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Japanese invasion of China
What: Why: Japan's invasion of China was due essentially to Japan's desire to be an imperial power. There was both an economic and a militaristic element to this desire. -
Germany invades Poland
What: On September 1 Germany opened fire on Polish garrison of the Westerplatte Fort, Danzig or mordern day Gdansk.It is the first military engagement of World War Two.
Why: Hitler knew that Britain and France would continue their policy of appeasement and broker a peace deal. Also Adolf hitler wanted more land, especially in the east, to expand Germany.
Effects:Thousands of Jews removed and killed Britain and France declared war on Germany. The war begins -
German Blitzkrieg
What: A new military tactic that required the concentration of offensive weapons such as tanks, planes, and artillery along a narrow front.
Why: Germany wanted to avoid a long war.Its successful execution results in short military campaigns, which preserves human lives.
Effects: Germany was able to attack and take control much more quickly. -
Operation Barbarossa
What: Nazi Germany invades Russia on June 22nd 1941. Barbarossa the largest military attack of World War Two. Operation Barbarossa was based on a massive attack based on blitzkrieg.
Why: Effects: Germany troops failed and were defeated which was the turning in the war. The Soviet Union's Red Army suffered greater losses during the campaign. -
Pearl Harbor
What: Japanese planes attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory.
Why:The U.S. placed an embargo on Japan by prohibiting exports of steel, scrap iron, and aviation fuel to Japan, due to Japan's takeover of northern French Indochina. the U.S. froze Japanese assets.
Effects:Over 2,400were killed The U.S. enters the war.president Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 which declared that certain areas of the county were off limits to certain ethnicities. -
Wannsee Conference
What: Nazi Party and German government officials gathered at a villa in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee to discuss and coordinate the implementation.
Why:They held the meeting for the purpose of discussing the "final solution to the Jewish question in Europe"
Effects:Jews to be transported from all over German to extermination" camps in Poland. In the spring of 1942, the Germans began to empty the Polish ghettos and deport the residents to the extermination camp. The life of a Jew was hard. -
Operation Gomorrah
What:British aircraft drop 2,300 tons of bombs on Hamburg in just a few hours. More than 1,500 German civilians were killed in that first British raid.
Why: The British had suffered 167 deaths because of Gemany's mass bombing raids.
Effects: More than 1,500 German civilians died. It also brought a lot of destruction to the city of Hamburg. -
D-Day
What:Churchill,FDR, and Eisenhower planned a land invasion of France.The invasion included 150,00 soldiers, 11,000 planes and gliders.
Why:The U.S. wanted to end Natzi rule in France.
Effects: the beginning of the end for not only the Germans but Hitler most of all. It also forced the Germans to fight a two front war again just as they had in WWI. -
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. Around 25,000 to 35,000 civilians were blown up or incinerated. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
What: U.S. Marines stormed the beaches of the craggy, bombed-out island of Iwo Jima. Iwo Jima was defended by 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops, who fought in a network of caves, dugouts, tunnels and underground installations.
Why: It occurred because the U.S. was following a military strategy of island hopping.They'd capture and recapture one island and use that island as a base to prepare for an invasion of the next island.
Effects:Over 20,000 were killed and only 216 take prisoner -
The Battle of Okinawa
Last and biggest of the Pacific island battles of World War II. Allied forces invade the island of Okinawa and engage the Japanese in the bloodiest battle of the Pacific War. The Battle of Okinawa was part of a three-point plan the Americans had for winning the war in the Far East. -
VE Day
Great Britain and the United States celebrate Victory in Europe Day. German troops throughout Europe finally laid down their arms and also surrendured to the soviets antagonists. Which meant the end of the war in Europe. -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
America dropped a five-ton bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. this left the city to ruins and immediately killed 80,000 people. It killed thousands more the following weeks from radiation. -
Battle of the Bulge
What: The Germans launch the last major offensive of the war.
Why: It was a German offensive intended to drive a wedge between the American and British armies in France.
Effects:German losses were greater than their army could take. 30,000 soldiers and 44,000 infantry forces were killed or captured. German industries would not be able to repair these materials before the end of the war.
