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Japan invades China
At first Japan only invaded Manchuria for materials. This apparently wasnt enough for Japan. They were looking to become expansioist. Japanese launched a full scale attack on China. That was the begining of the Sino-Japanese war. -
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The Holocaust
This was the removal of racial minorities within Germany and places germany had invaded. Hitler by doing this was trying to create the "perfect race". -
Munich Conference
Hitler around this time was demanding he have Czechoslavia. He argued that the Czech people were being mistreated. Britain and France agreed to Hitlers demands. They were hoping by appeasing Hitlers demands that he would stop there in expansion therefore preventing a war in Europe. However Britian and France gave Czechloslavia to Hitler without consulting the Czech leaders. -
Non_Agression Pact
The non-agression pact was a pact signed between Germany and Russia. The non-agression pact stated that German forces would not invade Russia. Germany also promised that Russia would be given a part of Poland.The two leaders at the time were Hitler in Germany and Stalin for Russia. Many were surprised by this non agression pact between Russia and Germany because of the fact that Russia had previously known to side with Allied forces. -
Germany invades Poland
German forces decided to expand themselfs by invading Poland. Though Poland had close ties with Russia, Germany had already signed a non-agression pact with Russia. However Great Britain and France had not and also had close ties with Poland. This causes Great Britain and France to declare war on Germany. Thus this starts WW2. -
Blitzkrieg
This was when German forces were trying to take down Great Britian. This had never been done in history, and turns out it wouldnt be then either. Though Germany bombed Great Britain constantly for awhile, Great Britain was able to sustain themselfs. This angered Germany and they left Great Britain in search of other countries to invade. -
Battle of Britain
This was the first battle to be entirely fought by air. Germany wanted to with superiority over Southern Britain’s air force. This was also the biggest and most supported aerial bombing to that date. Germany sought to do this by destroying the British air force and their aircraft industry. Though the Germans were ahead at first, by the end Germany had so many significant losses, that it was impossible for them to win the battle. -
Lend-Lease Act
This was the law that allowed the US to send supplies amd arms to Allied Powers. Also there was no immediate payment and we were supposed to be payed back. Though we were payed back slowly it was a great US economic booster. -
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was when Germany launched an attack on Russia. This was going directly against the non-aggresion pact. This is a major turning point in the war. Now, Russia was also involved in WW2. Russia is now paired with Ally forces against Germany. -
Pearl Harbor
On this day Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor. The damage from the attack was pretty large. This threw America into immediate action, which was declaring war against Japan. Up to this point the US had remained neutral and not sided with either force but also had been helping Allied powers. -
Wannsee Conference
This was the conference where Germans decided to set us racial death camps. These things led directly to the Holocaust. This is also where they determined the standards were for those who would be put into these death camps and those who would not. These factors were suppose to be specific, but it turned out to be more loosly interpertated as the Holocaust came into action. -
Bataan Death March
Many Filipino and American troops were forced to walk many miles in harsh conditions to prison camps.They were trreated harshly by Japanese guards. Many troops died during the walk to these prison camps because of the harsh and hot weather conditions. -
Batte of Midway
This is when US navy and areial forces bomb and destroyed much of the Japanese navy. This became a turning point in the Pacific theater. This showed that if you had control over the skies then you controlled the war. -
Battle of Stalingrad
This was a major turning point in the war. German forces had been succesful in taking Russia until this point. There were many reasons as to why German forces were defeated. First off Russian winters were a contributing factor to deaths in the German army. Another reason were the Soviet snipers and Russians intense fighting. -
D-Day
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Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was when the Germans initiated a surprise attack through the Ardennes region on the Western Front. Germany was hoping to split up the Allied forces. At first the battle was successful for Germany, but it ended up being a victory for the Allied powers. This ended up making Germany’s army weaker. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The battle of Iwo Jima was a great American win. Native Americans were largely credited for the win of this battle. A group of Native Americans that were mainly involved were the Navajo Indians. This was mostly because the Japanese were never able to decode the language they spoke. This was a huge advantage to the US. -
Battle of Okinawa
This battle was also known as Operation Iceburg. This battle also had the largest number of casualties. This battle ended up being a huge loss for Japan despite the fact that the US had been ill-prepared. Okinawa had been one of the largest military bases for Japan. When the US took Okinawa it was a major hit for Japan. -
V-E Day
This is the day that Germany surrenders in the Euopean theater.Germany by this point had suffered so many significant losses. The US had already stormed the beaches of Normandy with D-Day. German attempts to take control of Great Britain had also failed at this point. Germany had no choice but to surrender. -
The bombing of Hiroshima/Nagasaki
This is when the US retaliated against Japans bombing of pearl harbor. Both of these bombs were dropped in the month of August. Both of these bombs caused collasal damage. -
V-J Day
This is when Japanese forces surrenderd to Ally Powers in the Pacific Theater. This came a while after V-E day. After so many losses on Japan and the bombing Japanese forces could no longer sustain themselves. This therfore caused surrender of Japanese forces. -
Warsaw Pact
This was a pact between Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union. This pact was a military pact between these countries. The pact states that if there's an attack from a foreign country that the other countries will come to their aid.