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(Rape of) Nanking Massacre
The Nanking Massacre was an episode of mass murder and mass rape committed by Japanese troops against the natives of Nanjing, then the capital of China. This happened because the Chinese city would not surrender and would fight to the death. To prevent civilians from fleeing the city, he ordered to guard all city exits preventing mass evacuation. The effects were that this massacre crippled the Chinese economy and utterly destroyed SIno-Japan relations complete with militaristic obliteration. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
Japan attacked Pearl harbor, killing military personnel with a total of 2,335 dead including 2,008 navy personnel, 109 marines, 218 army and there were 68 civilians killed. Japan did this because it intended to destroy the important American fleet thereby preventing the Pacific Fleet from interfering with Japanese conquest of the Dutch East Indies and Malaya and to enable Japan to conquer Southeast Asia without interference. This caused the US to declare war on Japan in 48, and Germany in 72. -
Bataan Death March
After the U.S. surrender of the Bataan Peninsula, the Bataan Death March began where ~75K Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make a 65-mi march. The marchers made the trek in intense heat and were given harsh treatment by Japanese guards & 1,000's perished. The effect was that America avenged its defeat in the Philippines with an invasion b/c of Leyte. Gen. Douglas MacArthur who had returned to the Philippines& in 1945, U.S.-Filipino forces recaptured the Bataan Peninsula. -
D-Day - Battle of Normandy
Normandy Invasion, also called Operation Overlord, during World War II, the Allied invasion of western Europe, which was launched on June 6, 1944 with the simultaneous landing of U.S., British, and Canadian forces on five separate beachheads in Normandy, France to liberate Northern France from Nazi control. The effect was that it the beginning of the end for not only the Germans but Hitler most of all. -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
As Allied troops moved across Europe in a series of offensives against Nazi Germany, they began to encounter tens of thousands of concentration camp prisoners. Many of these prisoners had survived forced marches into the interior of Germany from camps in occupied Poland to kill of remaining survivor and escape discovery. These prisoners suffered from starvation and disease. The effects were there were hundreds of sick and exhausted prisoners left behind in their hasty retreat from the camp. -
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was fought for an attempt to push the Allied front line west from northern France to northwestern Belgium. The Battle of the Bulge, because the Germans created a “bulge” around the area of the Ardennes forest in pushing through the American defenset.The Battle of the Bulge is a momentous battle of World War II, not just because it brought about the end of the German army and the Nazi reign, but also because effect it had on soldiers who fought in the icy Ardennes -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The American invaded Iwo Jima during World War II b/c of a need for an American base near the Japan's coast. Following preparatory bombardment, 3 U.S. marine divisions landed on the island in February 1945. Iwo Jima was defended Japanese army and navy troops. The effects were that now that the Japanese don't have those bases they couldn't scout for incoming Allied bombers, and because the U.S. took control of the island they, had places to land bombers on their way to Japan = huge advantage. -
VE-Day - Victory in Europe Day
V-E Day was the public holiday celebrated on 5/8/1945 to mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces b/c the NAzis were growing weak w/ dwindling supplies. THe effect was ~1 mill. Germans attempted an exodus to the West when the fighting in Czech ended, but taken captive by the Russians who took approximately 2 mill. prisoners in the period near the German surrender, & >13000 British POWs were sent back to Great Britain. -
Dropping of the Atomic Bombs
On August 9th 1945, there was a fiery light that turned the sky over Nagasaki to become darker than night. This was because any attempt to invade Japan would result in horrific American casualties, so Pres. Truman ordered that the weapon be used to bring the war to an end, then the 2nd atomic bomb was dropped on Japan by the United States. Just 3 days prior to this, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.The bombs dropped on these cities led to the surrender of Japan in WWII. -
Victory over Japan Day- "VJ-Day"
Japan announced that it had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War II. This happened b/c Allied leaders called on Japan to surrender; if it did, it was promised a peaceful government. If it did not, it would face “prompt and utter destruction.” The Japanese government refused surrender, and on the Americans dropped atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima & Nagasaki which forced Japan to face the facts afterwards, and the Empire disintegrated.
