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Japanese Invasion of China
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Japanese Invasion of China
Japan had invaded China before World War 2 started and stayed there until it ended. They created a puppet state for the army. The army acted without orders from the government, so taking over Manchuria wasn't authorized. This scared the Japanese people because they learned the army was more powerful than they thought. Without the army though, the government would collapse so Japan just went on with their plans -
Rape of Nanking
The Chinese country, Nanking, was taken over by Japan. The same day it was taken over, the Japanese soldiers killed and raped thousands of people there for 6 weeks. The people weren't part of the Chinese military and the total number of deaths is not known. Japan destroyed most of its documents on the event after they surrendered -
Germany's Invasion of Poland
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Germany's Invasion of Poland
Germany invaded Poland from 3 sides. They wanted to take over Poland and give part of it to the Soviets. Poland tried to get some help from its allies, but they didn't come to their rescue. Poland was completely taken by German and Soviet forces. Poland was no longer an independent country and was split between two other counties -
Fall of France
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Fall of France
France was invaded by Germany and was pushed back deep into France. When Germany reached Paris, the French government fell and German officials met with French officials and divided France up for them and their allies. Germany had most of France, Italy got a small part, and the rest of the country was divided up between the rest of Germany's allies. This made it harder for the U.S. to be allies with France because of Germany's control -
Operation Barbarossa
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Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was Germany's attempt at taking the Soviet Union. Germany took most of their major economical points but the USSR was too big for them, so they got pushed back before making it to Moscow. There were high death tolls on both sides, but Germany killed more people after invading. The invasion of the Soviet Union is the biggest invasion in war history -
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is a port in Hawaii that was bombed by Japan. It was meant to cripple the U.S. Navy but Japan only damaged ships and didn't do much to cripple the Navy. This brought the U.S. into World War 2 but it was a separate war on Japan until Hitler declared war on the U.S. -
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was another battle for control in the Pacific. Japan wanted to get the U.S. out of the Pacific and have Hawaii for themselves. The U.S. found out about Japan's ambush plan and instead, crippled their fleet. Japan had lost a majority of it's navy and couldn't repair it. They lost many ships and experienced people on them -
Battle of Stalingrad
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Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad is considered to be one of the bloodiest battles in war history. It was a fight over a city that both Germany and the USSR wanted. The city was almost completely destroyed and Germany lost. They ran out of supplies because they were cut off in the middle. Germany tried to supply them from the air but they weren't successful and the remaining troops surrendered to USSR forces -
Allied Invasion of Italy
The Invasion of Italy was a debated invasion over the allied powers. Some of them wanted to invade Italy but others didn't. They called Italy the soft under-belly of the axis forces and the iron gut. If they could successfully invade, they would have less shipping to worry about, which was in a crisis for the allied nations. The invasion was successful and the allies had Italy which made everything a lot easier to do -
D-Day/Normandy
D-Day was the largest seaborne strike in history. It was on a German held beach that was divided into 5 sectors to attack. The attack was what helped give the allied nations a big advantage over Germany. -
Battle of the Bulge
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Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a surprise attack on the allied forces from Germany. It had one of the biggest casualty rates for the U.S. and was just as devastating for the German forces. It was supposed to be Germany's final battle against the allied forces but it failed and was one of the bloodiest battles of World War 2 -
Battle of Okinawa
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Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa was a battle over an island close to Japan. The U.S wanted it so they wouldn't have to try to invade Japan completely from the Sea. There was a high death toll for both sides but the U.S. eventually won and got the island. The island helped invade Japan because of how close it was -
VE Day
VE Day is the end of World War 2 in Europe. There are multiple days that it could be on. It is around the same day though for everyone. It was a day that Germany officially signed a peace treaty and the war was over -
Potsdam Declaration
The Potsdam Declaration was the U.S. trying to get Japan to surrender so they could be done with the war. The U.S. wasn't going to do any negotiation with Japan, so they didn't have a say in what they wanted in a peace treaty. Japan did not accept it and kept fighting, but the U.S. had atomic bombs and used them on Japan. Japan was almost destroyed by the U.S. and shortly after the dropping of the atomic bombs, accepted a treaty -
Hiroshima
Hiroshima was a city that got bombed by the U.S. There were about 100,000 people killed, it was blown up in midair so it was very effective. The survivors don't know how they survived when people around them had died. Hiroshima was almost destroyed completely because of the bomb. It hurt Japan's army because it was a big manufacturing city. Hiroshima was the first city to every have nuclear warfare used against them -
Nagasaki
Nagasaki was the 2nd city to have a nuclear bomb used on. It was a secondary target and almost wasn't hit. 60-80% of the city's industry was destroyed. Within a second of the bomb blowing up, 35,000 people were killed and the north side of the city was destroyed. This helped the U.S. get more of an advantage over Japan
