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Japanese Invasion of China
What- The Marco Polo Brigde incident sparked a full blown conflict.
Why- The Chinese and Japan were already pushing towards war.
Effect- After the fall of Nanking in December 1937, the Japanese slaughtered approximately 300,000 civilians and raped 80,000 women. -
Germain Blitzkrieg
What- "Lightning War", blitzkreig is a military tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces by using mobile vehicles and firepower.
Why- Its successfull execution is a major improvement and is very effective.
Effect- This form of attack results in short military campaigns, which preservers human lives and limits expenditure of military. -
Germany's invasion of Poland
What- In 1939, Germany forces bombarded Poland on land and from the air. Hitler used "Blitzkrieg" strategy.
Why- Hitler wanted to gain control of Poland and start the war.
Effect- Hitler succeeded in causing WWII and gained control of Poland. He started his "Rain of Terror" in Poland, and he started his Nazism ideology. -
Fall of Paris
What-Germany took control and occupied Paris.
Why- Hitler wanted control of Europe as his idealism of Nazism grew.
Effect-Two million Parisians fled, and the German Gestapo arrested and harrased all who remained. -
Operation Barbarossa
What- Adolf Hitler launched his armies in an invasion of the Soviet Union. Even though the Germans were at their top war efforts, the weather and strength of the Soviet Union was superior.
Why- Hitler wanted total domination of Europe to expand his reign.
Effect- The Germans were ineffective and Barbarossa failed. this was the main turning point of the war. It led Germany to fight on both fronts. -
Pearl Harbor
What- On December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii.
Why-The Japanese thought that the only way to solve their problems was to expand into other territories.
Effect- The Japanese managed to destroy almost 20 American naval vessels and more than 300 airplanes. More than 3,000 people were either killed or injured. -
Wannsee Conference
What- Nazi officials met to discuss the details of the "Final Solution" of the "Jewish Question."
Why-Hitler blamed the Jews for Germany's problems, and he wanted a genocide of them.
Effect-These new found ideas lead to the Holocaust and the massive gassing of millions of Jews. -
Bataan Death March
What- U.S. surrendered at the Bataan Peninsul, in the Philippine Island of Luzon to the Japanese. About 75,000 Filipino and American troopers were forced to make a 65-mile march to prison camps.
Why-The Japanese won the battle of the island and forced them to walk.
Effect-Thousands of troops died to the brutality of their captors. The rest were placed in prison camps. -
Warsaw Ghetto Upspring
From April 19 to May 16,1943, during World War 2, residents of the Jewish ghetto in Nazi-occupied Warsaw,Poland, staged an armed revolt against deportations to extermination camps. The Warsaw Ghetto Upspring inspired other revoltst in extermination camps and ghettos throughout German-occupied Eastern Europe. -
Operation Gomorrah
What- British bombers raided Hamburg, Germany, by night while Americans bombed it by day.
Why-Britain had suffered the loss of 167 civilians as a result of German bombing.
Effect-More than 30,000 people were killed and over 280,000 buildings were destroyed. This greatly affected Germany and they almost seemed acceptant to defeat. -
Allied Invasion of Italy
What- The British army under Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery begins the Allied invasion of the Italian peninsula. The Italian goverment secretly surrendered.
Why-Benito Mussolini wanted to build a new "Roman Empire" with his facist beliefs. The Allied powers needed to stop the growing party.
Effect- Mussolini's goverment fell and he was later captured and eventually executed. -
D-Day Normandy Invasion
During World War 2, the Battle of Normandy, which lasted from June 1944 to Agust 1944, resulted in the Allied liberation of western Europe from Nazi Germeny's control.
The battle began June 6, 1944, when some 156,000 American, British, and Candaian forces landed on five beaches along a 50 mile stretch. The Allies conducted a large-scale deception campaign designed to mislead the Germans about the intended invasion. -
Operation Thunderclap
This 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 infrastruture behind what was becoming the the Eastern front. Also to demonstrate the German population, that the air defences of Germany were now of little substance and thst the Nazi regime had failed them. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The American Amphibious Invasion of Iwo Jima during World War 2 stemmed from the need of a base near the Japanese coast. Folloiwng elaborate preparatory air and naval bombarament three U.S marine divisions landed on the island in Februarty 1945. Iwo Jima was defended by roughly 23,000 Japanese navy and army troops. -
Battle of Okinawa
Last and biggest of the Pacific Island battles of World War 2, the Okinawa campaine (April 1-June 22 1945) involved the 287,000 troops of the U.S Tenth Army against 130,000 sodliers of the Japanese Thirty-socond Army. At stake were air bases vitalto the projected invasionof Japan. By the end of the 82-day campaigne,Japan had lost more than 77,000 soldiers and the Allies had suffered more than 65,000 casualties- including 14,000 dead. -
VE Day
On the eighth day of May 1945, both Great Britian and the United States celebrated Victory in Europe Day. This day spelled the day when German troops throughout Europe finally laiddown their arms. Germans surrendered to their soviet antagonists, after the lstter had lost more than 8,000 sodliers. -
Dropping of Atomic Bomb
The United States becomes the first and only nation to use atomic weaponry during wartime when it drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Though the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan marked the end of World War 2. -
VJ Day
On August 14,1945, it was announced that Japan surrenderd unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War 2. Since then, both August 14 amd 15 have been known as "Victory over Japan Day." -
Battle of the Bulge
The Germans launch the last major offensive of the war operation mist, also known as Ardennes Offensive and the Battle of the Bulge, an attempt to push the Allied front line westfrom northern Europe to northwestern Belgium. The Battle of Bulge,so-called because the Germans created a "bugle" around the area of the Ardennes forest pushing through the American defensive line, was the largest fought on western front.
