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The Long March
Jiang Jieshi and an army of at least 700,000 men surrounded the Communists' stronghold in the mountains. The Communists, led by Mao Zedong, realized they were being defeated, so they fled, beginning the Long March. It was 6,000 miles long and lasted about a year. Mao and the Communists that survived settled in caves located in northwestern China. -
Poland
After WW1, the allies took away the Polish Corridor from Germany to give to Poland. Hitler wanted it back. He signed a ten-year nonaggression act with Stalin(Stalin's feelings were hurt after he was not invited to the Munich Conference; he did not want to join the West). Secretly, Germany and the Soviet Union agreed to split Poland between themselves. Hitler led a surprise attack ("blitzkrieg") on Poland in 1939. Britain and France declared war against Germany a few days later. -
Pearl Harbor
In 1940, Americans cracked a Japanese code, revealing Japan's plans to conquer Southeast Asia. To prevent that(and to protect the Philippines and Guam), they sent troops to help China. After the Japanese conguered French Indochina, the US stopped oil shipmetns to Japan. Despite that, Japan kept going, hoping to surprise the Europeans and the US. Japanese admiral Isoroku Yamamoto called for an attack on the US fleet in Hawaii as it was a threat to Japan.Then in 1941 Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. -
United Nations
United Nations formed -
Surrender
After the Battle of the Bulge(where Hitler broke through American lines near the Ardennes, but then had to retreat because of lack of reinforcements), Berlin was surrounded by Soviets. While the Soviets were firing on Berlin, Hitler and his wife, Eva Braun, committed suicide underground. General Eisenhower then accepted the unconditional surrender of the Third Reich, and a couple days later, the surrender was signed in Berlin. -
Atomic Bombs
After the US Marines took Iwo Jima and Okinawa, the Allies decided to move onto Japan. President Truman had to decide whether or not they should used a powerful new weapon known as the atomic bomb on Japan. Truman warned the Japanese that if they did not surrender, he would drop the bomb on Japan. They did not reply, so in 1945, the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. A few days later, the US dropped another bomb on Nagasaki. Japan eventually surrendered, ending the war.
