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Maginot Line
The Maginot Line was built by France that was basically just a lot of defenses along the border that they had with Germany. It was designed for the primary purpose of preventing an invasion from occurring. Building it cost around $9 billion and it was about 280 miles long that consisted of minefields, gun batteries, and fortresses. -
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Japanese Invasion of China
Japan invaded the Chinese province of Manchuria for raw materials for their rising industries. Japan then was able to control large portions of China around the 1930s. Japan's army and the soviet army battled in Manchuria which lasted for around 4 months and resulted in Japan's defeat. The Japanese ended up taking over around 25% of chinas territory and around 1/3 of its population. -
Anschluss
This occurred when the German troops invaded Austria. The word Anschluss is a German word it means connecting. Nazi Germany violated the treaty of Versailles and which in the treaty said that Germany and Austria should not unify. The Anschluss was the first act of territorial expansion by Nazi Germany to show that they were not going to listen to European order. -
Munich Conference
This was signed by Germany, Italy, Great Britain, and France. This agreement stated that Czechoslovakia had to surrender its border regions and defensive to Nazi Germany. A war was threatened by Hitler if the boarded area in Czechoslovakia was not surrendered. -
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German Invasion of Poland
Germany invaded Poland's defenses and advanced into warsaw which was the Polish capital. That capital ended up surrendering to the Germans because of all the heavy bombing and shelling. The Western part of Poland stayed under German control while the eastern part was slowly being taken back by the soviet union. Britain and France then started a war with Germany. After Germany defeated the polish forces they enforced their crazy rules. -
Battle of the Atlantic
The battle of the Atlantic was a contest during World War 2 for the Atlantic sea routes. This was a contest between Britain, Germany, and the U.S. that would eventually get involved later on. When France fell around in 1940 Britain slowly didn't have much naval support anymore. There was then a submarine attack against the coastal shipping near the U.S. and the German U-boats were also involved. -
Women in the war
During World War 2 many women started working in factories, building things like ships, they were nurses and worked with the red cross most of the time. They had to start taking over jobs that the men usually had, and over 6 million women took over those jobs. Even some women actually went and fought in battle with the men. It is said there are around 200,000 that fought in the war alongside the men. -
Operation Barbarossa
This was originally called operation Fritz which was a code name for the German invasion of the soviet union. The war hit a turning point when the German troops were unable to defeat the Soviet forces. The Germanys ended up holding a surprise invasion against the soviet union. -
Pearl Harbor
The Pearl Harbor attack was a surprise attack against the naval base of the U.S. by the Japanese. This attack caused worsening relationships between Japan and the U.S. This attack was made by Japanses aircraft that damaged and sunk the US battleships, aircraft, and it also killed aruound 2,000 men. -
The Battle of the Coral Sea
This was one of the first modern naval expeditions that occurred during world war 2. The Japanese invasion force was able to successfully occupy Tulagi of the Solomon islands to expand their defensive perimeter. The United States seeing how they were able to break Japan's war code and stop an invasion decided to intercept the armada. The Japanese and Americans then battled for 4 days which resulted in a loss of a lot of aircraft. This marked the first air-naval battle. -
Battle of Stalingrad
This was a successful defensive by the soviets of the city of Stalingrad, Russia during World War 2. This battle stopped the German advance into the soviet union and make the turning in favor of the allies. The German army wanted to capture the city because they saw it as a treasure and it would cut transports with southern Russia and instead anchor the northern of the larger German drive into the oil fields. It would also serve to benefit Joseph Stalin because it consists of his name. -
Battle of El alamein
The battle began around 9:40 P.M. when Britain and its allies launched some attacks. There were multiple battles during this one of them being in October when the British began their attacks in the Northern part and XIII Corps had its attack up in the southern part but they were never able to break through. The British General then had to fix his plans and instead fight inside the fortified positions. This all happened around October 26 and 31st. They then also defended against German attacks. -
D-Day
The Western allies were prepared to invade northern France which was code-named Overlord. The landing was to take place on the beach of Normandy which had a slope-like shore that would allow them to have the advantage of surprise. Adolf Hitler after being told that it would take place in Pas de Calais placed most of his divisions in that area. The attack happened around 6:30 in the morning. More than 4,000 allied troops died that day and over 156,000 were successful.