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Japanese Invasion of China
What Happened: There was a military conflict fought between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. China had economic help from Germany, the Soviet Union, and the United States to fight Japan.
Why It Happened: This war began because the Japanese had an imperialist policy aimed at expanding its influence politically and military in order to secure access to raw material reserves and other economic resources in the area. Prior to, China and Japan already had some conflicts with eachother -
Japanese Invasion of China (Continued)
Effects/Impacted: This war was very impactful to the Chinese people, causing up to 20 million casualties. There were also very serious political outcomes.
Interesting Facts: The Japanese Kwantung Army had turned a small incident into a full-scale war. The Japanese military was said to be not only fully armed and organized but also very brutal.
http://histclo.com/essay/war/ww2/camp/pac/china/w2c-inv.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Sino-Japanese_War -
Rape of Nanking
What Happened: This is also known as the Nanking Massacre which included mass rape and murder by Japanese troops against the residents of Nanjing, a city in China. This all happened during the war between Japan and China.
Why It Happened: This is when the Japanese fully made their invasion of China, capturing Shanghai and then Nanjing. This is not a full reason on why this happened, but some say it could have been for propaganda purposes. -
Rape of Nanking (Continued)
Rape of NankingRape of NankingEffects/Impacted: This affected thousands of women. They were killed after gang rape, and tens of thousands of others were brutally injured and traumatized. Meanwhile, millions of Chinese men were rounded up as prisoners-of-war and murdered.
Interesting Facts: Between 40,000 to over 300,000 Chinese civilians and disarmed combatants were murdered by soldiers of the Japanese Army. Historians cannot accurately count the number of deaths because Japanese military records were kept in secrecy. -
Germany's Invasion of Poland
What Happened: German forces bombard Poland on land and from the air. Adolf Hitler sought to regain lost territory and rule Poland.
Why It Happened: To begin, Adolf Hitler had a major foreign policy after coming into power. That policy was to sign a nonaggression pact with Poland. He wanted to neutralize the possibility of a French-Polish military alliance against Germany. Later Britain and France had one of France’s ally to hold off on Germany’s demand for incorporation. -
German Blitzkrieg
German Blitzkrieg
What Happened: This is a German term meaning “Lighting War.” Blitzkrieg is a military tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile forces and locally concentrated firepower.
Why It Happened: Germany had a strategy to defeat its enemies with a series of short maneuvers. This attack would surprise their opponents, giving Germany a chance to encircle them. -
Germany's Invasion of Poland (Continued)
Germany wasn't happy, so they cut them off in violation of the Munich agreement. Hitler soon responded with a nonaggression pact with the Soviet Union, which gave Germany more power.
Effects/Impacted: The Polish army was defeated within weeks of the invasion. Poland then remained under German occupation.
Interesting Facts: About 1.5 million German troops invaded Poland.
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005070
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germany-invades-poland -
German Blitzkrieg (Continued)
Effects/Impacts: This forced many of Germany’s opponents to surrender when it was successfully done.
Interesting Facts: Some historians say that blitzkrieg was never an official concept and that it may be a myth.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/blitzkrieg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blitzkrieg -
Fall of Paris
<ahref='http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/francedefeat.htm ' >Fall of Paris</a>What Happened: This was when Germany successfully invaded France.
Why It Happened: Hitler seemed to have a plans of military campaigns to take over or defeat the Western European nations. The only way to begin his plans was to start with France.
Effects/Impact: Many civilians fled their homes with only a few belongings that they could save.
Interesting Facts: It took only six weeks for France to surrender to the German invaders.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_France -
Operation Barbarossa
Operation BarbarossaOperation Barbarossa What Happened: Adolf Hitler took his armies eastward in a massive invasion of the Soviet Union. During this entire operation, about four million soldiers invaded the Soviet Union.
Why It Happened: Adolf Hitler wanted to conquer the Soviet Union’s territory.
Effects/Impact: Large Soviet forces were encircled and destroyed or taken prisoner. Because of that, 250,000 of the Soviets were taken.
Interesting Facts: Operation Barbarossa came to a stop and Germany did not win. -
Pearl Harbor
Pearl HarborPearl HarborWhat Happened: Many Japanese fighter planes had attacked the United States’ American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. This was a surprise military attack by the Japanese.
Why It Happened: It has been said that the Japanese and the Americans have never been in an agreement with each other for many years, especially with what happened in China not to long ago. So, the attack was intended as a defensive action in order to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with -
Pearl Harbor (Continued)
military actions the Empire of Japan was planning in Southeast Asia against overseas territories.
Effects/Impacts: More than 2,000 American soldiers and sailors died in the attack. The day after the attack, Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan and it was approved.
Interesting Facts: A 1,800 pound bomb smashed through the deck of a battleship called USS Arizona. The ship exploded and sank with more than 1,000 men trapped inside. -
Wannsee Conference
What Happened: The Nazi Party and German government officials gathered in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee to discuss and coordinate the implementation of what they called the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question."
Why It Happened: This was whereby most of the Jews of German-occupied Europe would be deported to Poland and murdered.
Effects/Impacts: Heydrich, a chief of the Reich Security Main Office indicated that approximately 11,000,000 Jews in Europe would fall under the provisions of the -
Wannsee Conference (Continued)
"Final Solution."
Interesting Facts: There was an outline of how European Jews would be rounded up from west to east and sent to extermination camps in the occupied part of Poland, where they would be killed.
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005477
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wannsee_Conference -
Bataan Death March
What Happened: A forced transfer by the Imperial Japanese Army of thousands of Filipino and American prisoners of war.
Why It Happened: This is when the Japanese began the invasion of the Philippines. The Japanese had captured the capital of the Philippines, and the American and Filipino defenders of the island, on which the capital is located, were forced to retreat to the Bataan Peninsula. Later, the combined U.S.-Filipino army held out despite a lack of naval and air support. -
Bataan Death March (Continued)
Soon, U.S. General, with his forces hurt by starvation and disease, had to surrender his approximately 75,000 troops at Bataan.
Effects/Impacts: The U.S. wanted to avenge their defeat, along with the Philippines, and they soon recaptured Bataan Peninsula.
Interesting Facts: The troops were beaten and they were starved as they marched. The ones who were weak or fell were bayoneted.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bataan-death-march -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
What Happened: The German authorities murdered more than 10,000 Jews in the Warsaw ghetto during the deportation operations.
Why It Happened: German authorities began to concentrate Poland's population of over three million Jews into a number of extremely crowded ghettos located in large Polish cities. This resulted into many Jews dying of starvation and disease.
Effects/Impacts: In response to the deportations, many Jewish underground organizations created an armed self-defense unit known as -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (Continued)
the Jewish Combat Organization.
Interesting Facts: Approximately 13,000 Jews were killed in the ghetto during the uprising.
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005188
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Ghetto_Uprising -
Operation Gomorrah
Operation Gomorrah What Happened: An allied bombing of the British and the U.S. raiding Hamburg, Germany.
Why It Happened: Britain had suffered the deaths of 167 civilians as a result of German bombing raids in July, so they decide to fight back.
Effects/Impacts: There were more than 30,000 people killed and more than 280,000 building destroyed.
Interesting Facts: Hitler refused to visit the burnt out cites.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/operation-gomorrah-is-launched -
D-Day (Normandy Invasion)
What Happened: An invasion of Western allies forces in Normandy, France, where Germany had invaded and occupied.
Why It Happened: Months before D-Day, the allies carried out a massive deception plan intended to make the Germans think the main invasion target was Pas-de-Calais, the narrowest point between Britain and France, rather than Normandy.
Effects/Impacts: The following spring, the allies formally accepted the surrender of Nazi Germany. Hitler had then committed suicide a week earlier. -
D-Day (Normandy Invasion) (Continued)
Interesting Facts: This was a very big invasion that it needed extensive planning.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day -
Battle of the Bulge
What Happened: Adolph Hitler attempted to split the Allied armies in northwest Europe by means of a surprise blitzkrieg thrust.
Why It Happened: The battle was a last attempt by Hitler to split the allies in two in their drive towards Germany and destroy their ability to supply themselves.
