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Japanese expansion in East Asia began in 1931 with the invasion of Manchuria and continued in 1937 with a brutal attack on China.
In 1937, six years after the invasion of Manchuria, Japan attacks mainland China. The purpose of the attack was to make Japan more powerful, and to take China's place as one of the major pacific powers. Three years after their attack on China, Japan will sign the Tripartite Pact making them one -
Germany started World War II by invading Poland on September 1, 1939.
On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland along with the help of the Russians. Germany and Russia defeated Poland within a month and separated it between the two. The invasion of Poland starts WWII after Britain and France declare war on Germany. -
In accordance with Hitler's grand vision, the Soviet Union and its varied people were to be subdued if a new "German Empire" was to be realized
In order to establish his eastern front, Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa on June 22, 1941, into Russia. Although the Germans experienced several victories at the beginning of the operation, the operation ended in failure. -
Though the surprise assault on Pearl was a success in itself, the overall mission had failed as the American aircraft carriers were not in the harbor at the time of the attack.
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese ordered an attack on the US at Pearl Harbor. Japan attacked the US as an attempt to remove the US as one of the main Pacific powers. The other being China. -
The Wannsee conference
Held on January 20, 1942, the Wannsee Conference was organized by the Nazi officials. The meeting was held in a wealthy suburb in Berlin. The topic of the conference was to discuss how to eliminate the Jews. -
Midway and Guadalcanal
Considered the turning point of the war in the Pacific, the battle of Midway broke the myth that Japan could not be defeated. US airships destroyed 4 Japanese aircraft carriers with one American carrier being lost. -
The Warsaw Uprising was the people of Poland's attempt at taking back their capital city. Although they were severely under-armed, the Poles still decided to attack. At first the Poles had the element of suprise and the revolt seemed like it would turn out succesfull. However, as the Germans gathered themselves they eventually thwarted the Polish resistance.
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Britain had suffered the deaths of 167 civilians as a result of German bombing raids in July. Now the tables were going to turn.
After being the victims of several bombing runs at the hands of Germany, Britain decided to strike back. On July 24, 1943, Britain launched 791 aircrafts on a bombing run against Germany. Nearly 1,500 Germans died in the first raid. -
So ended the bloody business of the day when the Allies enacted their brazen plan to take back Europe by way of entry through Northern France.
After the Allies noticed that Germany was fighting a two front war, and struggling to do so, they decided to attack Germany. They knew that the Germans felt that they would attack at the Pas de Calais so they attacked on the beaches of Normandy. -
In one final, desperate gamble of the war, Hitler enacted his Ardennes Offensive and drove a wedge into the Allied lines towards Antwerp.
The battle of the Bulge began with the artillery bombardment of the Allied troops by the Germans. Hitler's next tactic was to "drive a wedge" through the Allied troops. The terrain and weather of the Ardennes Forest made Germany's suprise attack even more effective. -
As the Allies neared the Japanese home islands, they fought fierce battles to capture small islands nearby, to use as air and supply bases.
In order to stage their planned mainland attack on Japan, the US had to first capture various islands around Japan. The first of them being Iwo Jima, a volcanic island. The Japanese fought from a series of various tunnels. of the 21,000 Japanese soldiers, only 300 were taken alive. -
March–June 1945 saw the last major battle for a Pacific island.
The second island that was taken by the US was the island of Okinawa. During this battle kamikaze attacks would be used extensively. These kamikaze attacks will sink 36 ally ships. -
Unconditional surrender
On May 8, 1945 the end of Hitler's war was made a sort of holiday with "Victory in Europe Day". -
Atom Bombs
Well aware of the fact that Japanese soldiers are not too fond of surrendering, the allies had to find a way to force a surrender. Their attempt at a Japanese surrender came in the form of two atomic bombs. The first bomb being dropped on Hiroshima. When a Japanese surrender didn't seem apparent, they dropped the second bomb on the city of Nagasaki. -
VJ Day
Much like "Victory in Europe Day", VJ Day was used as a type of holiday to celebrate Japan's surrender. Although Japan had not officially surrendered yet.
