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Japan and China officially declare war on each other. Japan wanted China’s resources because they were only a volcanic island that had 16% useable land. Japan was dependent on other countries for resources like coal, iron and oil.
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The Japanese went and took over Nanking, the Nationalist capital of China. They slaughtered between 200,000 - 300,000 people mercilessly. Even the children, elderly and women were killed.
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Hitler took Czechoslovakia and Austria without the world stepping in. Europe was not ready for another war, so they let Hitler take those countries. They later signed an agreement with Hitler saying that he will not go after anymore lands after Czech.
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The Manhattan Project began when Einstein wrote a letter to Roosevelt about the urgency of an Atomic weapon. Einstein informed Roosevelt about Germany researching about an Atomic bomb. Roosevelt began the project and Truman continued it and decided to drop it. The entire project was estimated to be about 2 billion dollars.
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Hitler attacks Poland and WW2 in Europe officially starts when Britain and France declare war on Germany. With his lightning fast attack strategy Blitzkrieg, Hitler took Poland in a matter of weeks. Hitler also began to make concentration camps to "cleanse" Poland.
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Hitler invades the Soviet Union. His obsession with Russia led to his downfall. The plan took longer than expected and the harsh winter in the Soviet Union began. German soldiers were outnumbered, low on supplies and the Russian civilians were willing to fight.
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Japan attacks Pearl Harbor with the intent to disable the US. They needed to be victorious in China and other Asian lands. Over 2,000 Americans died during that attack. 180 US aircraft and 18 naval ships were destroyed.
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The next day, on December 8th, President Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan. Roosevelt’s declaration of war was very patriotic to the Americans. He also gave his State of the Union Address which included freedom of speech, expression, worship, from want, and from fear.
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The Japanese fleet planned to draw out the American fleet and ambush it. The code was broken by the Americans and the ambush failed. The Americans sank all four of the Japanese carriers, severely damaging the Japan Fleet. This was considered to be a turning point of the war in the Pacific.
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This was Hitler’s second attempt to take Russia. Heavy resistance and another winter caused the Germans to fail again. Considered to be one of the most bloodiest battle in history, the Battle of Stalingrad had about two million casualties. Due to Hitler's stubbornness and pride to take Russia, the Americans had less resistance from their side and easily invaded from Normandy.
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D-Day (Operation Overlord) was an invasion on the beaches of Normandy. This was delayed several times and finally commenced on June 6th. It was the largest air, sea and land invasion of all time. The Allied forces were victorious and now held a firm grasp on Europe.
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Hitler made a desperate attempt to take Antwerp and split the Allied forces with his blitzkrieg. The battered Allied forces met and tried to stop the German army in the heavily forested of Ardennes. It was a chaotic battle; with over 100,000 casualties on the American side.
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The Yalta Conference took place in Crimea, Russia. The three leaders, Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin, discussed Germany’s future after the war and reparations. They agreed to split Germany into 4 zones and allow them to have free elections. France was allowed to be apart of this agreement. They would occupy Germany until they had a stable government and achieved all the requirements. However, Stalin broke his promise and forced Soviet rule.
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The Allies needed to secure an island that had landing strips for the B-29s that bombed Japan. They chose a small island, Iwo Jima, which was defended by roughly 23,000 Japanese soldiers. It was a bloody battle, with 7,000 Americans dead and over 200,000 Japanese soldiers and civilians died.
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This was the last and largest battle of the war in the Pacific. The Americans, with 287,000 troops, went up against Japan's 130,000 troops. This time, the Japanese changed their tactics and went deep in the islands to defend. By the end of the battle 19,000 Americans died and 200,000 Japanese died.
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Hitler committed suicide on April 30th, 1945. He and his wife, who he married two days ago before the suicide, committed suicide together in an underground bunker. It was said that he and his wife took pills, but Hitler shot himself in the head to make sure he died. The Germans were know without a leader.
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On May 8th, the Germans agreed to the unconditional surrender. The Nazi regime was finally put to an end. Celebrations around the world took place.
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Truman, Churchill and Stalin made an agreement that they would only accept an unconditional surrender from Japan. Japan would have to get rid of their military and have a peaceful government. Japan declined the proposal.
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On August 6th, an American B-29 bomber named Enola Gay, dropped the Atomic bomb Little Boy on Hiroshima. It was made of uranium and 80,000 people died instantly. Thousands died later on due to radiation.
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The Japanese did not surrender after the first bomb, so on August 9th, the US dropped their second bomb, Fat Man. The B-29 Bockscar dropped Fat Man. Fat Man was a plutonium based bomb that killed 60-80 thousand people.
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Three days after the second atomic bomb, the Emperor of Japan, Hirohito, surrendered. The citizens of Japan did not believe that they had surrender because they did not believe what their emperor had said. Hirohito was rarely seen by his people, so there was confusion.
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Finally, on September 2nd, 1945, World War Two officially ended. After 8 years and over 60 million deaths, the great world war was over. Peace was once again brought back and celebrations took place. The Axis was split into different territory to be occupied in.
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It was an international court that tried high ranking Nazi officials. Most Nazis were not tried; those who did were tried for war, peace and humanity crimes. There were some Japanese that were tried for war crimes.
