communication lines that would have hindered the Soviet Offense. Thousands of pounds of bombs were dropped upon the city and many civilians perished. -
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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.
The last major battle between Japan and the US resulted in a victory for the US. This allowed the US to attack the mainlands of Japan. -
On May 8, an unconditional surrender was officially ratified. The war in Europe was over, but the war in the Pacific was still unfinished.
Germany officially surrendered to Soviet troops. Nazi Germany was taken and WWII in Europe was finished. -
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The onslaught forced a bulge 50 miles wide and 70 miles deep into the American lines, giving it the name Battle of the Bulge.
The Battle of the Bulge resulted in the destruction of the last reserves within Nazi Germany and allowed to advance of the primarily American troops, pushing back Nazi Germany's influence as they went. This battle would ultimately lead to the destuction of the Nazi Party within Germany.
