-
Japanese Invasion of China
The Japanese Army invades Manchuria under the command of Lieutenant General Jiro Tamon. This was done to expand operations all along the South Manchurian Railway. This ended up having a significant negative impact on the moral strength and influence of the League of Nations. -
Period: to
WWII
-
Germany's Invasion of Poland
Germany invaded Poland, the Free City of Danzig, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent. This was done in order to cause massive casualties before an official declaration of war. This is the start of WWII. -
German Blitzkrieg
Starting with the Invasion of Poland, Germany's Army used a military strategy they called "Blitzkrieg". The German word for "lightning war", it was a tactic which meant to release all units at once, in hope of a fast takeover. Tanks, and other armored vehicles, spearheaed into the enemy forces with air support following at close range. Infantry then moved in quick and surrounded the remaining survivors. -
Pearl Harbor
The Attack of Pearl Harbor was a surprise attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, in the United States Territory of Hawaii. It was intended to prevent the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions the Empire of Japan planned in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States. This brought the U.S. into WWII. -
D-Day
The name of the day where Allied forces invaded the Normandy beach in Operation Overlord during WWII. The largest seaborne invasion in history, the operation began the liberation of German-occupied northwestern Europe from Nazi control, and contributed to the Allied victory on the Western Front. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
A major battle in which the U.S. Marines landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. The American invasion, designated Operation Detachment, had the goal of capturing the entire island, including the three Japanese-controlled airfields, to provide a staging area for attacks on the Japanese main islands. -
Battle of Okinawa
A series of battles fought in the Ryukyu Islands, centered on the island of Okinawa. The 82-day-long battle lasted from 1 April until 22 June 1945. After a long campaign of island hopping, the Allies were approaching Japan, and planned to use Okinawa, a large island only 340 miles away from mainland Japan, as a base for air operations on the planned invasion of Japan. -
VE Day
Victory in Europe Day, generally known as V-E Day, VE Day or simply V Day was the public holiday celebrated on 8 May 1945 to mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces. It thus marked the end of World War II in Europe. -
Dropping of the Atomic Bombs
The United States, with the consent of the United Kingdom as laid down in the Quebec Agreement, dropped nuclear weapons on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, during the final stage of World War II. The two bombings, which killed at least 129,000 people, remain the only use of nuclear weapons for warfare in history. -
VJ Day
Victory over Japan Day is the day on which Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect ending the war. The term has been applied to both of the days on which the initial announcement of Japan's surrender was made – to the afternoon of August 15, 1945, in Japan, and, because of time zone differences, to August 14, 1945 as well as to September 2, 1945, when the signing of the surrender document occurred, officially ending World War II.
