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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. Japan attacked China because Japan needed more raw material in order to grow the empire. This caused the United States to impose economic sanctions on Japan and Japan decided to attack the US in order to get more materials.
Source: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/world-war-ii-in-the-pacific -
The Japanese butchered an estimated 150,000 male “war prisoners,” massacred an additional 50,000 male civilians, and raped at least 20,000 women and girls of all ages, many of whom were mutilated or killed in the process. This happened because Japanese General Matsui Iwane ordered that the city of Nanking be destroyed. This cost a lot of innocent lives and Matsui was found guilty of war crimes and executed.
Source: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-rape-of-nanking -
Hitler's government believed that they need more living space and in order to do that, it would require war. Germany started World War II by invading Poland. Britain and France responded by declaring war on Germany. Within a month, Poland was defeated by a combination of German and Soviet forces and was partitioned between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
Source: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/world-war-ii-in-europe -
Blitzkrieg seemed to be based around the pervasive use of new technology. After all, during the disastrous campaign in Belgium and France, it had seemed as if German tanks and aircraft were everywhere. Germans used technology, namely the tank, and the dive-bomber, to create a new and unique form of warfare. This result to France attributed their defeat to the completely new form of warfare pioneered by the Wehrmacht.
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/blitzkrieg_01.shtml -
Germans and their allies invaded the Soviet Union, In direct violation of the German-Soviet Pact because Hitler wanted to control all over Europe to gain more land. This result in Soviet troops launched a significant counteroffensive that drove German forces permanently from the outskirts of Moscow. Source: https://encyclopeclia.ushmm.org/contentreniarticleMorld-war-ii-in-europe -
Just before 8 a.m. on that Sunday morning, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes descended on the base, where they managed to destroy or damage nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight battleships, and over 300 airplanes. More than 2,400 Americans died in the attack. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because they needed to expand the pacific. The day after, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan.
Source:https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor -
Heydrich met with Adolf Eichmann, chief of the Central Office of Jewish Emigration, and 15 other officials from various Nazi ministries and organizations at Wannsee, a suburb of Berlin. The agenda was simple and focused: to devise a plan that would render a “final solution to the Jewish question” in Europe. Months later, the “gas vans” in Chelmno, Poland, which were killing 1,000 people a day,
Source: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-wannsee-conference -
After 6 months the attack on Pearl Harbor, The Battle of Midway was started. The battle between the Japanese Navy and the U.S. Navy was a successful defense of the major base located on Midway Island, which Japan hopes to gain the upper hand by attacking the major base on Midway Island. The result of winning the Battle of Midway turned the tide of WWII in the pacific.
Source: https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-midway -
The Warsaw ghetto uprising was a violent revolt that occurred from April 19 to May 16, 1943. Hundred resistance fighters, armed with a small cache of weapons, managed to fight the Germans, who far outnumbered them in terms of manpower and weapons, for nearly a month. As the result, those who survived were sent to extermination or labor camps. It’s believed that the Germans lost several hundred men in the uprising.
Source: https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/warsaw-ghetto-uprising -
The evening of July 24 saw British aircraft drop 2,300 tons of incendiary bombs on Hamburg in just a few hours because Britain had suffered the deaths of 167 civilians as a result of German bombing raids in July. The U.S. Eighth Air Force also began a more comprehensive bombing run of northern Germany, which included two raids on Hamburg during daylight hours.
Source: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/operation-gomorrah-is-launched -
On September 3rd, 1943, the 13th Corps of Montgomery's 8th Army crossed the Straits of Messina from Sicily to mainland Italy. The allied invade Italy because the allied leaders decided to use their massive military resources in the Mediterranean to launch an invasion of Italy. As a result, it gave the Allies complete control of the western Mediterranean.
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/ff6_italy.shtml -
Codenamed Operation Overlord, the battle began on June 6, 1944, also known as D-Day, when some 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region. By late August 1944, all of northern France had been liberated, and by the following spring, the Allies had defeated the Germans. Source: https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day -
The Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes region of Belgium was Adolf Hitler’s last major offensive in World War II against the Western Front because Hitler was aiming to split the Allies in their drive toward Germany. The result was the allies won the battle with fewer casualties compared to Germany.
Source: https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-the-bulge -
On the night of February 13, hundreds of RAF bombers descended on Dresden in two waves, dropping their lethal cargo indiscriminately over the city. The city’s air defenses were so weak that only six Lancaster bombers were shot down. By the morning, some 800 British bombers had dropped more than 1,400 tons of high-explosive bombs and more than 1,100 tons of incendiaries on Dresden.
Source: https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-dresden -
Within days, some 70,000 U.S. Marines landed on Iwo Jima. Many Americans were wounded or killed over the five weeks of fighting, with some estimates suggesting more than 25,000 casualties, including nearly 7,000 deaths. This happened because the US needs more space in order to attack Japan. In the end, U.S. Marines captured Mount Suribachi, on Iwo Jima’s south side, famously raising an American flag at the summit.
Source: https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-iwo-jima -
After the Battle of Iwo Jima, the Battle of Okinawa was the last major battle in WWII, which will be the finish push towards Japan. With more than 180,000 troops from the Navy's Fifth Fleet, U.S. Army, and U.S. Marine against 130,000 men for Japan's 32nd Army, the battle leads to one of the bloodiest battles in WWII. The U.S. was able to sink Japan's mighty battleship Yamato. In the end, the U.S. won the Battle of Okinawa.
Source: https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-okinawa -
VE Day was a Victory in Europe celebrated by Britain and the Allies because the allied bombing raids had devastated many German cities, paving the way for invasion. Not only that, but Hitler also killed himself and Mussolini had been captured and hanged by Italian partisans. This result at the end of World War II and peace in Europe
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/ff7_veday.shtml -
Potsdam Conference was the last of the World War II meetings held by the “Big Three” heads of state which are American President Harry S. Truman, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin. The leaders arrived at various agreements on the German economy, punishment for war criminals, land boundaries, and reparations.
Source: https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/potsdam-conference -
On August 6, 1945, the United States Army Air Force dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima because of the Pearl Harbor attack. Three days later, the United States dropped a bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. Estimates vary, but at least 120,000 civilians died as a result of the two blasts. This result in Japan surrendering to the US.
Source: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/world-war-ii-in-the-pacific -
VJ Day is Victory over Japan Day because it is the day that Japan surrender in World War II because of the atomic bombs which lead to the end of World War II.
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/ff7_vjday.shtml