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Rape of Nanking
Japan started to take over weak china and they took over Nanking. They destroyed the city and killed many people. This causes the capital of China at the time to be destroyed. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-rape-of-nanking -
Germany's invasion of Poland
Germany and The Soviet union decided to invade Poland from both sides. Germany wanted Poland so that they can start their world domination. This caused Britain and France to declare war on Germany because Germany broke the Munich https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germans-invade-poland -
Germany Blitzkrieg
This meant lightning war, Germany used this first on Poland in 1939 and then used it on France and other countries in 1940. Germany did this so that they could gain more land and become more powerful. This tactic caused France to fall to Germany and made Germany way more powerful.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/blitzkrieg -
Pearl Harbor
Japan attacked an American navy port so that they could claim some of the islands around japan without having america intervene.
Japan wanted the Philippines. This made america declare war on japan and then Germany declared war on america.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor -
D-Day
Allied forces stormed the beaches of the France and Normandy regions. They did this so that they could liberate all of Europe and stop Hitlers rule. The attack was successful and had a major physiological blow to the Nazi party causing the war to turn tides.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day -
Battle of the Bulge
This was a last ditch effort for the Nazi party to win the war. They tried to split the armies in 2 like they did in WW1 at Dunkirk. They fought as hard as they could but in the end they failed. This caused Germany to start loosing its land and the war in Europe was coming to a close.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-the-bulge -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
The Allies were liberating many Jews from their concentration camps. The fall of the Nazi party allowed Germany to be taken over and the allies knew that Jews were in camps so they decided to free them from their prisons. This made many Jews become free. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
America was planing to invade main land Japan and Iwo Jima was a great strategical island to take because of its air bases. It was a very bloody battle in the war that took 5 weeks but america came out victorious. This made japan realize they aren't enviable but they fought harder than they have before.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-iwo-jima -
Battle of Okinawa
It was one of the last major battles of WW2. America was liberating islands and this was one of them, they were liberating closer and closer to the mainland. America was ending the war with japan by taking what it has gained. America won this battle and japan knew they were going to loose the war.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-okinawa -
VE day
Victory in Europe day. The war in Europe ended; Germany lost. The Germans laid down their weapons. This was the beginningof the end of WW2
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/victory-in-europe -
Dropping the atomic bombs
America told Japan that they were going to drop an atom bomb on their cities if they didn't surrender. America ended up dropping 2 bombs only 3 days apart. little boy, which was dropped on Hiroshima, and fat man which was dropped on Nagasaki. This caused hundreds of thousands of Japanese deaths and made Japan surrender. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bombing-of-hiroshima-and-nagasaki -
VJ Day
Japan surrendered and with that surrender ended world war 2. they surrendered because they didn't want any more civilian deaths because America was threatening them with more bombs. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/v-j-day
