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Rape of Nanjing
During the Sino Japanese war, the capital of China known as Nanjing falls to the Japanese government and the Chinese government is forced to flee to Hankow. The attack was conducted by Japanese general Matsui Iwane ordered that the city of Nanking be destroyed. Much of the city was destroyed and burned and Japanese soldiers killed over 150,000 male war prisoners, and killed an additional 50,000 male civilians, as well as raping 20,000 Women answers girls of all ages. -
Munich Conference
Post World War I Hitler set out to rearm his military in defiance of the treaty of Versailles and by 1938 he sought out to seize Sudetenland which was in Czechoslovakia by force If needed. This resulted in a conference when no agreement could be made in which no representatives from Czechoslovakia were permitted at the conference. Here they agreed that over 50% of their land where Germans were a majority would be Germany’s land. Hitler got what he wanted as he gained domination of Central Europe -
Invasion of Poland
1.5 million troops invade the border of Poland while the German Luftwaffe bombed Polish airfields and and German warships and U-boats attacked Polish naval forces in the Baltic Sea. Hitler claimed that his actions were a defensive action however Britain and France were not convinced and therefore on September 3rd they declared war on Germany starting World War II. Hitlers plan for Poland was to enslave the Slavs that lived there and then have his people the Germans live there . -
Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
On August 22, 1939 German Foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop flew from Berlin to Moscow where he was soon inside the Kremlin, face-to-face with Stalin and Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov to negotiate an agreement between the two countries that would last 10 years. The proposal also stipulated that neither country would aid any third party that attacked either signatory. However the pact was broken when Hitler attempted to capture Stalingrad with 3 million troops later on. -
Battle of Stalingrad
After Hitler had gained territory in a large part of present day Ukraine and Belarus in the Spring of 1942 Germany's Wehrmacht forces decided to mount an offensive on Southern Russia in the summer of 1942. Stalingrad was the target instead of Moscow as it served as the industrial center of Russia and Hitler planned to use it to fuel his propaganda machine. Russia was able to slow German troops but lost over 200,000 men and after winter set in Germany was eventually forced to retreat. -
Battle of El Alamein
The Battle of El Alamein marked the culmination of the North African campaign between the forces of the British Empire and the German-Italian army. The battles took place in Egypt where the Germans had roughly 100,000 troops and tanks which outnumbered the allies by almost double. However, the allies are able to defeat the Germans by having the superiority in the air and are able to claim victory after just 10 days of fighting. -
Battle of Guadalcanal
Japanese troops arrived on Guadalcanal on June 8, 1942 to construct an air base. However two months later United States marines arrived to seize the air base as strategically control of the sea lines between the United States and Australia. Battles took place by land, sea, and air and by the end of the battle on February 9, 1943 the Japanese army has lost two- thirds of its troops stationed there and the United States only lost about 2,000 of their 60,000 troops and both sides lost many ships. -
Battle of Midway
Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor the United States beat Japan in a major naval battle. Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, the Japanese fleet commander, decided to attack a position close to Pearl Harbor to drive out the American fleet, calculating that when the United States inevitably made their counter attack that the Japanese would crush them. However the United States were able to decode the Japanese fleet codes and the US instead made plans to surprise attack Japan before they got there. -
Invasion of Italy
On July 10, 1943 the allies began their invasion of the axis controlled Europe with the island of Sicily which is off of the mainland Italy and with little resistance from the Sicily military the allies could move quickly to meet mainland Italy and on September 3rd, Montgomery's 8th army began to invade mainland Italy and the Italian government agreed to surrender to the allies. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
On February 19, 1945 Marines landed on the beaches of the island Iwo Jima and quickly were met with the challenge of navigating the volcanic ash beaches. Meanwhile the Japanese not attacking yet waited for Kuribayashi’s plans in which he places artillery high in the mountains which stalled the marines and caused major casualties. Battles lasted in the northern part of Iwo Jima for four weeks, 70,000 marines arrived to the islands where 25,000 became casualties and 7,000 died.
