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Japanese invasion of China
Over six long weeks between December 1937 and January 1938, troops of the Japanese Imperial Army captured Nanjing, then the Chinese capital, and killed many people. The reason was geopolitical: Japan was no longer a threat to China after its defeat in 1945. It was a time when China was weak & vulnerable. The dreams of a modern capital were crushed by the Japanese invasion. Chiang's government withdrew to the city of Chongqing for the war period, and Nanjing was left exposed to Japanese invasion. -
German blitzkrieg
Ended on May 28, 1940. of 19 A term for “lightning war,” blitzkrieg is a military tactic to create disorganization through the use of mobile forces & locally concentrated firepower. Its successful execution, preserves human lives and limits the money spent on artillery. German forces tried out the blitzkrieg in Poland in 1939 before successfully employing the tactic with invasions of Belgium, the Netherlands and France in 1940. -
Germany's invasion of Poland
Nazi Germany invades Poland.German tanks, infantry & cavalry penetrated Polish territory on several fronts with 5 armies. Hitler seeked to regain lost territory & to ultimately rule Poland. World War II had begun. Once in control, Hitler immediately began setting up forces to influence enemies of his Nazi ideology. Concentration camps for slave laborers and the extermination of civilians were a big part of his ideology. Although 1 million strong, the Polish forces were severely under-equipped. -
Operation Barbarbossa
Hitler launched his armies in a massive invasion of the Soviet Union. The invasion covered a front from the North Cape to the Black Sea, a distance of 2,000 miles. In Barbarossa’s opening month, German armies bit deep into Soviet territory. Already German logistics were unraveling, while a series of Soviet counterattacks stalled the advance. In September the Germans got enough supplies forward to renew their drives. Barbarossa was the crucial turning point in World War II. -
Pearl Harbor
Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The barrage lasted just two hours, but it was devastating: The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died in the attack, and another 1,000 were wounded. The United States was particularly unhappy with Japan’s increasingly belligerent attitude toward China. American officials took away their access to money and goods. -
Wannsee Conference
High-ranking Germany civil servants and SS officers met in a mansion on the edge of Berlin's Wannsee to lay the plans for the deportation and eventually the extermination of the Jews. The decision to murder the Jews had already been taken, but the Wannsee conference laid out how what they called the "final solution" was to be implemented on the Jews. The event was a significant moment leading up to the Holocaust. -
Japanese Internment
Ended in March of 1946. Two months after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, FDR signed Executive Order 9066 ordering all Japanese-Americans to leave the West Coast. They relocated approximately 120,000 people. In 1945, loyal Japanese-Americans were allowed to return to the West Coast. In 1988, Congress awarded restitution payments to each survivor. -
The Battle of Stalingrad
The Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad during World War II. Russians consider it to be the greatest battle of their Great Patriotic War. The invading Germans saw the conquest of Stalingrad as essential to their campaign in southern Russia. The Soviet victory at Stalingrad was a great humiliation for Hitler. Stalin, on the other hand, gained confidence in his military. The Battle of Stalingrad -
D-Day
Codenamed Operation Overlord, some 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile coast of France’s Normandy region. The invasion was one of the largest land & water, military assaults in history and required lots of planning. By August 1944, all of northern France had been liberated, and by the spring the Allies had defeated the Germans. The Normandy landings have been called the beginning of the end of war in Europe. -
Battle of Bulge
Ended on January 25, 1945. In December 1944, Adolph Hitler attempted to split the Allied armies in northwest Europe by means of a surprise blitzkrieg. Its objective was to split the Allied armies by means of a surprise blitzkrieg thrust through the Ardennes to Antwerp, marking a repeat of what the Germans had done three times previously–in September 1870, August 1914, and May 1940. -
Liberation of Auschwitz
Camps where many people (mostly Jews) were killed. In January 1945, with the Soviet army approaching, Nazi officials ordered the camp abandoned & sent about 60,000 prisoners on a forced march to other locations. When the Soviets entered these camps, they found thousands of piles of corpses left behind. As the Nazi’s defeat was coming close, officials began destroying evidence of the horror that had taken place there. Buildings were torn down, blown up or set on fire, and records were destroyed. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
Ended on March 26, 1945. The American amphibious invasion of Iwo Jima during World War II stemmed from the need for a base near the Japanese coast. Three U.S. marine divisions landed on the island in February 1945. Iwo Jima troops fought from caves, dugouts, tunnels and underground installations. Despite the difficulty of the conditions, the marines killed the defending forces after a month of fighting. The battle was marked by changes in Japanese defense tactics. -
Battle of Okinawa
Ended on June 22,1945. The Okinawa campaign involved the 287,000 troops of the U.S. Army against 130,000 soldiers of the Japanese Army. At stake were air bases vital to the projected invasion of Japan. Japanese forces changed their typical tactics of resisting at the water’s edge to a defense in depth, designed to gain them time. The commanding generals on both sides died in the course of this battle. -
VE Day
Great Britain and the United States celebrate Victory in Europe. Cities in both nations, as well as formerly occupied cities in the Western part of Europe, put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of the Nazis. It was the day when German troops throughout Europe finally laid down their arms. The main concern of many German soldiers was to keep from being taken prisoner by Soviet forces. -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
The United States becomes the first & only nation to use atomic weaponry during wartime. On August 6, 1945, the American bomber Enola Gay Dropped a five-ton bomb over Hiroshima. A blast that immediately killed 80,000 people. Three days later, another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing 40,000 more. A few days later, Japan announced its surrender. -
VJ Day
Japan had surrendered, effectively ending World War II. Both August 14 and August 15 have been known as “Victory over Japan Day,” The Potsdam Declaration, on July 26, 1945, called on Japan to surrender; If it did not, it would face “prompt and utter destruction.” The embattled Japanese government in Tokyo refused to surrender. The U.S. dropped a total of two atomic bombs killing more than 110,000 people. The next day, the Japanese surrendered. -
Nuremberg Trials
Ended on October 1,1946. Held for the purpose of bringing the Nazi criminals to justice, the Nuremberg trials were a series of 13 trials between 1945 & 1949. It included Nazi Party officials & high-ranking military officers along with German industrialists, lawyers and doctors. They were charged with crimes such as crimes against peace & crimes against humanity. Adolf Hitler committed suicide & was never brought to trial.
