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Japanese Invasion of China
a conflict that occored becuase china began a full-scale resistance to the expantion of Japanese influences -
Rape of Nanking
Over a period of six weeks, Imperal Japanese army forces brutally murdered hundreds of thousands of people. Between 20,000 and 80,000 woman were sexually assulted. -
Germany's Invasion of Poland
German forces bombard Poland, as Adolf Hitler seeks to regain lost territory and ultimatley rule Poland. The German invasion was primer on how Hitler intended to wage war. -
Blitzkrieg
The German Blitzkrieg was an innovative military technique, a tactic based on speed and surprise. -
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. French premier telegrammed President Roosevelt, asking for just such aid-a declaration of war, and if not that, all help possible. Roosevelt replied that the U.S. was prepared to send material aid, and was willing to have that promise published. but Secretary of State opposed such a publication, knowing that Hitler and the Allies would take this as a decloration of war. -
Pearl Harbor
A swarm of 360 Japanese warplanes followed, decending on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in a ferious assault. The surprise attack struck a critical blow against the U.S. Pacific Fleet and drew the United States irrevocably into World War Two. -
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 Two, about 75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make and arduous 65-mile march to prison camps where they were subjected to harsh punishment. -
Battle of Midway
Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States defeated Japan in one of the most decisive naval battles of World War II. Thanks in part to major advances in code breaking, the United States was able to preempt and counter Japan’s planned ambush of its few remaining aircraft carriers, inflicting permanent damage on the Japanese Navy. An important turning point in the Pacific campaign, the victory allowed the United States and its allies to move into an offensive position. -
Battle of Stalingrad
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. This battle was one of the bloodiest in history. -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
From April 19th to May 16th residents of the Jewish ghetto in Nazi-occupied warsaw. Poland, staged an armed revolt against deportations to extermination camps. The warsaw ghetto uprsing inspired other revolts in extermination caps and ghettos throughout German-occupied Earstern Europe. -
D-Day (Normandy Invasion)
The battle of Normandy resulted in allied liberation of West Europe from Nazi Germany's control. The battle began on D-Day when approximately 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches, this invasion was one of the largest amphibious military assaults in history. -
Battle of Bulge
Adolf Hitler tried to split the allied armies in northwest Europe by using the Blitzkrieg thrust through the Ardennes to Antwerp. -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
Evolved into a network of camps where Jewish people and other perceived enemies of the Nazi were exterminated, often in gas chambers, or used as slave labor. in January 1945, with the Soviet Army approching, Nazi officials ordered the camps abandoned and set approximately 60,000 prisoners on a march. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The west Pacific volcanic island of Iwo Jima is declared secured byt U.S military after months of fiercely fighting it's Japanese defenders. B-24 and B-25 bombers raided the island for seventy-four days straight. -
Battle of Okinawa
Last and biggest of the Pacific island battles of World War II, the Okinawa campaign 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. By the end of the 82-day campaign, Japan had lost more than 77,000 soldiers and the Allies had suffered more than 65,000 casualties,including 14,000 dead. -
VE day
in accordance with an earlier agreement between leaders in the United States, Soviet Union and United Kingdom, the news of the end of hostilities on the continent was withheld for 24 hours and announced simultaneously on the 8th. In London, spotlights in the form of a “V” for victory were turned on over St. Paul’s Cathedral—although it took some time to get them working again after nearly six years of wartime blackouts. In the United States a newly sworn-in president got a very unusual birthday -
Potsdam Declaration
Was the last of the World War II meetings held by the “Big Three”. Featuring American President Truman, British Prime Minister Churchill and Soviet Premier Stalin, the talks established a Council of Foreign Ministers and a central Allied Control Council for administration of Germany. The leaders arrived at various agreements on the German economy, punishment for war criminals, land boundaries and reparations. They also issue a declaration demanding "unconstitutional surrender" from Japan. -
Dropping of the Attomic Bombs
A second atom bomb is dropped on Japan by the United States, at Nagasaki, resulting finally in Japan’s unconditional surrender. The United States had already planned to drop their second atom bomb on August 11 but bad weather expected for that day pushed the date up to August 9. Nagasaki was a shipbuilding center, the very industry intended for destruction by the B-29 -
VJ Day
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. Coming several months after the surrender of Nazi Germany, Japan’s capitulation in the Pacific brought six years of hostilities to a final close.
