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Jewish concentration camps
Although the Jewish concentration camps originated as early as 1933, they began to take full action in March of 1938, following their annexation of Austria. This led to Jews, among other groups of people, being forced into detention facilities and torturous prisons. The camps took development in September of 1939 as well, where Jews were prisoners of war and forced to work. Millions of Jews died from this, until the camps' suspension in 1945. -
Blitzkrieg
Sometimes referred to as the lightning war, the Blitzkrieg occurred in several dates ranging from September 1939 to April 1941. The strategy of the Blitzkrieg was generally to use offensive weaponry on opposing countries and “surround” them so they could not counterattack. This proved to be successful on almost every country, except the Soviet Union, who were able to defeat them in November 1942. -
German invasion of Poland
Shortly after Germany dismembered Czechoslovakia in 1939, Britain and France tried to keep their other ally, Poland, safe and protected. In September of 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Weeks after, Poland was defeated. After Poland invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, Germany occupied them until 1945. -
Fall Of Paris
Due to France and Britain not fighting enough, Germany invaded France under an operation called “Case Yellow” in May of 1940. This helped them to break through forces and France, panicking, evacuated several troops. In June, the French resistance was defeated, and soon afterwards, France’s capital city, Paris, to fall to the German’s. On June 25, the government surrendered. -
Pearl Harbor
In December of 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, a town in Hawaii. This was to make the US stay away from Japan and their military strategies. Over 3000 Hawaiians were killed or wounded. -
Wannsee Conference
The Wannsee conference took place in January of 1942. It was between Nazi and German officials to discuss the Final Solution of the Jewish question. At the end of it all, it the officials determined their solution was to form concentration camps. -
Warsaw Ghetto
During the war, people of the Jewish faith were thrown into ghettos, one of which was in Warsaw. When Germans were forced to renew their deportation, the ZOB, an organization fighting for Jewish rights, stepped in and disallowed it, only for Germans to retaliate and execute 1000 Jews. Later, the Germans were able to deport and kill many more. In May of the same year, the ghetto was destroyed and the uprising had come to an end. -
Operation Gomorrah
Operation Gomorrah: Sometimes nicknamed the “Carpet Bombing of Hamburg,” Operation Gomorrah occurred on July 25, 1943, where a 50-minute long bombing occurred, killing over 1500 people. The aim of this was to bomb the working-class citizens. The bombings continued for over a week and killed a total of 42000 people. -
Allied Invasion of Italy
After the reaction to the early stages of the Italian Campaign, other countries fought back in September of 1943. Britain, along with Canada and the United States, invaded Italy, until Germany (Germany and Italy formed an alliance) fought them back and forced them out. -
D Day
On June 6, 1944, after months of planning, Germany invaded Normandy (the beach of France). This was referred to as D-Day. The landings were stationed and they began to bomb the beach massively. This did not go as planned, however, due to the beaches being mined and filled with traps. Over 4000 people died in this incident. -
Operation Thunderclap
The Thunderclap plan was a plan that was not initiated. It was a strategy which involved bombing the eastern part of Germany. This plan was never used, because of speculation around it. -
Battle Of Iwo Jima
Battle Of Iwo Jima: Early in 1945, a battle occurred in Iwo Jima. Iwo Jima was almost unnoticeable, but it helped Japan catch attacks early. Because of this, the Japanese knew that the united States were coming, and so they counterattacked with quantities of bunkers, weapons, and battleships. At the end of the battle, over 25000 casualties were occurred and was the only major battle on the Pacific side. -
VE day
VE day (Victory in Europe day) was a national holiday declared at the end of the war. It is similar to the Victory Over Japan day. The holiday was declared after Germany was defeated and the Baltic countries regained their independence. VE day marked the end of the War. -
Dropping of Atomic Bombs
In august of 1945, an American bomber airplane dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. The main reason for this was due to Japan promising to fight for the Pacific until the bitter end, and the United States did not approve this idea. Three days later, they dropped another bomb on Nagasaki, another city of Japan. Over 12000 total people were killed due to these bombings. -
VJ day
The day when Japan surrendered in August of 1945 became known as VJ day (Victory Over Japan day). Shortly after in September of 1945, the treaty to officially end the war was signed, followed by a formal surrender ceremony. This ended the war in Japan and ended the war altogether.
