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Rape of Nanking
As the Japanese army took over China's capital they did extremely violent things to China's soldiers and citizens. They murdered every Chinese person they saw and raped the women and children, violating all war codes. They also destroyed and stole Chinese property on a mass scale. This event shows just how much the Japanese hated the Chinese and how horribly they treated them when it was not needed. The Japanese already had Nanjing, they just wanted to prove how powerful they were. -
Germany's invasion of Poland
When the Germans marched into Poland to take the country, it was the first violent attack of World War II. The Germans said they invaded Poland so they could reach the Germans who lived in Poland. They used planes and tanks to advance onto Polish land, they attacked from all sides and Poland reacted too late. The Polish army was defeated within weeks and Germany took power. This is when Britain and France finally decided to do something and declared war on Germany. -
German Blitzkrieg
The German Blitzkrieg was a war technique where the Germans would continuously bomb the country they were attacking and then they would move to the area they just bombed, usually with tanks, avoiding confrontation and loss of German life. -
Fall of Paris
Germany stormed into France so they could take the country and weaken the allies. They officially took Paris on June 14th, 1940. Germany had the upper hand with the size of their army and the resources it had. A lot of French lives were lost but some were able to escape and find refuge with the allies. This was a huge win for Germany and a huge loss for the allies. This is what gave Germany the upper hand in the war. -
Battle of Britain
Now that Germany had France under their control it decided it was time to take over Britain. They started continuously bombing Britain to try and weaken the country. They even bombed civilian homes and towns. The people even hid in the underground subway system to double as a bomb shelter. Britain did not surrender, it held its own until Germany finally stopped the bombing around the end of October 1940. -
Pearl Harbor
Japan had joined the side of the Axis powers and sided with Germany and the other fascist countries. At the time the U.S. was still not involved in WWII. But when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor unprovoked the U.S. declared war on Japan, which meant they also declared war on the Axis powers as well. The U.S. is now officially in WWII. -
Battle of the Coral Sea
The battle of the coral sea was a battle between Japan and the U.S. naval forces. Japan attacked the U.S. at port Moresby, a small island in the pacific ocean, and they were met with a rather strong fleet and had to fight harder than they thought they would. Because they did not expect the U.S. to be so strong Japan lost the battle and lost its naval power over the pacific. This fueled them for the next battle, the battle of Midway. -
Battle of Midway
Around a month after the battle of the coral sea, Japan attempted to take Midway. But the U.S. was prepared and they destroyed the Japanese Naval fleet. They took down multiple carrier ships and weakened the Japanese to the point where they lost nearly all naval power over the pacific ocean and they would never gain that power back. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The battle of Stalingrad was the deadliest battle of WWII. The Germans had attempted to take Russia and were stuck now that they couldn't breach the capital city. So to try and do whatever it takes, Germany attacked Stalingrad. This was a huge mistake on Germany's part. They were destroyed by Russia's army and this was one of Germany's first major losses. -
Allied invasion of Italy
The allied invasion of Italy was an invasion of mainland Italy to try and eliminate them from the war. Italy was a part of the Axis powers and was a fascist country. Italy was known as the soft underbelly of Europe and was the allied power's way of reaching Germany to take their capital. They fought until Italy surrendered and helped the allied powers expel the Germans from Italy. -
D-Day invasion
d-day was a turning point in the war. It was the largest amphibious invasion in the history of warfare. The allied powers got anything that could float and landed on the beaches of France to help the remaining French soldiers and take back France. A lot of lives were lost during this war effort, but it was successful. It helped the allied powers get France back under control and be able to eventually move into Germany. -
Battle of the Bulge
The battle of the Bulge was Germany's last offensive play in the war. It was called the battle of the bulge because Germany had created a bulge around the Ardennes forest. They tried to surprise the allied powers but it did not work in their favor. The allied powers ended up surrounding the Germans on all sides and cut them off from the rest of Germany. This was a huge loss for Germany because they did' t just lose land, they lost a lot of soldiers and resources as well. -
Liberation of Concentration camps
As the Russians moved through Poland they liberated the concentration camps they came in contact with. These camps harbored anyone the German government would send there, including Jews, gays, foreign people, the homeless, and basically just anyone that the Germans didn't like. Auschwitz was liberated in January 1945, which was the biggest camp. This led to the downfall of the rest of the camps. Six million people died in the camps before they could be liberated by allied forces. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The battle of Iwo Jima was a fight between Japan and the U.S. over a tiny landing strip in the pacific ocean. Both countries wanted it because it would give them leverage over the other. The Japanese were on the island, to begin with, and were hiding in the mountains. They open fire on the Americans after they had gotten on the land and started to move deeper into the island. Eventually, after a struggle, the U.S. won and left only 200 Japanese soldiers living. -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
The war in Europe has already come to a close with the allied powers on top. The Japanese don't let up on the U.S. though. There is still fighting in the pacific ocean and it is clear the Japanese will fight to the death. So there were two options, invade Japan and lose nearly 1 mil American lives, or drop the atomic bombs on Japan. Truman agreed to bomb Japan and they did on August 6th and 9th of 1945. The Japanese surrendered on August 15th.