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Skirmishing between Japan and CHina had been going on for some time but in 1937 the Marco Polo Bridge incident led to a full blown war and invasion of China in which Japan quickly captured key points within China.
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Germany invades Poland in order to realise his goal of conquering Europe. Because of this 2 days later Britain and France declare war on Germany
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This term for lightning war was used by the Germans to fight Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. this tactic uses mobil military power in order to end a fight quickly
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On this day the Germans enter and occupy Paris. This led President Roosevelt to freeze the American assets of the axis powers
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On this day Hitler launches a huge invasion of the Soviet Union, the invasion failed and was a critical point in WWII as its failure caused Germany to fight a "two front war" both sides with superior resources
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The Japanese attack america at Pearl Harbor on the US Pacific Fleet. This led to the United States getting involved in the war.
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The Wannsee conference is held to come up with a final solution as to how to deal with the Jews. At this meeting it is decided to use the jews as labour and this put the final solution into effect as an organized system
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During this time nearly 1000 residents armed themselves and staged a revolt against the nazi's who controled their ghetto, although the uprising failed it inspired many similar uprisings
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the Battle of Stalingrad was the succesful defence of the town of Stalingrad when Soviet forces defended it from the Germans. Many consider it to be one of the greatest battles of the war. Due to the soviets success they stopped the German advance and it marked the point in the war in which Allied forces gained the upper hand.
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Operation Gomorrah starts with bombing by night by British forces on Hamburg Germany. As a result of the bombing over 9000 pounds of explosives were dropped and devastated German morale.
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D day starts with allied forces landing in Northern France in order to clear out France from the Germans and take back control. By the end of the day all of the beach heads were established which opened the road to France again
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Hitler tries to cut off allied forces from each other by use of the Ardennes offensive, while at first it did work in their favor by the end of February all German advances had been removed.
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On this day Hitler tries to split the allied forces in Europe by a surprise Blitzkrieg. though caught off guard the allied forces fought hard and in the end were able to stop the germans, although allied forces did suffer heavy casualties.
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Royal Airforce starts Operation Thunderclap which bombs the eastern cities of Germany in an attempt to disrupt transportation. The bombing was very successful.
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Marines land in Iwo Jima after air and naval strikes to help clear the path, the marines wiped out the Japanese troops after a month of fighting. The battle was a result of the need for a base near the Japanese coast.
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Allied forces fight the Japanese in the bloodiest battle of the Pacific war. The fight was over some airbases that were needed for the expected invasion on Japan. Losses were heavy on both sides with Japan losing 77,000 soldiers and allied forces losing 65,000
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This is a celebration of the defeat of the Nazi's. On this day German forces in Europe laid down their arms in surrender
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on the 6th of August US forces drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima destroying the city and killing over 80,000 people. Three days later they drop another atomic bomb on Nagasaki. These attacks are largely credited for preventing an invasion of Japan and getting Japan to surrender
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On August 14th Japan surrendered to Allied forces, and with this surrender they ended World war II
