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Japanese invasion of china 1937
Japan's invasion of China was due essentially to Japan's desire to be an imperial power. There was both an economic and a militaristic element to this desire. Militaristically, They wanted to prove that they were strong and could subjugate other countries. It was particularly important to subjugate China, which had traditionally been the power in East Asia
https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/why-did-japan-invade-china-1937-an-what-was-marco-315915 -
Rape of Nanking 1937
Saw the start of one of the most horrific acts of brutality of the Second World War, the Nanking Massacre, often referred to as the 'Rape of Nanking'.
http://www.historyinanhour.com/2010/12/13/the-rape-of-nanking-summary/ -
Ribbentrop/Molotov Pact 1939
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact negotiations. The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was an August 23, 1939, agreement between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany colloquially named after Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop. The treaty renounced warfare between the two countries.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/german-soviet-nonaggression-pact -
Germanys invasion on Poland 1939
The German-Soviet Pact of August 1939, which stated that Poland was to be partitioned between the two powers, enabled Germany to attack Poland without the fear of Soviet intervention. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. The Polish army was defeated within weeks of the invasion. https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005070 -
German Blitzkrieg 1939-1940
A German term for “lightning war,” blitzkrieg is a military tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile forces and locally concentrated firepower.. German forces tried out the blitzkrieg in Poland in 1939 before successfully employing the tactic with invasions of Belgium, the Netherlands and France in 1940.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/blitzkrieg -
Fall of Paris 1940
On this day in 1940, Parisians awaken to the sound of a German-accented voice announcing via loudspeakers that a curfew was being imposed for 8 p.m. that evening-as German troops enter and occupy Paris.By the time German tanks rolled into Paris, 2 million Parisians had already fled, with good reason.While Parisians who remained trapped in their capital despaired, Canadian troops came through and men and women cheered themon
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germans-enter-paris -
Operation Barbarossa 1941
On 22 June 1941, Adolf Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union. What followed was a war of annihilation, a horrific clash of totalitarianism, and the most destructive war in history. Hitler's intention was always to invade the Soviet Union.Jun 22, 2011
http://www.historyinanhour.com/2011/06/22/operation-barbarossa-summary/ -
Pearl Harbor 1941
President Franklin Roosevelt called December 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy." On that day, Japanese planes attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory. The bombing killed more than 2,300 Americans. It completely destroyed the American battleship U.S.S.
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/wwii/jb_wwii_pearlhar_1.html -
Wannasee conference 1942
On this day, Nazi officials meet to discuss the details of the “Final Solution” of the Jewish question.In July 1941, Herman Goering, writing under instructions from Hitler, had ordered Reinhard Heydrich, SS general and Heinrich Himmler’s number-two man, to submit “as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative, material, and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired final solution of the Jewish question.”
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-wannsee-conference -
Bataan Death March 1942
Bataan Death March: April 1942. The surrendered Filipinos and Americans soon were rounded up by the Japanese and forced to march some 65 miles from Mariveles, on the southern end of the Bataan Peninsula, to San Fernando.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bataan-death-march -
Battle of midway 1942
American combat forces took over where intelligence efforts left off. Scouts found the Japanese early in the morning of June 4. Although initial strikes by Midway-based planes were not successful, American carrier-based planes turned the tide. Torpedo bombers became separated from the American dive-bombers and were slaughtered (36 of 42 shot down).
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-midway -
Battle of Stalingrad 1942
The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 1942 – 2 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in Southern Russia, on the eastern boundary of Europe
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-stalingrad -
Warsaw Ghetto uprising 1943
From April 19 to May 16, 1943, during World War II (1939-45), residents of the Jewish ghetto in Nazi-occupied Warsaw, Poland, staged an armed revolt against deportations to extermination camps.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/warsaw-ghetto-uprising -
Operation Gomorrah 1943
On this day in 1943, British bombers raid Hamburg, Germany, by night in Operation Gomorrah, while Americans bomb it by day in its own “Blitz Week.”Britain had suffered the deaths of 167 civilians as a result of German bombing raids in July. Now the tables were going to turn. The evening of July 24 saw British aircraft drop 2,300 tons of incendiary bombs on Hamburg in just a few hours.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/operation-gomorrah-is-launched -
Allied invasion of Italy 1943
The Allied invasion of Italy was the Allied amphibious landing on mainland Italy that took place on 3 September 1943 during the early stages of the Italian Campaign of World War II
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/invasion-of-sicily -
D-Day (Normady invasion - 1944)
The Normandy landings (codenamed Operation Neptune) were the landing operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 (termed D-Day) of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day -
Battle of Bulge (1945)
Battle Of The Bulge summary: The Battle of the Bulge (December 16, 1944–January 16, 1945), also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the largest battle fought on the Western Front in Europe during World War II; it is also the largest battle ever fought by the United States Army.
http://www.historynet.com/battle-of-the-bulge -
Liberation of concentration camps 1945
Soviet soldiers were the first to liberate concentration camp prisoners in the final stages of the war. On July 23, 1944, they entered the Majdanek camp in Poland, and later overran several other killing centers. On January 27, 1945, they entered Auschwitz and there found hundreds of sick and exhausted prisoners.
https://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007724 -
Operation thunderclap 1945
‘Operation Thunderclap’ had been under discussion within the Allied Command for some time, the proposal was to bomb the eastern-most cities of Germany to disrupt the transport infrastructure behind what was becoming the Eastern front.
At Yalta Churchill had promised to do more to support the Soviet forces moving west into Germany, and the priority for Thunderclap moved up the timetable of bombing.
http://ww2today.com/13-february-1945-operation-thunderclap-raf-start-firestorm-in-dresden -
battle of Iwo jima 1945
he Battle of Iwo Jima (19 February – 26 March 1945) was a major battle in which the United States Marine Corps landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-iwo-jima -
Battle of Okinawa 1945
The battle of Okinawa, also known as Operation Iceberg, took place in April-June 1945. It was the largest amphibious landing in the Pacific theater of World War II. It also resulted in the largest casualties with over 100,000 Japanese casualties and 50,000 casualties for the Allies.
http://www.historynet.com/battle-of-okinawa-operation-iceberg.htm -
VE Day 1945
While still at war with Great Britain Hitler invaded the USSR on June 22, 1941, and on December 11 of that year he declared war on the United States of America. V-E Day, therefore, marked a major milestone for the Allies but did not end the war—as Allied governments pointedly reminded their citizens. Attention turned to finishing the war against Imperial Japan.
http://www.historynet.com/v-e-day-1945-the-celebration-heard-round-the-world.htm -
Potsdam Declaration 1945
Potsdam Declaration. On July 26, 1945, United States President Harry S. Truman, United Kingdom Prime Minister Clement Attlee, and Chairman of the Nationalist Government of China Chiang Kai-shek issued the document, which outlined the terms of surrender for the Empire of Japan as agreed upon at the Potsdam Conference.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Potsdam-Declaration -
Dropping of the atomic bombs 1945
On this day in 1945, at 8:16 a.m. Japanese time, an American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, drops the world’s first atom bomb, over the city of Hiroshima. Approximately 80,000 people are killed as a direct result of the blast, and another 35,000 are injured. At least another 60,000 would be dead by the end of the year from the effects of the fallout.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/atomic-bomb-is-dropped-on-hiroshima -
VJ Day 1945
On August 14, 1945, it was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War II. Since then, both August 14 and August 15 have been known as “Victoryover Japan Day,” or simply “V-J Day.”
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/v-j-day
