World War 2 Project Layne Warner&Micaela Winters

japanese invasion of china

Jul 7, 1937

history.com
In 1937 skirmishing between Japanese and Chinese troops on the frontier led to what became known as the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. This fighting sparked a full-blown conflict, the Second Sino-Japanese War. Under the terms of the Sian Agreement, the Chinese Nationalists (KMT) and the CCP now agreed to fight side by side against Japan.

Ribbentrop/Molotov Pact

Aug 23, 1939

history.com
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the former Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, officially the Treaty of Non-aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics,[a] and also known as the Ribbentrop–Molotov Pact or Nazi–Soviet Pact, was a non-aggression pact signed between Nazi Germany and Soviet Union in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939.

Germanys invasion of Poland

Sep 1, 1939

history.com
On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. The Polish army was defeated within weeks of the invasion. From East Prussia and Germany in the north and Silesia and Slovakia in the south, German units, with more than 2,000 tanks and over 1,000 planes, broke through Polish defenses along the border and advanced on Warsaw in a massive encirclement attack.

Germans blitzkreig

Sep 1, 1939

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A German term for “lightning war,” blitzkrieg is a military tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile forces and locally concentrated firepower. Its successful execution results in short military campaigns, which preserves human lives and limits the expenditure of artillery. German forces tried out the blitzkrieg in Poland in 1939 before successfully employing the tactic

Fall of Paris

Jun 14, 1940

history.com
By the time German tanks rolled into Paris, 2 million Parisians had already fled, with good reason. In short order, the German Gestapo went to work: arrests, interrogations, and spying were the order of the day, as a gigantic swastika flew beneath the Arc de Triomphe.

wanssee conference

Jan 20, 1942

history place
The aim of all this was to cleanse German living space of Jews in a legal manner. All the offices realized the drawbacks of such enforced accelerated emigration. For the time being they had, however, tolerated it on account of the lack of other possible solutions of the problem. The work concerned with emigration was, later on a german problem.

Battle of Midway

Apr 21, 1942

history.com
The Japanese threw almost the entire Imperial Fleet into the battle - six aircraft carriers, eleven battleships, thirteen cruisers, forty-five destroyers, assorted submarines, transports and mine sweepers. The Americans had cracked the Japanese code and knew something was up. The thin American defense consisted of three aircraft carriers, eight cruisers, fourteen destroyers, and the repaired pearl harbor ships

Operation Barbarossa

Jul 21, 1942

history.comThe Nazi Army bombs the Soviet city of Stalingrad, launching one of the bloodiest battles in history.

Battle of Stalingrad

Aug 23, 1942

history.com
was the successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in the U.S.S.R. during World War II. Russians consider it to be the greatest battle of their Great Patriotic War, and most historians consider it to be the greatest battle of the entire conflict. It stopped the German advance into the Soviet Union and marked the turning of the tide of war in favor of the Allies.

Battle of the Kasserine Pass

Feb 14, 1943

history.comOn this day, German General Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps launch an offensive against an Allied defensive line in Tunisia, North Africa. The Kasserine Pass was the site of the United States’ first major battle defeat of the war.

Operation Gomorrah

Jul 24, 1943

www.history.com
On this day in 1943, British bombers raid Hamburg, Germany, by night in Operation Gomorrah, while Americans bomb it by day in its own “Blitz Week.” Britain had suffered the deaths of 167 civilians as a result of German bombing raids in July. Now the tables were going to turn. The evening of July 24 saw British aircraft drop 2,300 tons of incendiary bombs on Hamburg in just a few hours.

D-Day Normandy

Jun 6, 1944

history.comThe Allies invade Western Europe in the largest amphibious attack in history.

Pearl Harbor

Dec 7, 1944

http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor' >www.history.com</a>
hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The barrage lasted just two hours, but it was devastating: The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died in the attack, and another 1,000 were wounded.

Battle of the Bulge

Dec 21, 1944

history.com A major German offensive is launched against the Allies in the Ardennes Mountains region on the Western Front.

Battle of Iwo Jima

Feb 19, 1945

history.comAmerican soldiers make their first strike on the Japanese Home Islands at Iwo Jima.

Battle of Okinawa

Apr 1, 1945

history.comAllied forces invade the island of Okinawa and engage the Japanese in the bloodiest battle of the Pacific War.

Victory in Europe

May 8, 1945

history.comBoth Great Britain and the United States celebrate Victory in Europe Day. Cities in both nations, as well as formerly occupied cities in Western Europe, put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of the Nazi war machine.

Potsdam Declaration

Jul 26, 1945

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The Potsdam Declaration or the Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender is a statement that called for the surrender of all Japanese armed forces during World War II.

Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima

Aug 6, 1945

history.comThe United States becomes the first and only nation to use atomic weaponry during wartime when it drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Though the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan marked the end of World War II, many historians argue that it also ignited the Cold War.

VJ Day

Aug 15, 1945

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it was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War II. Since then, both August 14 and August 15 have been known as “Victoryover Japan Day,” or simply “V-J Day.” The term has also been used for September 2, 1945, when Japan’s formal surrender took place aboard the U.S.S. Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay.