-
Japanese invasion of Manchuria (Manchuko)
The Japanese invaded Manchuria in hopes of gaining more natural resources to support their massive expansion and militarization and to end their heavy reliance on U.S. resources. Manchuria wasdecided to be ideal for a Japanese expansion since it was already fighting a civil war between nationalists, communists and warlords. The Japanese established a puppet state, called Manchukuo, and their occupation lasted until the end of World War II. -
Hitler: Chancellor of Germany
President Paul von Hindenburg names Adolf Hitler, leader or fÜhrer of the National Socialist German Workers Party (or Nazi Party), as chancellor of Germany. Marked a crucial turning point for Germany, Hitler built up Germany's security and Army and the Nazi Party grew as Hitler got rid of opposing views and parties. -
The Munich Agreement
An agreement between Britain, France, Italy, and Germany in 1938, under which Germany was allowed to extend its territory into parts of Czechoslovakia in which German-speaking peoples lived. This eventually led to Germany taking over all of Czech. and the Czech was becoming the most Nazi concentrated area besides Germany. -
Kristallnacht
Nazis in Germany torched synagogues, vandalized Jewish homes, schools and businesses and killed close to 100 Jews. After Kristallnacht, also called the “Night of Broken Glass,” some 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to Nazi concentration camps. German Jews had been mistreated since Hitlers Nazi Party was created. During WWII, Hitler and the Nazis played out their so-called “Final Solution” to the“Jewish problem,” and carried out the murder of some 6 million European Jews in the Holocaust. -
The Invasion of Poland
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the Fourth Partition of Poland in Poland and the Poland Campaign or Fall Weiß in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent, marking the beginning of WWII in Europe. Germany invaded Poland days after signing the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, where the Soviet Union agreed not to defend Poland from the east if Germany attacked from the west. Britain and France pledged to protect Poland. -
Dunkirk
German Forces trapped 330,000 British and French troops on the beaches of Dunkirk. Admiral Ramsey, based in Dover, formulated Operation Dynamo to get off of the beaches as many men as was possible. Eight-hundred small boats took the trapped men from the beaches to larger boats, sucesssfully rescuing the men. Hilter's army was ready to attack on his word but it never came. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
When the U.S. cut off their relations with Japan hundreds of Japanese fighter planes suprised the U.S. by attacking Pearl Harbor in the early morning. The Japanese destroyed nearly 20 American naval vessels, including 8 battleships, and almost 200 airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died in the attack, and another 1,000 were wounded. The day after the assault, FDR and Congress to declared war on Japan. Three days later, Germany, Japan, and Italy declared war on the U.S. -
Bataan Death March
After U.S. surrendered Bataan Peninsula on Philippine island of Luzon to the Japanese, 75,000 Filipino and American troops were forced to march 65 miles from Mariveles (southern end of the peninsula) to San Fernando (middle of Pampanga, off the peninsula) in high heats and brutal treatment from Japanese captors. Thousands died of disease, mistreatment and starvation; those that survived were put in prison camps. -
The Battle of Midway
The Japanese, 6 months after Pearl Harbor, planned a suprise attack on islands near Pearl Harbor (Midway Island) to draw out U.S. troops and when they began their counterattack, the Japanese troops would be ready to defeat them. Instead, the U.S. had cracked Japanese codes and intercepted the message to attack weeks before and were prepared for the Japanese. -
D-Day: The Beginning of the End of WWII
In June of 1944, 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region. this battle liberated the Allies of Western Europe and was one of the largest amphibious military assaults in history. The Allied forces executed a deception plan making the Germans think they would attack at a different place than Normandy, and then exectuted the cross-Channel attack. -
Battle of the Bulge
Was an attempt by Adolf Hitler and Germany to split Allied forces in NW Europe. German forces used a suprise blitzkrieg attack to get through the Ardennes to Antwerp. Alloed forces struggled to hold on until Lieutenant General George S. Patton moved the Third Army to Bastogne, nuetralizing the German troops, although the Allied forces suffered heavy causualties.It is called the Battle of the Bulge because as Germans drove deeper into the Ardennes, it created a bulge in Allied lines. -
Yalta Conference (4th-11th of February)
Final meeting between FDR, Churchill, and Stalin where they agreed to require Germany’s unconditional surrender and to set up in the conquered nation four zones of occupation to be run by their three countries and France. Russia was also promised lost land that the Japanese took if they permited free elections in Eastern Europe and to enter the Asian war against Japan. Most of these secret agreements were kept but led to tension and eventually the Cold War. -
V-E Day: Victory in Europe Day
This was the Day that Germany finally surrendered, Allied forces (Russians) taking 2 million German POWs. 13,000 Great Britain POWs that Germans captured were freed. Cities in both the U.S. and Great Britain, as well as formerly occupied cities in Western Europe, put out flags and banners, celebration the defeat of the Nazis. -
Bombing of Hiroshima
The American B-29 plane Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, killing more than 80,000 people instantly (many more dying of radiation exposure), when the Japanese refused the Potsdam Declaration. Three days later, United States dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, killing another 40,000. This prompted Japanese surrender because they were so damaged after the bombs. It was controversial because the U.S. targeted innocent civilians, but warning was given by US days prior. -
V-J Day: Victory Over Japan Day
The 14th and 15th of August it was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies. On August 6 the American B-29 plane Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, killing more than 70,000 people and destroying the city, when the Japanese refused the Potsdam Declaration. The United States then dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, killing another 40,000. The next day, the Japanese government issued a statement accepting the Declaration and surrendered.
