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Japanese invasion of China
Japan invaded china to seek raw materials to fuel its growing industries. Japan invaded the Chinese province of Manchuria. Japanese troops killed remnant Chinese soldiers in violation of the laws of war, murdered Chinese civilians, raped Chinese women, and destroyed or stole Chinese property. The First Sino-Japanese War ended with the Treaty of Shimonoseki.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii -
Germany's invasion of Poland
After securing the neutrality of the Soviet Union, which was a treaty to keep peace, the Germans invaded Poland and attacked. Within a month after the invasion the Germans with the help of the Soviet Union invaded Poland and took over Poland. This invasion resulted in the start of World War II. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/world-war-ii-in-europe -
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German Blitzkrieg
German forces employed some tactics associated with blitzkrieg in the invasion of Poland in 1939, including combined air-ground attacks and the use of Panzer tank divisions to quickly crush the poorly equipped Polish troops. With German encouragement, the Soviet Union occupied the Baltic states in June 1940 and formally annexed them in August 1940. As a result of this they lost the air war over Britain.
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/world-war-ii-in-europe -
Fall of Paris
The fall of France was failure was a result of the divided French political elite, a lack of quality military leadership, rudimentary French military tactics. Germans had a much more highly prepared army and larger army than France. German victory in Holland, Belgium and France, leading to an occupation that would last over four years and a desperate British evacuation from Dunkirk that left the UK facing invasion.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/ff2_fallfrance.shtml -
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor happened from the Japanese believing in order to grow is to expand. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in hope it would destroy the US Pacific Fleet and weaken the American people. Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor destroyed nearly 20 American ships and more than 300 airplanes. Dry docks and airfields were likewise destroyed. Most important, 2,403 sailors, soldiers and civilians were killed and about 1,000 people were wounded.
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Operation Barbarossa
This is a code name for the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and most of its Axis allies. Germany had more than 3 million and Axis troops invaded the Soviet Union, launching Operation Barbarossa. Hilter believed a victory over them would lead to greatness. Germany had suffered close to 775,000 casualties. More than 800,000 Soviets had been killed, and an additional 6 million Soviet soldiers had been wounded or captured.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/operation-barbarossa -
Wannsee Conference
Reinhard Heydrich presents 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 to remove the Jewish people from the world. Months later, the “gas vans” in Chelmno, Poland, which were killing 1,000 people a day, proved to be the “solution” they were looking fort he most efficient means of killing large groups of people at one time.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-wannsee-conference -
Battle of Midway
Japan hoped to defeat the US Fleet and use Midway as a base to attack Pearl Harbor, securing power in the region and then forcing a negotiated peace. U.S. Navy success in breaking Japanese codes andfind the Japanese Navys plans to attack Midway Atoll. As a result of the U.S. victory in the Battle of Midway, Japan left its plan to expand its reach in the Pacific, and would remain on the defensive for the remainder of World War II.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-midway -
Battle of Stalingrad
The Soviet Union inflicted a catastrophic defeat on the German Army. It stopped the German advance into the Soviet Union and marked the turning of the tide of war in favour of the Allies. The Battle of Stalingrad was won by the Soviet Union against a German offensive that attempted to take the city of Stalingrad
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii -
Operation Gomorrah
The Allied forces unleashed a fiery attack on Germany's second-largest city. Named Operation Gomorrah after the Biblical city that God destroyed with fire and brimstone, the brutal bombing campaign was designed to destroy German morale and end the war. Records show the destruction of 580 industrial plants 2,632 businesses, 379 office buildings, 24 hospitals, 277 schools and 257 government or Nazi party buildings
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Allied invasion of Italy
Allies landed in Sicily and in September went ashore on the Italian mainland. German troops stationed in Italy seized control of the northern half of the peninsula, and continued to resist. Mussolini, who had been arrested by Italian military authorities, was rescued by German SS commandos. German troops continued to hold northern Italy until surrendering
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/world-war-ii-in-europe -
D-Day Normandy Invasion
US troops crossed into Germany, one month after Soviet troops had crossed the eastern border. With a huge force of over 150,000 soldiers, the Allies attacked and gained a victory. D-Day marked the turn of the tide for the control maintained by Nazi Germany; less than a year after the invasion, the Allies formally accepted Nazi Germany's surrender. D-Day was key to the overall Allied victory in World War II.
https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005137 -
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was intended to stop the Allied use of Antwerp, a Belgian port, and to split the Allied lines. The Battle started on December 16, 1944, when German forces launched a surprise attack on Allied forces in the forested Ardennes region in Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. The Allies won the Battle of the Bulge, resulting in significantly higher casualties on the German side
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Operation Thunderclap
Allies launched Operation Thunderclap, a series of maximum efforts against cities in eastern Germany, partly to pave the way for the Red Army that would soon be overrunning that territory.
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Battle of Iwo Jima
Tokyo, U.S. Marines invade the volcanic island of Iwo Jima seeking a strategic staging area for a possible attack on Japan's mainland. Weeks of bloody battle follow and while the Americans eventually gain control, 7,000 Marines are killed, with 20,000 wounded. All but 216 of 18,000 Japanese soldiers are killed. The island later serves as an emergency landing sight for B-29 bombers. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/world-war-ii-battles-timeline -
Battle of Okinawa
This battle was one of the last battles of WWII also the war's bloodiest battle. It began Easter Sunday as U.S. Army and Marine forces invade Okinawa in the Ryukyus island chain southwest of Japan with the orders of taking the island to execute air strikes against Japan and create a blockade. The Japanese sank 26 Allied ships and damage nearly 170 more, causing 12,000 American deaths over the three-month battle. Japanese kill themselves rather than surrender.
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VE Day
VE Day, or Victory in Europe Day, on 8 May 1945 marked the formal acceptance of Nazi Germany's surrender by Britain and its Allies following almost six years of brutal warfare during the Second World War. Cities in both nations, as well as formerly occupied cities in Western Europe, put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of the Nazi war machine during World War II.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/victory-in-europe -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
In August, the war in the Pacific ended soon after the US dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing 120,000 civilians. They hoped that the bombings would lead to a speedy end of the war. After Japan agreed to surrender on August 14, 1945, American forces began to occupy Japan.
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/world-war-ii-in-the-pacific -
VJ Day
In the U.S., VJ day is officially acknowledged on September 2, 1945. This day marked the formal signing of the Instrument of Surrender aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Japan's Tokyo Bay. In New York City's Times Square, sailors climbed lampposts to unfurl American flags as ticker tape rained down upon the throngs gathered to celebrate the war's end.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/ff7_vjday.shtml -
Potsdam Declaration
Potsdam Declaration, ultimatum issued by the United States, Great Britain, and China on July 26, 1945, calling for the unconditional surrender of Japan. The declaration was made at the Potsdam Conference near the end of World War II.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/japan-accepts-potsdam-terms-agrees-to-unconditional-surrender
