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Massacre at Nanking
Tensions between China and Japan grew which meant sooner rather than later a conflict would arise between the two. As Japan increasingly expanded its military and territory, it knew taking over the capital of China would be a prosperous gain. During the massacre, thousands of Japanese soldiers brutally murdered and raped other thousands of Chinese in the capital of Nanking, China. This barbarian victory for Japan meant they had complete control over the Chinese. -- historycrunch.com -
Germany's Invasion of Poland
As Hitler felt it was his duty to unify the entirety of the German race, he knew that the significant # of Germany in Poland would mean the eventual takeover of Poland. On September 1, 1939, Hitler did precisely that and attacked Poland. Germany struck Poland with their "massive force of fast-moving modern weapons of war". These weapons allowed Germany to split Poland after the war and share it with the Soviet Union. Germany's invasion of Poland marked the start of the war. --Hatcher's Notes -
German Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg was a military strategy used by the Germans during WWII that essentially took advantage of their fast, mobile weapons to take out the enemy as fast as possible. This strategy was used and proved effective when Germany invaded Poland and was most successful. The Germans used this strategy to strike Poland with a large and fast force. The invasion was also named the "lightning war" because of the speed and efficiency of the German weapons. -- Hatcher's notes -
Battle of Britain
After Germany took over the more significant areas of France and their military, they had no other choice but to retreat to Britain in hopes of being able to recover and eventually take back their lost land from Germany. Germany felt it would be best to crush Britain and France by sending in their Luftwaffe to finish off areas across the English channel but ultimately Britain's incredibly powerful airforce and navy crushed Germany and its agenda. --Britannica.com -
Pearl Harbor
As America continued to show its foreign policy support for China, tensions between Japan and China grew meaning that the U.S. and Japan would naturally conflict with each other as they have opposing agendas relating to China. The Pearl Harbor attack was a Japanese surprise attack on the U.S. meant to counteract America's support for China, worsening conditions between the U.S. and Japan later on with catastrophic effects. --Britannica.com -
March of Bataan
Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the assault in the Philippines grew. Japanese soldiers forced/led thousands of Filipino and American prisoners of war some hundreds of Kilometers North in an absolutely brutal and enduring march. Many of the prisoners were beaten, killed, and the terrible overall conditions naturally spiked death rates. This horrific event further grew tension between Japan and the U.S. -- Britannica.com -
Battle of the Coral Sea
The Battle of the Coral Sea was yet another conflict between Japan and America. U.S. intelligence was able to learn about a Japanese plan to seize Port Moresby for another naval military agenda but the U.S. military intercepted their military fleet and one of the most prominent naval battles was born. The U.S. came out victorious as its military was especially effective in sending out planes to cripple the Japanese naval army. -- Britannica.com -
Battle of Midway
Midway islands were one of the most valuable territories that the U.S. had at the time of WWII. What made these Pacific islands so incredibly important is their significance in transportation like transpacific flights which made them so valuable to the U.S. Japan knew this and chose to attack this territory but the U.S. used its naval strategy and well-built aircraft carriers to Crush yet another offense by the Japanese. --Britannica.com -
Battle of Stalingrad
As Germany had no real gain on Russia, they felt the need to come up with a general plan to invade Russia from the South, cut off valuable resources, and push up the North to take over the country. They felt as though Stalingrad would be a great place to start as it was a large industrial center and could be taken for propaganda purposes as well (STALINgrad). German forces were crushed undeniably and Hitler's abhorrent commanding skills led him to make terrible military decisions. Britannica.com -
D-Day --> Invasion of Normandy
Despite the Battle of Britain, Germany still had a very strong grip on Northern France. The allied powers knew they needed to take back France and eventually push it into Germany. This date marks the battle in which British, American, and French military forces all cooperated and launched an invasion on several beaches in Northern France to take back the rightful territory of the French. It, fortunately, turned out successful and helped lead to the end of the Nazi regime. --Britannica.com -
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a German counteroffensive war that had the objective of cutting off the allied military fleet and using Belgian territory to drive a wedge in between themselves and the allied powers. Although the German military did undeniably have a very strategic military plan and initially looked promising, the allied powers were simply losing soldiers and resources at a significantly lower rate meaning this would be the eventual collapse of the German defense. --Britannica.com -
Operation Thunderclap
Operation Thunderclap was another battle that had the objective of hindering Germany's military agenda and slowing its recovery. The allies in WWII decided to descend upon the city of Dresden and bomb it to devastate the major communications center and make it easier for Soviet forces to penetrate Germany's borders and end the Third Reich. The whole operation was essential to harass Germany from multiple angles and maximize pressure. --History.com -
Liberation of the Concentration camps
The liberation of concentration camps scattered throughout Eastern Europe. Mostly U.S. military forces liberated the camps and found the horrors behind those gates. In some camps, hundreds of military prisoners and Jews were actually liberated but some of them were completely empty as the Nazis had become desperate and massacred the remaining prisoners in the camp. --Hatcher's own words (mostly) -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima was yet another Pacific battle that involved the Japanese and American forces during WWII. The battle was an invasion of the island of Iwo Jima that took an amphibious approach to conquer the island. The battle itself was costly and known as one of the bloodiest in history. Despite the clear loss for the Japanese, they proved once against their persistence in fighting the U.S. The American win outcome opened up possibilities in the Pacific. --Britannica.com -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
The American forces knew that although Germany had undeniably lost against the allies, they still had to deal with Japan. After Truman had been informed of the devastation to military numbers if the war would have been fought conventionally against Japan, he instead decided that bombing Japan would prove effective in ending the war while also making sure that his troops would be safe and they would suffer minimal losses. The bombs proved effective but were completely devastating. --Hatcher notes