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Executive Order 9066
After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, many Americans didn’t trust the Japanese living within the US. There were fears that Japanese spies were living stateside. This lead to the signing of Executive Order 9066, which forced Japanese-Americans in California, Oregon, Washington, and Arizona to live in interment camps. 110,000 people were relocated to these camps. They had to leave most of their possessions behind, so many lost a lot of valuables. Survivors of the camps later received apology letters. -
The Bataan March
In 1942, after bombing Pearl Harbor, Japan attacked the Philippines. They trapped the combined American-Filipino forces on the Bataan peninsula. The Americans were forced to surrender, and Japan couldn’t handle the number of prisoners they took in. They forced the prisoners to march without food, and with little water, to prison camps. If anyone fell out of line, they were immediately killed. Over 10,000 prisoners died on this march. -
D-Day
D-Day was a massive amphibious invasion of Europe, during World War Two. The invasion was conducted by the allied powers; most notably the United States, Great Britan, and Canada. These countries' troops landed at Normandy beaches in France. Thier goal was to retake Europe from Germany. They eventually succeeded, with the help of the Soviet Union's advances from the east. -
Auschwitz liberation
Auschwitz was the largest Nazi death camp during World War Two. The camp was located near the Polish-German border. As the Soviet army drew near, the Nazis began to lead death marches out of the camp. As a result, there were only 7,000 people left inside the camp when the Soviets arrived. This is only a fraction of the 1.3 million that had been at this camp at some time during World War Two. The survivors were ill nourished, and many died after being rescued. -
Raising the flag on Mount Suribachi
In early 1945, the allied forces were pushing across the Pacific towards Japan. Once they got close to Japan, they were forced to capture the island of Iwo Jima, so they could use it as a refueling station. In order to capture this island, the allies had to take the high point of the island: Mount Suribachi. Once they captured the mountain, they raised a flag on top of it. The photograph of the troops raising the flag became one of the most iconic photographs in America history. -
Bombing of Hiroshima
Toward the end of the war in the Pacific, the United States had the island of Japan surrounded. They didn’t want to invade, as that would cost thousands, if not millions of lives. So they decided to use an atomic bomb to force the Japanese to surrender. The bomb had been developed through a project called the Manhattan Project. The United States dropped a bomb the Japanese city of Hiroshima, and then dropped another one on the city of Nagasaki. Japan surrendered shortly.
