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WWII timeline
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Japanese invasion of China
At the beginning of the Great depression, Japan was struggling with having enough natural resources for the country to thrive. The option they chose was to attack China when they were at their weakest. After the end of the battle in 1932, Japan gained control of upper east china where japan controlled the region's domestic and foreign affairs as well as all their natural resources. -
Germany's invasion of Poland.
Before WWII Germany was looking to expand and by Hitler's command he decided that Poland was a good target. The problem with the invasion however was the soviet union to come and help. To solve this, Hitler signed a nonaggression pact with the Soviet Union to prevent them from protecting Poland. This was also the first battle that the military strategy Blitzkrieg was used. Poland had no chance the axis powers took over Poland and it was split between both Germany and the Soviet Union. -
Fall of Paris
After the Germans took over Belgium, the Netherlands, luxembourg, Denmark, and Norway. Hitler decided to go for France Next. France already knew about Germany's success so they prepared ahead of time. Even with all their preparations the french stood no chance. Germany quickly took over France and divided it into two halves. One being occupied France that was used by the Germans and unoccupied France that was administered by the french. -
Pearl Harbor Attack
With all the breakout of war, Japan needed to start building up land, so to weaken the United states military they planned a surprise attack on the main naval American base Pearl Harbor. The plan was to take out all of America's ships, planes, submarines, etc. One thing that the Japanese didn't think about is that they didn't take everything out. Their attack was to just slow us down but it did not conquer us. -
Wannsee Conference
The conference was where Hitler along with many other Nazi officials to discuss the Final solution to the "Jewish question." This conference was to discussing concentration camps and different gruesome ways to kill mass groups of jews. So they came up with the gas vans and chambers to get rid of many jews at once. This forever changed the camps. Many Death camps were created that their sole purpose was to murder mass amounts of jews. -
Bataan Death March
After U.S. surrender the Bataan Peninsula on the island of Luzon to the Japanese. The Japanese forced over 75,000 filipino and american troops to march over 65 miles to prison camps. Over the course of the march many dies which earned its name the Bataan Death March. -
Battle of Midway
This battle was the most decisive battles of WWII. After the Pearl Harbor attack there were still a few American naval ships left and this battle was an attempt by the Japanese to "finish the job" so to speak. It was also supposed to be a surprise attack but the Americans made big progress in code breaking and were able to counter their attack. Making them victorious. -
Warsaw Ghetto uprising
On this day would mark a chain reaction of many more uprisings in different ghettos. The Germans planned to clear out the Warsaw Ghetto but many other resistance fighters planned to fight back. Armed with a small supply of weapons they were no match for the German fighters. The germans ended up winning the fight but after killing 7,000 jews and sending the rest of the 50,000 to concentration camps. -
Allied invasion of Italy
After Italy was a part of the axis powers, the U.S decided to invade. But because Italy was so concentrated with German military they said any resistance against Germany is strictly forbidden. Plus italy was an obvious spot to attack next because of its lack of u-boats and air resistance. Italy was eventually won by the Allied powers but Hitler appointed Mussolini as a head of a puppet state in northern italy while germans and allied powers continued to fight in southern Italy. -
D-Day
Also known as the battle of Normandy, this Battle was to liberate western Europe. This battle ended up being a huge hit to the German powers because when the Allied powers made it to France, Germany was prevented from sending troops to eastern Germany thus making a weak spot on the advancing Soviets. -
Battle of the Bulge
One of the biggest and bloodiest battles of WWII. This battle was a suprise attack from the Germans. As the Germans became more desperate for power they decided to lead an attack in the Ardennes Mountains. Eventually the Germans ran out of fuel, ammo, and manpower and were forced to retreat. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
During all the fighting the U.S started to turn their attention to the Japanese and decided to launch a fight against them on the island of iwo jima, an island off the coast of Japan in an attempt to gain a desperately needed base. It was hard to fight the Japanese because of their elaborate cave and dugout system. We eventually took Iwo Jima and photographed the american flag being raised which is the most memorable photo taken during WWII. -
VE Day
This day was important to all of Europe because it was the day where the German forces laid down their arms in Europe and Americans celebrated Victory in Europe. The German forces then signed many papers certifying their surrender and defeat. -
Bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki
After VE day Americans and Europeans were happy about the German defeat but the Japanese voued to not stop. But if were to invade we would lose more than 1 million men. So two bombs were dropped, "Little boy" which was dropped on Hiroshima obliterated over 5 square miles of the city. This bomb however didn't get a surrender from Japan so Fat man was dropped on Nagasaki which as more powerful than little boy and Japan's Emperor Hirohito announced his surrender over radio broadcast. -
VJ Day
After the Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japan announced their surrender and aboard the U.S.S Missouri docked in Tokyo Bay, Japan has a formal surrender which effectively ended WW2. This day was known from then on as “Victory Over Japan Day.”
