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Japanese Invasion of China
The Japanese and Chinese kept having little scuffles which soon lead to a full blown conflict. http://www.history.co.uk/study-topics/history-of-ww2/sino-japanese-war -
Germany's Invasion of Poland
When Hitler came to power, one of the first things he did was send troops to Poland. Even the Hitler supporters didn't like this idea in an event to overturn the Treaty of Versailles. https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005070 -
German Blitzkrieg
The term Blitzkrieg means "lightning war" in German. Blitzkrieg is a military tactic used to create disorganization among military forces. http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/blitzkrieg -
Fall of Paris
Parisians awaken to the sound of a German-accented voice announcing via loudspeakers that a curfew was being imposed for 8 p.m. that evening-as German troops enter and occupy Paris. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germans-enter-paris -
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa is Germany's code name for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during WWII. Hitler covered a mass front of covering a distance of 2,000 miles. http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/operation-barbarossa -
Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor, also known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor, the Hawaii Operation or Operation AI by the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, and Operation Z during planning. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor -
Wannsee Conference
On January, 20, 1942, Reinhard Heydrich, Himmler's second in command of the SS, convened the Wannsee Conference in Berlin with 15 top Nazi bureaucrats to coordinate the Final Solution (Endlösung) in which the Nazis would attempt to exterminate the entire Jewish population of Europe, an estimated 11 million persons. www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/h-wannsee.htm -
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad, was the successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad 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. -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
On April 19, 1943, the Warsaw ghetto uprising began after German troops and police entered the ghetto to deport its surviving inhabitants. By May 16, 1943, the Germans had crushed the uprising and left the ghetto area in ruins. Surviving ghetto residents were deported to concentration camps or killing centers. https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005188 -
Operation Gomorrah
However, the bombing of Hamburg brought utter destruction to the city and regardless of what happened to the city itself, it did a great deal to hearten people in Britain who had seen London and many other cities attacked and bombed with the resulting casualties. http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/world-war-two/the-bombing-campaign-of-world-war-two/the-bombing-of-hamburg-in-1943/ -
D-Day (Normandy Invasion)
Normandy Invasion, also called Operation Overlord,
Normandy Invasion during World War II, the Allied invasion of western Europe, which was launched on June 6, 1944. By the end of August 1944 all of northern France was liberated, and the invading forces reorganized for the drive into Germany, where they would eventually meet with Soviet forces advancing from the east to bring an end to the Nazi Reich. http://www.britannica.com/event/Normandy-Invasion -
Battle of the Bulge
The Germans launch the last major offensive of the war, Operation Mist, also known as the Ardennes Offensive and the Battle of the Bulge, an attempt to push the Allied front line west from northern France to northwestern Belgium. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/battle-of-the-bulge -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
Soviet soldiers were the first to liberate concentration camp prisoners in the final stages of the war. On July 23, 1944, they entered the Majdanek camp in Poland, and later overran several other killing centers. On January 27, 1945, they entered Auschwitz and there found hundreds of sick and exhausted prisoners. https://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007724 -
Operation Thunderclap
‘Operation Thunderclap’ had been under discussion within the Allied Command for some time, the proposal was to bomb the eastern-most cities of Germany to disrupt the transport infrastructure behind what was becoming the Eastern front. Soviet forces moving west into Germany, and the priority for Thunderclap moved up the timetable of bombing. http://ww2today.com/13-february-1945-operation-thunderclap-raf-start-firestorm-in-dresden#sthash.UqaarBNG.dpuf -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The American amphibious invasion of Iwo Jima during World War II stemmed from the need for a base near the Japanese coast. Following elaborate preparatory air and naval bombardment, three U.S. marine divisions landed on the island in February 1945. Iwo Jima was defended by roughly 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops. www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-iwo-jima -
Battle of Okinawa
Last and biggest of the Pacific island battles of World War II, the Okinawa campaign (April 1—June 22, 1945) involved the 287,000 troops of the U.S. Tenth Army against 130,000 soldiers of the Japanese Thirty-second Army. At stake were air bases vital to the projected invasion of Japan. http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-okinawa -
VE Day
The eighth of May spelled the day when German troops throughout Europe finally laid down their arms: In Prague, Germans surrendered to their Soviet antagonists, after the latter had lost more than 8,000 soldiers, and the Germans considerably more. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/victory-in-europe -
Dropping of Atomic Bombs
The 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. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/atomic-bomb-dropped-on-hiroshima -
VJ Day
On August 14, 1945, 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. http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/v-j-day -
The Nuremburg Trial of the Nazis
After the war, some of those responsible for crimes committed during the Holocaust were brought to trial. Nuremberg, Germany, was chosen as a site for trials that took place in 1945 and 1946. Judges from the Allied powers—Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States—presided over the hearings of twenty-two major Nazi criminals. https://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007722
