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Japanese Invasion of China
Known as the Sino-Japanese War, lasted till September 9, 1945. -
Rape of Nanking
In December of 1937, the Japanese Imperial Army marched into China's capital city of Nanking and proceeded to murder 300,000 out of 600,000 civilians and soldiers in the city. The six weeks of carnage would become known as the Rape of Nanking and represented the single worst atrocity during the World War II era in either the European or Pacific theaters of war. -
Ribbentrop/Molotov Pact
Shortly before WWII broke out in Europe-enemies Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union surprised the world by signing the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, in which the two countries agreed to take no military action against each other for the next 10 years. -
Germany's Invasion of Poland
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 fo the invasion. -
Fall of Paris
Parisians awaken to the sound of German-accented voice announcing via loudspeakers that a curfew was being imposed for 8pm that evening-as German troops enter and occupy Paris. -
Operation Barbarossa
Hitler launched his armies eastward in a massive invasion of the Soviet Union; three great army groups with over three million German soldiers, 150 dicision, and 3,000 tanks smashed across the frontier into Soviet territory. -
Pearl Harbor
Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. It lasted two hours, more than 2,000 american soldiers and sailors died. -
Bataan Death March
During WWII, the forced march of American and Filipino prisoners of war underbrutal conditions by the Japanese military. -
Battle of Midway
Turning point of WW! in the Pacific in which the Japanese advance was stopped. -
Battle of Stalingrad
This battle was the successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in the USSR during WWII. Russians consider it to be the greatest battle of their Great Patriotic War, and most historians consider it to be the greatest battle of the entire conflict. -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
German authorities deported or murdered around 300,000 Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto. -
Allied Invasion of Italy
The allied invasion of Italy was the allied amphibious landing on mainland Italy that took place on Sep 3 during the early stages of the Italian Campaign of WWII -
D-Day
This battle lasted from June 1944 to August 1944. 156,000 american, british, and canadian forces landed on five beaches along 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France's Normandy region. -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
Soviet soldiers were the first to liberate concentration camp prisoners in the final stages of the war. They entered the Majdanek camp in Poland, and later overran several other killing centers. On Jan 27, 1945 they entered Auschwitz and there found hundreds of sick and exhausted prisoners. -
Battle of the Bulge
Hitler tried to split the allied armies in northwest europe by means fo a surprise blitzkrieg thrust through the Ardennes to Antwerp -
Battle of Iwo Jima
3 US marine divisions landed on the island in Feb 1945. Iwo Jima was defended by roughly 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops, who fought from an alaborate network of caves, dugouts, tunnels, and underground installations. Despite the difficulty of the conditions, the marines wiped out the defending forces after a month of fighting, and the battle earned a place in America lore with the publication of photograph showing the US flag being raised in victory. -
VE Day
This is the Victory in Europe Day. Both Great Britain and the US celebrate Victory in Europe Day. The nations both put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of the Nazi war machine. -
Potsdam Declaration
A statement that called for the surrender of all Japanese armed forces during WWII. -
Hiroshima Bombing
Bomb known as "Little Man" and wipe out 90 percent of the city and killed about 80,000 people. Many more would die later due to radiation exposure. -
Nagasaki Bombing
This bomb happened three days after the Bomb of Hiroshima. Killing esimated 40,000 people. Also known as "Fat Man" -
VJ Day
Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending WWII.
