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The Japanese invaded China in 1937. They did this because they were seeking raw materials to fuel its growing industries. It caused 20 million Chinese deaths https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/education/presidential-inquiries/invasion-manchuria#:~:text=Conflict%20in%20Asia%20began%20well,against%20the%20Chinese%20became%20commonplace.
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Blitzkreig was the German offensive warfare designed to strike a swift. They did this to ensure a swift victory. The psychological effect on civilians was major panic, something that the opposing military could not control. https://rb.gy/cf21bt
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The Fall of Paris was the German assault on Paris. They did this to gain power of Europe. It resulted the fall of France and the low land countries. https://rb.gy/fm13do
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The Japanese military launched a surprise attack on the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Since early 1941 the U.S. had been supplying Great Britain in its fight against the Nazis. It had also been pressuring Japan to halt its military expansion in Asia and the Pacific. It resulted in the US joining the war. https://rb.gy/vrzgmz -
Meeting of Nazi officials on January 20, 1942, in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee to plan the “final solution." It was to discuss on how to eliminate the Jewish population. This conference was the result of the holocaust. https://rb.gy/n2wsm8 -
The Battle of Midway was an epic clash between the U.S. Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy that played out six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. As a result of the U.S. victory in the Battle of Midway, Japan abandoned its plan to expand its reach in the Pacific, and would remain on the defensive for the remainder of World War II. https://rb.gy/fymsr8
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Germany’s Wehrmacht forces decided to mount an offensive on southern Russia. Adolf Hitler wanted the Wehrmacht to occupy Stalingrad, seeing its value for propaganda purposes, given that it bore Stalin’s name. By February 1943, Russian troops had retaken Stalingrad and captured nearly 100,000 German soldiers, though pockets of resistance continued to fight in the city until early March. https://rb.gy/lzl16p
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On July 24, 1943, British bombers raid Hamburg, Germany, by night in Operation Gomorrah. Britain had suffered the deaths of 167 civilians as a result of German bombing raids in July so this was their response to that. Operation Gomorrah proved devastating to Hamburg and German morale. https://rb.gy/zfg67u
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Allies began their invasion of Axis-controlled Europe with landings on the island of Sicily encountering little resistance from demoralized Sicilian troops. Allied conquest of Sicily led to the collapse of Mussolini’s government. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/allies-invade-italian-mainland
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D-Day put the Allies on a decisive path toward victory. Beginning with the Normandy beaches, so they can push back against the Axis forces until Germany was forced to surrender less than a year later. https://www.loc.gov/collections/veterans-history-project-collection/serving-our-voices/world-war-ii/d-day-june-6-1944/#:~:text=D%2DDay%20put%20the%20Allies,less%20than%20a%20year%20later. -
The Battle of the Bulge was the US Army's greatest struggle to deny Adolf Hitler's last chance for victory. It resulted soon end of the war. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/battle-of-the-bulge#:~:text=The%20Battle%20of%20the%20Bulge%20was%20the%20US%20Army's%20greatest,Hitler's%20last%20chance%20for%20victory.&text=As%201944%20was%20drawing%20to,victory%20over%20the%20Axis%20powers.
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On January 27, 1945, Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz. Soviet soldiers found over six thousand emaciated prisoners alive. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/liberation-of-nazi-camps -
On February 19, 1945, U.S. Marines made an amphibious landing on Iwo Jima to take control of the island. In the end after long battles it resulted in the US victory but with the cost of many casualties. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-iwo-jima
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The Battle of Okinawa was the last major battle of World War II, and one of the bloodiest. On April 1, 1945—Easter Sunday—the Navy’s Fifth Fleet and more than 180,000 U.S. Army and Marine Corps troops descended on the Pacific island of Okinawa for a final push towards Japan. Winning the Battle of Okinawa put Allied forces within striking distance of Japan. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-okinawa#okinawa-island
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The eighth of May marked 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. The German surrender was realized in a final cease-fire. More surrender documents were signed in Berlin and in eastern Germany. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/victory-in-europe -
On August 6, 1945, an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima ti get Japan to surrender. The explosion immediately killed an estimated 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bombing-of-hiroshima-and-nagasaki -
Three days after Hiroshima, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Japan’s Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s unconditional surrender in World War II in a radio address on August 15. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bombing-of-hiroshima-and-nagasaki -
On August 14, 1945, it was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies after the United States dropped two bombs on them, effectively ending World War II. Japan’s formal surrender took place aboard the U.S.S. Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay. Coming several months after the surrender of Nazi Germany, Japan’s capitulation in the Pacific brought six years of hostilities to a final https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/v-j-day