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Japanese Invasion of China
Jaopan used the excuse that they were fired on by Chinese troops at the Marco Polo Bridge to launch a full scale invasion of China. Within 5 months 1 million Chinese people were under Japanese control. The war against China left 4 million Chinese dead and 60 million homeless. The end of the war was a clear sign that there was going to be a head on clash between communists and Guomintang. -
Rape of Nanking
To break the Chinese spirit Japanese were ordered to destroy the city of Nanking, Most of the city was burned and Japanese troops commited a campaign of atrocities against the civilians. The Japanese murdered 150,000 male POWs, 50,000 male civilians and raped more than 20,000 women and girls of all ages. Many of these women were mutilated or killed in the rape process. -
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was a non-aggresion pact signed in Moscow between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. It stated the neither party would ally or aid an enemy party and there were no belligerent intentions from one party to another. -
German invasion of Poland
Hitler needed to neutralize Poland in order to conquer all of Europe. Britain and France had an alliance with Poland and if they were attacked they would commit to Poland. -
German Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg is a German term for "lightinng war". It is designed to make enemy forces disorganized. If this is executed successfully it results in short military campaigns which in turn saves lives and expenditue of artillery. German's attempted this in Poland in 1939 before sucessfully using this tactic in Belgium, the Nethlerlands, and France in 1940. -
Operation Barbarossa
Hitler led his armies eastward to invade the Soviet Union. Over three million German soldiers and three thousand tanks barged through across the Soviet territory. The invassion covered the 2,000 miles in between the North Cape and the Black Sea. The failure of Barbossa was a crucial turning point because it forced Nazi Germany to fight a two-front war, -
Pearl Harbor
Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes bombed Pearl Harbor because of the American naval base there, It lasted only two hours but more than 2,000 American soldiers died and 1,000 were wounded. This resulted in FDR asking Congress to declare war on Japan, Thus joining the world war. -
Wannasee Conference
Senior Officials of Nazi Germany held a meeting in the Berlin suburb of Wannasee to ensure the cooperation of administrative leaders in relation to the final solution of the Jews. They would be deported to Poland and murdered. -
Bataan Death March
After the U.S. surrendered the Bataan Peninsula to Japanese 75,000 Filipino and American troops were forced to march 65 miles to prison camps. They were given harsh treatment in the harsh heat and thousands died. -
Operation Gomorrah
British bombers raided Hamburg, Germany by night while America bombed it by day.1,500 German civilians were killed in the first British raid. The U.S. Eighth Air Force bombed Northern Germany that included two raids on Hamburg during day hours. Britain continued to attack Hamburg until November of the same year. The aftermath included the loss of more than 30,000 lives and 280,000 buildings destroyed. Germans began to come to terms with defeat after this -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Residents in the Jewish ghettio,in Nazi-occupied Warsaw, staged a revolt against deportations to extermination camps. This uprising inspired other revolts in camps and ghettos throughout German-occupied Eastern Europe. -
D-Day Normandy Invasion
The battle of Normady resulted in the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany, June 6th 1944 is known as D-Day when 156,000 American, British, and Canadian forces covered a fifty mile stretch of beach in France's Normady region. The Normandy ladnings were the beginning of the end of the war in Europe. -
Liberation of concentratio camps
Soviet soldiers were the first to liberate concentration camps. They entered Majdanek camp in Poland first then later entered Auschwitz January 27th, 1945. America liberated Buchenwald and Dachau, while British forces entered Bergen-Belsen, German soldiers tried to hide evidence of their crimes but allied soldiers found thousands of dead bodies stacked up. -
Operation Thunderclap
Operation Thunderclap was a code name for a canceled operation, The plan entailed a massive attack on Berlin with the hopes of 220,000 casualties 110,000 killed and most of them being key German personnel. This plan was decided unlikely to work and reconsidered in 1945 but was turned down again for its impractality. -
Battle of the Bulge
Hitler tried to split the allied armies in northwest Europe by using a surprise blitxkrieg through Ardennes to Antwerp. As the Germans got deeper into Ardennes the allied line took the appearance of a large bulge. Hence the name, Despite heavy casualties, General Patton neutralized the German counteroffense -
Battle of Iwa Jima
American needed a base near the Japanese coast so they invaded Iwo Jima. Three U.S. Marine divisions landed on the island in Febuary. The Marines wiped out 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops after a month, -
VE Day
Great Britain and the U.S. celebrated Victory in Europe Day. Cities in both nations put out flags and banners celebrating the defest of the Nazi war machine. This was the day German troops laid down their arms throughout Europe. More than 13,000 POWs were sent back to Great Britain -
Droping of the Atomic Bombs
The U.S. bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in the final stages of WWII. This was the only use of nuclear weapons in warfcare. The Japanese refused unconditional surrender which dragged the Pacific wars on. The U.S. threatened with "prompt and utter destruction".Hiroshima was bombed on August 6th and Nagasaki was bombed on the 9th. The following months resulted in 166,00 deaths in Hiroshima and 80,000 in Nagasaki from effects of the atomic bomb. -
VJ Day
Japan announced its surrender unconditionally to the allies, ending WWII. August 14th and 15th have since been known as Victory Over Japan Day. -
Battle of Okinawa
The last and biggest battle of the Pacific islands was Okinawa. It was 287,000 U.S. troops against 130,000 Japanese soldiers. The goal was to claim vital air bases for the invasion of Japan. After 82 days Japan lost more than 77,000 soldiers and the allies had 65,000 casualties with 14,000 dead.
