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Japanese Invasion of China
It happened because Japanese troops said that Chinese troops shot at them at Marco-Polo Bridge. They used this excuse to invade China. They took Shanghai (China's most important port) and Nanjing(Nanking). Over 250,000 people were killed and the leader, Chiang, had to establish a new capital. There was no real reason for the Japanese to invade. -
Germany's Invasion of Poland
1.5 million German troops bombed Polish airfields and attacked Polish naval forces. Hitler claimed that the attacks were done in self defense, but France and Britain didn't believe him. He did it because he wanted to gain more land the territory and enslave the Slavs. France declared war on Germany. -
Germany's Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg was Germany's term for "lightning war". German troops defeated the Polish army with their air force. They did it to prevent repetition of the attritional deadlock of WWI. -
The Fall of Paris
German troops enter and occupy Paris. Over 23 million people flee from France. -
Operation Barbarossa
Hitler launched over three million soldiers, 150 divisions, and 3000 tanks to invade the Soviet Union.The Germans wanted to enslave the entire Slavic race and get rid of all the Jews. The operation failed. -
Pearl Harbor
Japan bombed the American naval base Pear Harbor in Hawaii. This cause the United States to enter the war. The US was unhappy with Japan's treatment of China. Japan thought that the only way to help China was to take over the country, so they declared war on them. The US helped China by importing things to them, but this only made Japan stand their ground more. They attacked the Pacific Fleet so that they couldn't help China anymore. Over 1000 men were killed and destroyed 18 American ships. -
The Wannsee Conference
Reinhard Heydrich hosted the Wannsee Conference in Berlin with the fifteen top Nazi bureaucrats to coordinate the Final Solution (the Nazis' attempt to eliminate the entire Jewish population). Over 1000 people per day were being killed in gas vans. The conference provided key evidence during the Nuremberg war crimes trials. -
Bataan Death March
The US surrendered to the Japanese on the Philippine island of Luzon. Around 75,000 Filipino and American troops were forced to march 65 miles to prison camps. The march took around five days to complete and and it is believed thousands of troops were killed by either starvation, being beaten, disese, or being bayoneted. The US-Filipino troops recaptured the Bataan Peninsula in 1945. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The successful Soviet defence of the city Stalingrad. Most historians consider it to be the greatest battle of the war. The battle stopped the Germans from entering the Soviet Union and turned the war in favor of the Allies. The battle is considered one of the bloodiest battles with 2 million casualties. -
Operation Gomorrah
British bombers attacked Hamburg, Germany at night. 167 civilians were killed in the bombings (2300 tons of bombs were dropped). Britain lost 12 aircraft out of 791. The attacks continued until November of that year. 9000 tons of explosives were dropped, killing more than 30,000 people and destroying 280,000 buildings. -
D-Day
5000 ships, 11,000 airplanes, and over 150,000 soldiers landed on Normandy Beach to end Hitler's dream of Nazi domination. The Allies won. -
Battle of the Buldge
Germany lauched their army to cut through the Allied forces that would turn the war in Hitler's favor. They caught the American's off guard, and the American's lost 100,000 men. -
Operation Thunderclap
Operation Thunderclap was the proposal to bomb the eastern-most cities of Germany to disrupt the transport of infrastructure and to demonstrate the the Nazi regime had failed Germany. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
Three U.S. Marine divisions landed on the Japanese Coast. They were able to defeat the defending forces within a month. -
Battle of Okinawa
The U.S. sent in 287,000 soldiers to fight against 130,000 Japanese soldiers. Their air bases were at stake. The battle lasted 82 days and by the end of it Japan had lost more than 77,000 soldiers and the U.S. lost 14,000. -
Victory in Europe Day
Germany surrenders to Britain and the US. The war is over. -
Dropping of the Atomic Bomb
The US aircraft the Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city Hiroshima. Around 80,000 people were killed and 35,000 were injured. -
Victoryover Japan Day
Japan surrenders to the US. The war is officially over.
