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Rape of Nanking
The Nanking Massacre was an episode of mass murder and mass rape committed by Japanese troops against the residents of Nanjing, then the capital of the Republic of China, during the Second Sino-Japanese War. This occurred to oppose a threat. the Japanese butchered an estimated 150,000 male “war prisoners,” massacred an additional 50,000 male civilians, and raped at least 20,000 women and girls of all ages, many of whom were mutilated or killed in the process. -
Germany's Invasion of Poland
The German Luftwaffe bombed Polish airfields, and German warships and U-boats attacked Polish naval forces in the Baltic Sea. Hitler says this was to create more "living space" for the Germans. As a result, France and Britain declared war on Germany. -
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German Blitzkrieg
Germany quickly overran much of Europe and was victorious for more than two years by relying on a new military tactic called the "Blitzkrieg" (lightning war). This is a military tactic used to create disorganization among enemy forces using powerful and mobile forces. Its successful execution results in short military campaigns, which preserves human lives and limits the expenditure of artillery. -
Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory. It blocked the Japanese from receiving materials, such as steel and aviation fuel. The United States placed this embargo because Japan tried to take over more territory. The long-term effect of Pearl Harbor was that it brought in the US to the war. It pushed Americans into the war that they were avoiding for so long. -
Bataan Death March
After the April 9, 1942, U.S. surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on the main Philippine island of Luzon to the Japanese during World War II (1939-45), the approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make an arduous 65-mile march to prison camps. -
D-Day
The United States and allied troops invaded at Normandy.The beaches was the area along the coast that the Axis Forces least expected the Allies to come ashore at. D-Day was the beginning of the end for not only Germany but for Hitler as well. Over 425,000 Allied and German troops were killed, wounded or went missing during the Battle of Normandy. This figure includes over 209,000 Allied casualties, with nearly 37,000 dead amongst the ground forces. -
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. They did this in attempt to push the Allied front line west from northern France to northwestern Belgium. At the end of the Battle of the Bulge, German losses were greater than their army could take. Approximately 30,000 soldiers and 44,000 infantry forces were killed or captured. The Germans also lost a significant amount of weapons (tanks mostly). -
Battle of Iwo Jima
American soldiers make their first strike on the Japanese Home Islands at Iwo Jima. This attack occurred because of the need for a base on the Japanese coast. On the island, before the battle, Japan had two air fields, but because the U.S. won the air fields were shut down. -
Battle of Okinawa
A major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Marine and Army forces against the Imperial Japanese Army. The battle was started because the American wanted a base close enough to the Japanese Main Islands to allow for effective bombardment of the main islands and as a base for the eventual invasion of the Japanese Main Islands. It resulted in the largest casualties with over 100,000 Japanese casualties and 50,000 casualties for the Allies. -
VE Day
A public holiday celebrated on 8 May 1945 to mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces. This was the day that Hitler killed himself and Germany declared an end to the war. Celebration of the end of the war. -
Dropping of the Atomic Bombs
The American bomber Enola Gay dropped a five-ton bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. They did this in order to bring the war to a "speedy end." Immediate effects were devastating. The bomb killed over one hundred thousand people and is said that people are still feeling the devastation of the attack to this day. -
VJ Day
Victory over Japan Day is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect ending the war.