Effects/Impacts: The Germans lost so many experienced troops and equipment that there was no way their army could launch another attack on allied forces. -
Battle of the Bulge (Continued)
Interesting Facts: The Battle of the Bulge was the costliest action ever fought by the U.S. Army, which suffered over 100,000 casualties.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/battle_of_the_bulge.htm
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-the-bulge -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
What Happened: The Germans had attempted to empty the camps of surviving prisoners and hide all evidence of their crimes, but they ended up finding many dead bodies in stacks. But in the end, they let all the survivors be free, even though they were all in bad conditions.
Why It Happened: By going back to the camps, the Germans found hundreds of sick and exhausted prisoners.The Germans had been forced to leave these prisoners behind in their retreat from the camp. -
Liberation of Concentration Camps (Continued)
Effects/Impacts: This really impacted the prisoners because they did not ever think they would be released anytime soon. They seemed to be in denial about their freedom.
Interesting Facts: Many physicians and relief workers tried to nourish and heal the prisoners but the prisoners were far too weak to digest food.
http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007724 -
Operation Thunderclap (Continued)
Interesting Facts: This plan was reconsidered in 1945 but it was rejected again.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderclap_plan
http://ww2today.com/13-february-1945-operation-thunderclap-raf-start-firestorm-in-dresden -
Operation Thunderclap
What Happened: This was a plan to have a massive attack on Berlin in belief that it would cause many casualties and that many would be killed. But they figured that this plan was unlikely to work.
Why It Happened: This was a plan to disrupt Germany’s transport of some groundwork that was for the Eastern front.
Effects/Impacts: Compared to most other German cities the air raid precautions and the range of air raid shelters available were relatively poor. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
What Happened: The United States’ forces landed and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese army. The U.S had the goal of capturing the entire island, including the three Japanese-controlled airfields.
Why It Happened: It was America’s desire to finally destroy Japan’s merchant fleet so that the Japanese mainland could not be supplied from the food-rich sectors of South East Asia which Japan still had control over. -
Battle of Iwo Jima (Continued)
Effects/Impacts: Of the 22,000 Japanese soldiers on Iwo Jima, only 216 were taken prisoner.
Interesting Facts: A photographer provided the U.S. Marine Corps with one of its most famous picture of the Americans raising the flag over Mount Suribachi at the southwest corner of Iwo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Iwo_Jima
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/battle_of_iwo_jima.htm -
Battle of Okinawa
What Happened: The Americans wished to destroy what was left of Japan’s merchant fleet and use airstrips in the region to launch bombing raids on Japan’s industrial heartland.
Why It Happened: This was part of the United States’ plan of taking over Japan's controlled places in South East Asia.
Effects/Impacts: Both sides of the countries took heavy blows. Americans lost over 7,000 men while Japan lost more than 100,000. -
Battle of Okinawa (Continued)
Interesting Facts: For the actual invasion, America had gathered together 300 warships and 1,139 other ships.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/battle_of_okinawa.htm -
VE Day
VE DayWhat Happened: This day officially announced the end of World War II in Europe.
Why It Happened: Because Adolf Hitler committed suicide during the Battle of Berlin, therefore Germany surrendered.
Effects/Impacts: There were celebrations going on around the world.
Interesting Facts: In the United States, the victory happened on President Harry Truman's 61st birthday. He dedicated the victory to the memory of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had died less than a month earlier. -
Dropping of the Atomic Bombs
What Happened: The United States becomes the first and only nation to use atomic weapons during wartime when they drop an atomic bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Why It Happened: The United States had been working on developing an atomic weapon because they were warned by Albert Einstein that Germany was building a nuclear weapon.
Effects/Impacts: Thousands of people died in the following weeks from wounds and radiation poisoning. -
Dropping of the Atomic Bombs (Continued)
Interesting Facts: The two bombings, which killed at least 129,000 people, remain the only use of nuclear weapons for warfare in history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/atomic-bomb-dropped-on-hiroshima -
VJ Day
VJ Day VJ Day What Happened: This marks the day in which the Japanese surrendered.
Why It Happened: In an attempt to break Japanese resistance before a land invasion became necessary, the allies were constantly bombarding Japan from air and sea.
Effects/Impacts: There was an overwhelming sense of relief and exhilaration from the citizens of the allies.
Interesting Facts: There were up to 100,000 tons of explosives dropped on more than 60 Japanese cities and towns.