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Rape of Nanking
The Japanese Imperial Army marched into China's capital city of Nanking and proceeded to murder 300,000 out of 600,000 civilians and soldiers in the city. This war happened because the Japanese had bragged they would conquer all of China in just three months and they wanted war. The Japanese id overcome China.
http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/genocide/nanking.htm -
German Blitzkrieg
Germany overran much of Europe. This all started becasue the Germans invaded Belgium. Germany kept crushing nations. Hitler later then got involved.
http://www.history.com/topi -
Fall of Paris
Paris was trying to be in control and it started up things in France. The German rolled tanks into Paris. But by that time, 2 million Parisians had already fled but they had good reason. The people of Paris remained trapped in their capital.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germans-enter-paris -
Pearl Harbor
Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships, and more than 300 airplanes. After a good while America finially joined the war.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor -
Wannsee Conference
15 high-ranking Nazi Party and German government officials gathered at a villa in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee to discuss and coordinate the implementation of what they called the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question." At the time most participants were already aware that the National Socialist regime had engaged in mass murder of Jews and other civilians in the German-occupied areas of the Soviet Union and in Serbia.
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005477 -
Battle of Midway
After Pearl Harbor the United States defeated Japan in one of the most decisive naval battles of World War II. The United States was able to preempt and counter Japan’s planned ambush of its few remaining aircraft carriers, inflicting permanent damage on the Japanese Navy. The United States had won the victory.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-midway -
Operation Gommorrah
British bombers raid Hamburg, Germany, during night in Operation Gomorrah, while Americans bomb it by day in its own “Blitz Week.” British aircraft dropped 2,300 tons of incendiary bombs on Hamburg in just a few hours. The Germans were defeated.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/operation-gomorrah-is-launched -
D-Day
156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on 5 beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region. The Allies defeated the Germans. This meant the beginning of the end of war in Europe.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day -
Battle of Okinawa
This war involved 287,000 troops of the U.S. Tenth Army against 130,000 soldiers of the Japanese Thirty-second Army. At stake were air bases vital to the projected invasion of Japan. By the end of the 82-day campaign, Japan had lost more than 77,000 soldiers and the Allies had suffered more than 65,000 casualties, including 14,000 people dead.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-okinawa -
Battle of the Bulge
Adolph Hitler attempted to split the Allied armies in northwest Europe by means of a surprise blitzkrieg thrust through the Ardennes to Antwerp. Caught off-guard, American units fought desperate battles to stem the German advance at St.-Vith, Elsenborn Ridge, Houffalize and Bastogne. As the Germans drove deeper into the Ardennes in an attempt to secure vital bridgeheads, the Allied line took on the appearance of a large bulge, giving rise to the battle’s name.
http://www.history.com/topics/worl -
Liberation of concentration camps
These camps began to encounter tens of thousands of concentration camp prisoners. Many of these prisoners had survived forced marches into the interior of Germany from camps in occupied Poland. These prisoners were suffering from starvation and disease.
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005131 -
Battle of Iwo Jima
Three U.S. marine divisions landed on the island in February 1945. Iwo Jima was defended by roughly 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops, who fought from an elaborate network of caves, dugouts, tunnels and underground installations.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-iwo-jima -
VE Day
Great Britain and the United States celebrate Victory in Europe Day. Cities in both nations put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of the Nazi war machine.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/victory-in-europe -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
An American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90% of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people. Tens of thousands more later died of radiation exposure.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bombing-of-hiroshima-and-nagasaki -
VJ Day
Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War II. This term was used when Japan’s formal surrender took place aboard the U.S.S. Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay. 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.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/v-j-day
