-
Japenese Invasion of China
Eager for the vast natural resources to be found in China and seeing its obvious weakness invaded and occupied Manchuna. The whole nation was eventually taken over in 1937. This fighting sparked the second Sino-Japenese war. Britian, France, and the US all sent aid to China. China also received aid from Nazi Germany for a short period, until Hitler decided to make an alliance with Japan in 1938. -
Germanys invasion of Poland
Some 7.5 million German troops invaded Poland all along its border. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler claimed the massive invasion was a defensive action, but Britian and France were not convinced. September 3 they declared war on Germany, initiating WWII. -
Period: to
German Blitzkrieg
A german term for "lightning war", blitzkrieg is a military tactic designed to create disorganized among enemy forses and locally concentrated firepower. Germans tried out this tactic in Poland in 1939 before successfully employing the tactic with invasions of Belgium, the Netherlands, and France in 1945. -
Fall of Paris
Hitler unleashed his blitzkrieg invasion of the Low countries and France with a fury. Within 3 weeks, a large part of British force, accompanied by some of the French defenders, is pushed to the English Channel and compelled to abandon the continent at Dunkirk. On June 17 the aging warrior announces in a broadcast to the French people that “it is with heavy heart that I tell you today that we must stop fighting. -
Pearl Harbor
December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The barrage lasted just two hours, but it was devastating: the Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including 8 enormous battle ships, and more 300 airplanes. More than 2000 soldiers and sailors died in the attacked, and another 1000 were wounded. The day after the assault , president Franklin D. Roosevelt asked congress to declare war on Japan; -
Wannsee Conference
Reinhard Heydrich, Himmlers second in command of the SS, convened the Wannsee conference in Berlin with 15 top Nazi bureaucrats the final solution in which the Nazis would attempt to exterminate the entire jewish population of Europe. -
Battle of the Midway
After the attack on Pearl Harbor the united states defeated Japan in one of the most decisive naval battle on WWII. Japans losses hobbled its naval might bringing Japenese and American sea power to approximate parity- and marked the turning point in the Pacific theaterof WWII. -
Period: to
Battle of Stalingrad
The Soviet defense was successful at the city of Stalingrad in the U.S.S.R during WWII. The Russians consider it to be one of the greatest battles of their patriotic war. It stopped the german advance into the Soviet Union, and it was also the turning point in favor of the allies. In this battle the Soviet forces surrounded and crushed an entire German army under general Friedrich Paulus. In mid November as the Germans were running short on men and ammunition. -
Operation Torch
The first time the British and Americans had jointly worked on an invasion plan together. It began with the miltary forces of the United States and the United Kingdom launched an ambitious operation against French North America in particular the French held territories of Algeria and Morocco. -
Period: to
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
During WWII residents of the jewish ghetto in Nazi-Occupied Warsaw, Poland staged an armed revolt against deportions to concentration camps. The Germans killed or captured thousands of Jews. An estimated 7,000 Jews perished, while nearly 50,000 of those who survived were sent to concentration camps. It is beleived that Germans lost several hundred men in the uprising. -
Allied Invasion of Italy
Montgomery's 8th army started their invasion of the Italian maintained, and the Italian government agreed to surrender to to the allies. By the terms of the agreements, the Italians would be treated with leniency if they aided the allies in the expelling the Germans from Italy. In April, there was a new major offensive that began, and on April 28 Mussolini was captured by Italian partisans and summarily executed. The German forces in Italy surrendered on May1,but 6 days later Germany surrendered -
D-Day (normandy invasion)
Codenamed operation overload, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches on Frances Normandy region. The invasion was one of the largest ambitious military assaults in history. The Normandy landings have been called the beginning of the end of WWII. -
Period: to
Liberation of Concentration Camps
Soviet Soldiers were the first to liberate concentration camps prisoners in the final stages of war. On July 23,1944 they entered the Majdenak camp in Polsnd and later overran several other killing centers. on January 27, 1945, they entered Auschwitz and there found hunderds of sick and exhausted prisoners. People continued afterwards to liberate concentration camps. -
Battle of the Bulge
Adolf Hitler attempted to split the allied armies in Northwest Europeby means of a a suprise Blitzkreig thrust. Caught off guard American Units fought desperate battles to stem the germans advance. The Allied line took on the appearence of a large bulge, giving rise to the battles name. It lead to the neutralzation of the German counteroffensive despite heavy casualities. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The american ambitious invasion of Iwo Jima during WWII stemmed from the need for a base near the Japenese coast. Despite the difficulty of the conditions, the marines wiped out the defending forces after a month of fighting. THe Japenese fought from an elaborate network of caves, dugouts, tunnels, and underground installations that were difficult to find snd destroy. -
Period: to
Battle of Okinawa
Last and biggest of the Pacific Island batles of WWII. Japenese lost more than 77,000 soldiers, and Allies had suffered more than 65,000 casualities- including 14,00 dead. Though effectively reduced to a wasteland, Okinawa quickly became a key military asset for the Allies. -
FDR Death- Truman becomes president
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt passed away, due to a cerebral hemorrhage, Leaving vice president Harry S. Truman in charge of a country still fighting WWII. He left Truman with the difficult desicion of whether or not to continue to develop and ultimatly use the atomic bombs. -
VE Day
Victory in Europe day was the public holiday celebrated to mark the formal accaptance by the Allies of WWII of Nazi's Germany unconditional surrender of its armed forces. -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
An american B-29 bomber dropped thw worlds first deployed atomic bomb over the Japenese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90% of the city and killed 80,000 people. Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Japans emporer Hironito at noon on August 15,1945 announced his country's surrender in a radio broadcast. The news sprea quickly. The formal surrender agreement was signed on September 2,194. -
VJ Day
It was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the allies, effectively ending WWII. Coming several months after the surrender of nazi Germany. Japan's capitulation in the pacific brought six years of hostilities to a final and highly anticipated close. -
Nuremburg trails
A series of 13 trials carried out in Nuremberg Germany. The defendants, who included Nazi party officials and high ranking military officers along with German industrialist, lawyers and doctors, were indicted on such charges as crimes against peace and crimes against humanity. -
Operation Barbarossa
Adolf Hitker launched his armies eastward in a massive invasion of the soviet union. Barbarossa ws the crucial turning point in WWII, for its failure forced Nazi Germany to fight two front waragainst a coalition possesing emmensely superior resources. They severly underestimated thier opponent. But the biggest miatake they made was comin as conquerors, not as liberators- they were determined to enslave the slavic population.
