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Japanese Invasion of China
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China was divided and at war with Japan. They were poorly armed and their army was not trained well enough. Unlike Japan, where they were more organized and brutal. Japan thought they won the war because they were a mixture of superior races, when they only won because they had better weapons and China was not well equipped. -
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World War 2
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Ribbentrop/Molotov Pact
SourceThis is a non-agression pact between Stalin and Hitler which determines where each country can take over. Germany had control over Lithuania and Danzig. The Soviet Union had control over Finland, Latvia, and Estonia. These two countries agreed to not take action against each other for the next 10 years. They also agreed to divide up Eastern Europe. This fell apart when Germany invaded Russia. -
Germany's Invasion of Poland
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Adolf Hitler thought by invading Poland, it would be a quick and easy defeat since Poland lost their previous war. Germany was still not at their highest strength so this made it very risky. Hitler's genrals had tried to warn him and asked for more time to be well prepared but he did not listen, consequently, his plans got leaked to France and the United Kingdom. -
German Blitzkrieg
SourceGermany did not want a long lasting war, so they quickly invaded their opponents in short amounts of time. Germany took over most of Europe for two straight years by relying on a tactic called blitzkrieg, which translates to "lightening war". They used heavy weapons to kill everyone such as tanks, planes, and artillery. But this tactic didn't last long. The Soviet Union, United States, and Great Britain attacked Germany leading to a long war. -
Fall of Paris
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Germany attacked France and the Low Countries. They kept invading different places pushing themselves through that the French were not well prepared or equipped to defend themselves. Italy then joined in on the war on Germany's side which made is even more diffucult for France to fight back. France had to send the French Government of Bordeaux out of the country because the capital fell. -
Operation Barbarossa
SourceThis was a code name for Germany when they attacked the Soviet Union in the city of Stalingrad. It was known for one of the bloodiest battles in history. Thousands of tanks were used to invade Russia. One of the biggest mistakes Germany made was they thought of themselves as liberators instead of conquerers and that caused them to lose the war. One of the biggest obstacles was the weather change during the war with the heavy rain and no winter supply. -
Pearl Harbor
SourceJapan surprisingly attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. It may have lasted for only two hours, but it was huge. 2,000+ Americans had died, 200 planes destroyed, as well as 20 American naval vessels. America wanted to declare war on Japan and Congress approved. Japan allied with Germany and Italy and declared war on America. Congress approved again and America at first not wanting to join war, ended up joining the war lasting two years. -
Wannsee Conference
SourceSenior officials of Nazi Germany met in the Berlin suburb to have a meeting about the "Final Solution" of the "Jewish Question". They discussed about removing every Jew from Europe and putting them into concentration camps in Poland until they died from working. They argued that this was too time consuming and others argued it was worth it. "Gas vans" in Poland were killing thousands, so they used that as their solution. -
Bataan Death March
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After the Bataan Peninsula surrendered because of injuries, diseases, and starvation, 75,000 Filipino and American soldiers on Bataan forcefully marched 65 miles to prison camps. The horrifying heat and being treated terribly by the Japanese guards is what made these people suffer from death. -
Battle of Midway
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Four days of battling sea-and-air, Japan lost four aircraft carriers, while the U.S. only lost one, the Yorktown. America had discovered Japan's attack location before it even happened because they found out their code. With America winning the ttle, this was a turning point for the Pacific Theatre of WW2. -
Battle of Stalingrad
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Nazi Germany and it's allies bombed the Soviet Union to take control of Russia's city, Stalingrad. Hitler was extremely humilated at their loss of the attack. After that, not many people trusted Hitler while Stalin gained more confidence in his military. Almost two million military and civilian casualities were involved, making it one of the bloodiest battles in history. -
Operation Gomorrah
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Britain saw the perfect opporunity to get revnge on Germany so they bombed Hamburg, Germany overnight, then America bombed it during day time. 2,300 tons of bombs were dropped in only a few hours. The effect of that was just the same as when Germany had attacked in London. 1,500+ Germans were killed. It was explosive. -
D-Day (Normandy Invasion)
SourceWestern Europe allies came up with a fake plan to mislead the Germans about the place they were going to invade. Their codename was called Operation Overload. A lot of planning and thinking was contributed to this attack with one purpose and that was to make sure Germany did not know the location of the attack. The Germans were confused and they surrendered. Hitler committed suicude a week before the surrender. -
Operation Thunderclap
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Allies had bombed the city of Dresden in Germany. It was known as the main illustration for bombing citties. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
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America invades their first strike in Japan. Three U.S marines landed on the island of Iwo Jima wiped out all the Japanese defenders. Japan had 23,000 troops fighting from caves, tunnels, dugouts, and underground installations. The American flag was raised in victory after defeating the island. -
Battle of Okinawa
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It was the bloodiest battle of the Pacific War. 287,000 troops from the U.S. went against 130,000 troops from Japan. After 82 days, 77,000 Japanese soliders died. The Allies lost 14,000 casualities and 65,000 injured. -
VE Day
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VE stands for Victory in Europe Day. Great Britiain, U.S. and several Western Europe cities celebrate this day and raise their flags high because of the Nazi Germany surrendering and laying down their weapons. They are proud to have defeated Germany. -
Dropping of the Atomic Bomb
SourceAmerica was the first country to use an atomic bomb in this war time. They first tested out their bomb on New Mexico. Then, killing 80,000 people, they dropped their atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. This was the end of World War 2, but possibly the beginning of the Cold War. -
VJ Day
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VJ stands for Victoryover Japan Day. To officially end World War 2, Japan had announced that they surrendered to the Allies. -
Battle of the Bulge
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In Hitler's favor, Germany wanted to split the Allied forces as their final counterattack towards the Western Front. It was America's bloodiest battle that they've participated in. One of the biggest struggles of the bulge was the cold, freezing weather that made it diffucult to cope with. Other struggles were food and shelter.
