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Japanese Invasion of Manchuria
During the 1930s, Japan was extremely determined to extend their empire. They controlled the Manchurian railway and used that to their advantage. On September 19, 1931, Japan claimed that Chinese soldiers had sabotaged their railway and began to attack the Chinese. China did not fight back because they knew Japan just wanted to conquer Manchuria. However, the Japanese invaded anyways and by February of 1932, they had conquered Manchuria as a whole. -
Italian Invasion of Ethiopia
Leader of Italy, Mussolini decided to adopt Hitler's plans of expanding German territories by acquiring all territories considered German. Mussolini wanted to invade Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) in order to boost Italian National prestige after Abyssinia defeated Italy in 1896. Also, a previous attack where 200 soldiers lost their lives sparked this invasion. Mussolini saw this invasion as a way to provide land for unemployed Italians and acquire more resources to heal from the depression. -
Rape of Nanjing
During the Sino-Japanese War, the capital of China, Nanjing, was defeated by Japan. The Chinese government fled and the Japanese general ordered for the city to be destroyed. Japanese troops began a series of attacks against civilians. They killed about 150,000 male war prisoners, about 50,000 male civilians and raped at least 20,000 females of all ages. -
Blitzkrieg
Blitzkreig is a German term for "lightning war". It is a war tactic that was heavily utilized by the Germans during World War II. This strategy would help Germans to quickly bring a victory through the rapid use of tanks and air warfare. Germany first used this strategy on the invasion of Poland. After its success, they also utilized this tactic to conquer Belgium, the Netherlands and France. -
Genocide
A genocide is defined as a deliberate mass killing of a large number of people usually related to a certain ethnic group or nation. One of the largest genocides occurred during World War II, The Holocaust. This genocide was a mass killing of Jews by the Nazis. The Nazis were led by Adolf Hitler. The Nazis used a genocide as a tool to reconstruct the ethnicity of Europeans. This genocide led the way for future genocides that have occurred. -
Pearl Harbor
Japan was attempting to gain land in Asia and was worried about the US Navy in Hawaii interfering. Japanese troops struck the war ships docked at Pearl Harbor in their fighter planes by dropping bombs. Japanese troops destroyed all of the ships and killed over 2,000 US soldiers. The next day, the US got involved in World War II by declaring war on Japan. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The battle began when the German air force, the Luftwaffe, bombed the Volga River. They then bombed the city of Stalingrad pretty much destroying it as a whole.The Germans then conquered the city, but did not know that the Soviets were not giving up. The Soviets began attacking German troops and Germany was forced to surrender. -
Tunisia Campaign
The Tunisia Campaign was a series of battles that occurred in Tunisia during the North African Campaign of World War II. These battles were fought between the Axis and the Allied powers. This series of battles ended up with an Allied victory. Over 230,000 German and Italian troops were taken for prisoners of war. -
Battle of the Bulge
Many thought the second world war was over, but Hitler had other plans. Germany launched a major attack on the US. This battle actually took place in Belgium during the winter. The US was not prepared and many American troops were killed. However, Americans did not give because they did not Germany to overrun Europe. The US ended up defeating Hitler and the Nazis from Germany. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
Towards the end of World War II, 30,000 US marines landed on the shores of the island Iwo Jima. They thought the Japanese were already defeated but soon found out they were wrong. The Japanese hid all over the island and attacked US troops. After 36 long and hard days of battle, the US conquered the island of Iwo Jima.
