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Japanese invasion of China
During the early 1930s, China was very conflicted. Two political groups came at odds with each other. A civil war breaks out between Communists and Nationalists. Japan takes advantage of the situation to invade and occupy Manchuria looking for the resources that China holds. -
German Invasion of Poland
On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. The Polish army was quickly defeated weeks after the invasion began. Warsaw surrendered on September 27. The country was split between Germany and the Soviet Union as a result of the Nazi-Soviet Pact made prior to the invasion. Poland was invaded because Hitler wanted to reclaim German territories lost due to the Treaty of Versailles that ended the first world war. -
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German Blitzkrieg Attacks
Blitzkrieg, also known as lightning war, was a tactic that used by the Germans. Blitzkrieg was a concentration of offensive weapons along a narrow front. Successful Blitzkrieg attacks include Poland (Sep. 1939), Denmark (Apr. 1940), Norway (Apr. 1940), Netherlands (May 1940), Luxembourg (May 1940), France (May 1940), Yougoslavia (April 1941) and Greece (April 1941). -
Fall of Paris
On June 15, 1940, the Germans managed to take over Paris. Capturing Paris, the capital of France, means that the French government would have to surrender over the Nazis. -
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June of 1941. Hitler had broken the pact made between the two countries years prior to Barbarossa. He had promised not to attack the Soviet Union eventually this would prove to be a terrible decision on Hitler's part. -
The Bombing of Pearl Harbor
The bombing of Pearl Harbor was a surprise attack launched by the Japanese on December 7, 1941. The attack left 2.390 American soldiers and 68 civilians dead. The Japanese attacked the naval base to prevent American interference with their plans to keep growing their overseas empire. The attack left Americans distrustful of the Japanese. As a result of the attack the Japanese, including those born in America, were forced into internment camps, being forced to leave everything behind. -
The Wannsee Conference
The Wannssee Conference took place on January 20, 1942. It was a conference to discuss the extermination of the entire Jewish population in Europe aka the Final Solution of the Jewish Problem. The minutes of the meeting have been preserved but they were edited using a code language used by the Nazis. -
Bataan Death March
The Bataan Death March took place on the Phillipine Island of Luzon on April 9, 1942. About 75,000 Filipino and American troops were forced to march 65 miles to prison camps. -
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Battle of Stalingrad
The battle of Stalingrad was an attempt by German soldiers to take over the Soviet city of Stalingrad. The people of Stalingrad managed to fight the troops off. By this point everyone was tired and the soldiers weren't prepared for the conditions that faced them in Stalingrad. The people managed to finally defeat them in February of 1943. -
Operation Gomorrah
On July 24, 1943, Britain dropped 2,300 tons of incendiary bombs on the German city of Hamburg. Over 1,500 German civilians were killed in the attack. The bombing was in retalliation to previous German raids. The first raid was more destructive than the five most destructive German attacks. -
Invasion of Italy Begins
With North Africa and the island of Sicily under Allied control, the Allies made their way into the Italian mainland. The invasion began on September 3, 1943. The Italian government had already agreed to surrender. However, Mussolini was rescued by Gernman commandos and was made leader of a Nazi puppet state in North Italy. The invasion was led by General Bernard Law Montgomery. -
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Alled Invasion of Italy
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Invasion of Italy Ends
In June of 1944, Rome fell. This led to a stalemate. The Americans and the British began putting their resources into the Normandy Invasion. -
D-Day (Normandy Invasion)
The Normandy Invasion, also known as D-Day, took place on June 6, 1944. The Allied soldiers from America, Canada and Britain arrived on the beaches of Normandy, France. France was under the control of Nazi Germany. This invasion became one of the largest in history. By late August of 1944 all of Northern France was free from Nazi control. The following spring had seen the defeat of the Nazis in France. -
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge took place in the early morning of December 16, 1944. Hitler launched more than 200,000 thousand troops and about 1,000 tanks in a last ditch effort. The Germans managed to break through the American front after a day of fighting. The Allies however, under the leadership of General Dwight "Ike" Eisenhower won the battle. -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
Auschwitz, one of the largest concentration camps in Europe was liberated in January of 1945. Auschwitz was one of the first to be freed from the German's torture. -
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Operation Thunderclap
Operation Thunderclap is also known as the bombing of Dresden. The bombings took place between February 13 and 15, 1945. The bombing destoryed the area of 15 square kilometers. The bombing left a majority of the inner city buildings in ruin. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima was the first American attack on the Japanese Islands. The battle took place on February 19, 1945. The island was defended by about 23,000 Japanese troops. The American marine troops managed to score a victory despite the conditions. The Japanese fought from networks of caves, dugouts, tunnels and other undergroud passageways and installations. They made them hard to destroy or find. The battle left 5,900 and 17, 400 American troops dead and wounded respectively. -
Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa was the last and the biggest of the series of battles in the Pacific islanads. The campaign took place from April 1-June 22, 1945. The campaign lasted for 82 days. In that timespan 77,000 Japanese soldiers were killed and 14,000 American soldiers were also dead. Kamikaze pilots were involved in this battle. -
VE Day
VE Day, also known as Victory in Europe Day, took place on May 8, 1945. VE Day marks the end of WWII in World War II. -
VJ Day
Victory in Japan Day took place on August 14, 1945. Japan finally surrendered after America drops the atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
