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Japanese Invasion of China
Japan's invasion began with just an encounter with China's soldiers near Peking, specifially the Marco-Polo Bridge. This sparked an undeclared war, which was not great news for China. Japan's past victories grew their thirst to grow and pay back their "blood-debt". The main reason Japan invaded China, aside from becoming the greatest country in Asia, was to obtain their oil and raw materials. Link Here -
Ribbentrop/Molotov Pact
This pact was a political agreement between Nazi Germany and Russia. It was signed in Moscow by Joachim von Ribbentrop, Germany's Foreign minister, and Vyacheslav Molotov. This gave the USSR many benefits, such as the gain of eastern Finland, some of Ukraine and Belarus, as well as other countries close to Russia's border. Stalin hoped this would postpone Russia's fight with Germany. Link Here -
German invasion of Poland
On September 1, 1939, Adolf Hitler sparked the beginning of World War Two by leading 60 divisions of troops into Poland. Sixteen days later, the Soviet Union also invaded the country. 33 more divisions came, creating a total of 1.5 million soldiers. Without support, Poland surrendered on October 6, 1939. Link Here -
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German Blitzkrieg
As soon as World War Two began, Germany started using their blitzkrieg tactic. The foundational idea of blitzkrieg was based upon the doctrine of a man named Alfred von Schlieefen, a strategist. His goal was to create a tactic that would outfight opponents quickly and decisively. It was also important to keep the enemies on their toes. The only problem was moving troops quickly over long distances. Link Here -
Fall of Paris
During this time, the French government was struggling to keep Hitler's hands off of Paris. Winston Churchill was the their encouragement, claiming that America would soon help. President Franklin Roosevelt was telegrammed by France, asking for help. He replied with a yes, but was prevented by the Secretary of State. Without help, Paris had no choice but to surrender. Soon after, the Gestapo went to work. Link Here -
Operation Barbarossa
Adolf Hitler sent more than three million soldiers, split into three groups, to invade the Soviet Union. He was able to surround Soviet forces located at Minsk and Smolensk and get some soldiers to reach two-thirds the distance to cities Moscow and Leningrad. Germany ran out on a lot of supplies, but when replenished overcame Kiev and Bryansk-Vyazma. However, when winter came, they lost their advantage.Link Here -
Pearl Harbor
The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor is the event that brought the United States into World War II. The destruction of the naval base occurred in just two hours by Japanese fighter planes. Close to 20 naval vessels and over 300 airplanes were destroyed. Over 2,000 American soldiers, as well as sailors, were killed and close to 1,000 people were hurt. The next day, Congress approved a declaration of war against Japan.
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Wannsee Conference
The Wannsee Conference was held by Nazi officials. Their mission was to discuss a final solution of what they called the "Jewish question." Many ideas were thrown around, such as mass sterilization, deportation, and working Jews to death in concentration camps. They did not find a solution that had a unanimous agreement until months later, which were the "gas vans." These killed up to a 1000 people a day. Link Here -
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Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was able to stop Germany from advancing further into the Soviet Union. This was also when the war turned to favor the Allies. With nearly 2 million military and civilian casualties, historians call it one of the bloodiest battles in history. In result of this, Hitler became greatly distrustful of his generals and Stalin more confident in his and his military. [Link Here]('www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-stalingrad) -
Operation Gomorrah
This event can be viewed as a revenge plan, because it was a way that Britain could get back at Germany for their bombing raids earlier in the month. On the evening of this day, 2,300 tons of inflammatory bombs were dropped on Hamburg, Germany by 791 British aircrafts. This raid was possible due to "Window," a brand new radar-jamming device. This devastation also destroyed German morale. Link Here -
D-Day
D-Day took place on France's Normandy region's greatly fortified, 50-mile long coast. Approximately 156,000 troops of Americans, Britains, and Canadians landed to enforce a large deception campaign. Requiring a lot of detailed planning, the plan was to mislead German troops about the invasion target. This day is considered by historians to be "the beginning of the end of war in Europe." Link Here -
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Battle of the Bulge
Adolf Hitler beforehand had developed plans, hoping that upcoming battles would end up splitting American, British, and Canadian forces apart. This would in turn allow Germany to add in the element of surprise. The surprise occurred on December 16, and it drove the Allies all the way back to Bastogne. Here, they protected the city and waited for backup. Once that was done, it was over for Germany. Link Here -
Operation Thunderclap
An Allied firebombing raid began against Dresden, a German city. 800 American and British aircrafts dropped explosives totaling at 3,400 tons. This firebombing was a result of an agreement at the Yalta Conference of 1945. Strategic bombing would take place over war-producing or manufacturing cities. Most believe the reason for the attack was just a try to weaken German morale as well as punish them. Link Here -
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Battle of Iwo Jima
One the island of Iwo Jima were approximately 23,000 troops of army and navy from Japan. The United States planned to use an air and naval bombardment using three marine divisions, but the conditions they would be going through would be difficult. Aside from enemy soldiers, there were elaborate caves, tunnels, an underground constructions. It took a month of fighting before the U.S. won in victory. Link Here -
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Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa was the biggest and final Pacific island battle of the war. The campaign took 82 days and involved 287,000 U.S. Tenth Army troops and 130,000 Japanese Thirtysecond Army soldiers. The reason why the battle took so long was because all the Japanese positions supported one another and had strong resistance. Japan lost over 77,000 soldiers, and the Allies had 65,000 casualties. Link Here -
VE Day
Great Britain, the United States, and formerly occupied Western Europe cities celebrated this day. This was when German troops completely surrendered to the Allies. Before this date, realizing that it was the end for them, many German soldiers tried traveling West, but were captured by the Russians. The fighting continued unil May 9 before they surrendered to the Soviets. Link Here -
Dropping of the Atomic Bomb
The United States did not consider creating an atompic weapon until the year 1940, when Albert Einstein warned that Germany was already in nuclear weapon research. A five-ton bomb was dropped over Hiroshima, a Japanese city, which ruined four square miles and killed over 80,000 people. Three days later, almost 40,000 people were killed by another bomb in Nagasaki. Link Here -
V-J Day
"Victory over Japan Day," or "V-J," is self-explanatory in the title. This effectively ended the Second World War. Japan's foreign minister and army chief of staff signed the official surrender document on the U.S. battleship Missouri. Pictures taken on this day, in the United States and the rest of the world, show the excitement and relief of Allied troops and citizens. The most famous is of a sailor kissing a nurse. Link Here
