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Japenese Invasion of China
The Japenese wanted to expand its influence into China's territory. China began to resist. This caused the Second Sino-Japenese War. Japan exercised effective control over Manchuria, a Chinese owned region. Japan still controlled much of South Manchuria through railways and Liaodong Peninsula. Japan ended up destroying China's airforce and bombing their cities. Japan surrendered in 1945.
https://www.britannica.com/event/Second-Sino-Japanese-War -
Rape of Nanking
In response to Nanking, China falling to Japenese forces, Japan General Matsui Iwane ordered that the city of Nanking be destroyed. Nanking was burned and civilians were tortured. 150,000 male "war prisoners" were killed as well as an additional 50,000 male civilians. 20,000 females were raped and killed. Matsui was later found guilty for these crimes and was executed.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-rape-of-nanking -
Germany's Invasion of Poland
In 1939 German troops invade Poland along its 1,750-mile border. They bombed Polish fields and attacked Polish naval forces in the Baltic Sea. Adolf Hitler was the leader of the Nazis. They declared war on Germany, initiating World War II. The Soviets completed the liberation of Poland in 1945.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germans-invade-poland -
German Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg is a military tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile forces and locally concentrated firepower. Germany tried this out on Poland before invading Belgium, The Netherlands, and France. It traces to the development in Germany between 1918 and 1939.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/blitzkrieg -
Fall of Paris
Germans invaded Paris in 1940. 2 million Parisians fled. Then, the German Gestapo started making arrests and interrogations. President Roosevelt froze the American assets of the Axis Powers, Germany, and Italy.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germans-enter-paris -
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is a U.S. base near Honolulu, Hawaii. Honolulu was later sneak attacked by Japanese forces in 1941. They destroyed or damaged nearly 20 American naval vessels and over 300 airplanes. More than 2,400 Americans died in the attack, including civilians. President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor -
Operation Barbarossa
The Operation Barbarossa was a code name for the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. The Barbarossa force had 3,000 tanks, 7,000 artillery pieces, and 2,500 aircraft but the Soviet Union had three times the number of supplies. The Germans did not defeat the Soviet Union and that signaled a crucial turning point in the war.
https://www.britannica.com/event/Operation-Barbarossa -
Bataan Death March
The Bataan Death March was the Japenese invasion of the Philippines in 1941. The Japenese captured Manila and American and Filipino defenders of Luzon were forced to retreat to the Bataan Penisula. The Filipino and Americans surrendered their troops. They were forced by the Japenese to march 65 miles from Mariveles to San Fernando. The Japenese commander, General Homma Masaharu, was charged to the crimes and was executed.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bataan-death-march -
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was the Japenese and U.S. battling in WWII. The United States victory allowed itself and its allies to move into an offensive position. American intelligence solves the Japenese fleet codes and enabled us to know the Japnese' plans. Americans and the Japenese lost a lot of war supplies.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-midway -
Wannsee Conference
The Wannsee Conference was a conference by Reinhard Heydrich to present plans to coordinate a European-wide "Final Solution of the Jewish Question" to key officials from the German state and the Nazi party. It was the code name for the annihilation of the European Jews. Jews were then exterminated.
https://www.ushmm.org/learn/timeline-of-events/1942-1945/wannsee-conference -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was a violent revolt during World War II. It inspired other revolts in extermination camps and ghettos throughout German-occupied Eastern Europe. An estimated 7,000 Jews perished during the Warsaw ghetto uprising. Germans lost several hundred men in the uprising.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/warsaw-ghetto-uprising -
D-Day (Normandy Invasion)
The Battle of Normandy resulted in the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany's control. 156,000 American, British, and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of France's Normandy region. It was the largest military assault in history. The victory was in Normandy and it prevented Hitler from sending troops from France to build up his Eastern Front.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day -
Battle of the Bulge
Adolf Hitler attempted to split the Allied Armies in Northwest Europe by means of surprise Blitzkrieg. American units fought desperate battles. Germany then launched the deadliest battle of the war. If not a victory, it was a draw between the Allies in the west.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-the-bulge -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
As the Allies advanced across Europe at the end of WWII, they came across concentration camps filled with sick and starving prisoners. The first camp to be liberated was Majdanek. The prisoners were taken deeper into Germany by Germans in what was called a death march. The largest extermination camp, Auschwitz, was then overrun by Russian soldiers.
https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/liberation-of-the-concentration-camps -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima was a military campaign between U.S. Marines and the Imperial Army of Japan in early 1945. American forces invaded the island and ensued the Battle of Iwo Jima. All but 200 or so of the 21,000 Japenese forces on the island were killed. Japnese airforce lost most of their weapons. American military planned an attack on the island and the Japenese embarked on a new defensive tactic.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-iwo-jima -
Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa was the last major battle of WWII. The invasion was part of Operation Iceberg, a complex plan to invade and occupy the Ryukyu Islands, including Okinawa. The Allied and Soviet troops had liberated much of Nazi-occupied Europe and were just weeks away from forcing Germany's unconditional surrender. The Allied forces then bombed Nagasaki and they surrendered.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-okinawa -
VE Day
VE Day is Victory in Europe day. This is where the United States and Great Britain celebrate victory in Europe. On the eighth day in May Germans surrendered their Soviet antagonists. On May ninth the Soviets lost more than 600 soldiers before the Germans would finally surrender.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/victory-in-europe -
Dropping of the Atomic Bombs
The United States became the first and only nation to use atomic weaponry during wartime. The U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on the Japenese City of Hiroshima. The bomb marked the end of WWII and it was argued that it ignited the Cold War. By 1949, the Soviets had developed their own atomic bomb and the nuclear arms race began.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/atomic-bomb-dropped-on-hiroshima -
VJ Day
It was announced that Japan surrendered to the Allies, ending WWII. August 14th and 15th were then known as "Victory over Japan Day", or V-J Day. The Japenese surrender was then announced in a press conference in the white house by president Harry S. Truman. "This is the day we have been waiting for since Pearl Harbor. This is the day Fascism finally dies, as we always knew it would."
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/v-j-day -
Potsdam Declaration
The Potsdam Declaration was issued by the United States, Great Britain and China calling for the surrender of Japan. The Declaration claimed that the "unintelligent calculations" by Japan's military advisors had brought the country to the "threshold of annihilation". The leaders outlined their terms of surrender which included disarmament. After this, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed and the Soviet Union declared war on Japan.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Potsdam-Declaration
