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War in Asia - 'Rape of Nanjing'
The Japanese Imperialist Army started to take over the capital of Russia, Nanjing, on December 13, 1937. Japanese soldiers did horrible things to Chinese citizens including, murdering them, wrecking and stealing property., and even raping women. This showed the inhumane actions people, especially those fighting, would do during the war. -
Pre-War Event - 'Munich Conference'
After Adolf Hitler captured Austria, merging it with Germany, he wanted to take over Czechoslovakia. Hitler made speeches telling citizens in Sudetenland, a city with a German majority, that they need to be reunited with their homeland. Hitler then threatened to start war at the Sudetenland border unless it was surrendered to Germany. The leaders of Britain, France, and Italy signed an agreement to give Hitler Sudetenland in exchange for peace. -
Pre-War Event - 'Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact'
The Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact was a document signed by Nazi Germany and The Soviet Union to take no military effort against each other in the following 10 years. This benefits them both because Hitler the leader of Nazi Germany used the contract to ensure there would be no opposition when he invades Poland. On the other hand, Stalin used it to give him a time of peace to build up the Soviet Union. The pact fell apart in 1941 when Nazis invaded the Soviet Union. -
Theme - 'Strategic Bombing'
Strategic bombing was used by the U.S. army air forces to attack areas in central Germany and France. They would target areas that produced war goods like oil, machinery, bullets, etc. Doing this would push back their progress in the war giving the U.S. an advantage. Strategic bombing was pretty effective. Even if areas that were bombed were still able to make war products, they were unable to make them at the rate they were before the bombing. -
War in Europe - 'Germany Invades Poland'
Germany forced its way to the capital, Moscow. There were astonishing amounts of refugees ready to fight. They planned for the Polish army to not be able to hold up against the Germans for a long time. Instead, they went back and forth bombing and shooting, and within the first month, Moscow had to back down to Germany. Britain and France on the other hand declared war on Germany. Germany exiled a mass amount of Polish people from their homeland and replaced them with Germans. -
Theme - 'Genocide'
Germany was a strong country during WWII. They would try everything in their power to exterminate Jews. They made it almost impossible for Jews to live in Germany. They would experience exclusion, violence, robbery, and discrimination. During the invasion of the Soviet Union, the Einsatzgruppen were units designed to kill communist officials, partisans, and Jewish men aged 15-60. Except they started to kill women, children, and old people. These actions could be seen as good during this time. -
War in Europe - 'Dunkirk'
On the 10th of May 1940 was when Germany invaded France and the Low countries. They pushed troops further back until they backed the French into Dunkirk's port. Operation Dynamo was designed to be a huge rescue mission, arranged by Britain's Navy in hopes to get troops off of the beaches and back into Britain. They were surrounded by strong troops and so the Royal Army sent aircrafts for protection and hundreds of naval vessels to transport soldiers across the English Channel. -
War in Africa - 'Western Desert Campaign'
The Western Desert campaign occurred in deserts located in Egypt and Libya. It was a huge face of WWII. While the Allies and Axis battled for power over Egypt and Libya, Italy started a campaign, entering the war. This led to Italy invading Egypt which was under British rule. -
War in Russia - 'Operation Barbarossa'
Operation Barbarossa was Germany's plan to invade the Soviet Union during WWII. The Soviet Union leader, Joseph Stalin denied that Germany's leader, Adolf Hitler was going to invade them because of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact. This made Hitler confident they would succeed. Even though when they eventually attacked it caught the Soviets off guard, they still had a great defense challenging Stalin. The attack eventually failed due to harsh weather conditions and tactical mistakes. -
War in the Pacific - 'Pearl Harbor'
The U.S. Naval base, Pearl Harbor, was attacked unexpectedly by the Japanese in 1941. They did this by using hundreds of their fighter planes to rain missiles on the United States Naval ships. This caused a lot of damage including, 20 American naval vessels, 8 battleships, and hundreds of airplanes. Over 3,000 people were pronounced dead, leaving over 1,000 wounded. The next day the U.S. president, Roosevelt declared war on Japan. -
War in the Pacific - 'Battle of Midway'
Japan had a goal during WWII to ensure the U.S. could not travel through the Pacific. The U.S. base on Midway was badly damaged by an aircraft from 4 Japanese aircraft carriers. What the Japanese didn't know is that the U.S naval forces were close by ready to strike. Once the aircraft came back to Midway after restocking is when they were aware of the U.S. appearance. Over the next few days after exchanging hits, the Japanese were forced to surrender, stopping the growth of Japan in the Pacific. -
War in Russia - 'Battle of Stalingrad'
This battle was a huge turning point in WWII. It was a major battle on the Eastern Front, where Germany and other allied countries fought the Soviet Union hoping to conquer the city of Stalingrad. During the fight, civilians were unable to leave, if they did so they would be executed. Once winter began, Russia was confident Germany would take a big hit since they were not used to the weather conditions. Though Hitler refused to surrender until he lost great amounts of soldiers to prison camps. -
War in Europe - 'D-Day Invasion'
The Invasion included land, air, and sea military forces. It had 7,000 ships and 195,000 naval personnel. There were almost 133,000 soldiers from the countries England, Canada, and the U.S. that landed on day one of the invasion. Just during the arrival, out of the 3 countries, there were 10,300 injuries. After the countries went back and forth fighting, the Russian military secured victory against Germany. Over a year later, a German Commander signed an official surrender.