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Japanese Invasion of China
The Japanese saw China as a good opportuinity for land and natural resources. The Lytton report did not allow this Japanese aggresion so, Japan left the League of Nations in order to attack China. Within the 1930s Japan had taken taken control of all of Northern China. China was receiving help from Germany up until 1938 when a peace treaty was signed by Japan and the Nazi party. -
Rape of Nanking
In this month the Japanese invaded the capital of China and begin to slaughter anyone they found. 300,000 of the 600,000 civilians and soldiers within the city were brutally murdered. This is known by many historians to be the worst atrocity of World War 2. The Japanese took extreme pride in the mass murder of the Chinese people. -
German Blitzkrieg
This tactic was first used in the attack on Poland but Germany could not perfect the strategy until 1940 and German attacks on Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. This tactic is a fast and vicious strategy used to cut the damages and end campaigns very quickly. -
German Invasion of Poland
At 4:45 a.m. of this very day the Nazi forces send 1.5 million troops across the Polish border. Along with the soldiers on foot German bombers began their assault on the air fields of the Polish army. Only two weeks earlier Hitler signed a nonagression pact with the Soivet Union to avoid any conflict. Even with all efforts to avoid European conflict, Germany could not avoid the declaration of war by France and Britain only two days after the attack on Poland. -
Operation Barbarossa
On this very day Hitler and his Nazi party launched his attack on the powerful Soviet Union. There were over three million soldiers split into 150 divisions. At the time of this attack Germany was considered to be one of if not the greatest armies on the planet. This is the turning point of the European front and the war itself. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
At 8 a.m. the Japanese Imperial forces launched their attack on the United States of America at their naval base locatednear Honolulu, Hawaii. The attack only lasted 2 hours but over 2,000 U.S. soldiers died and another 1,000 were wounded. Only one day later president Franklin D. Roosevelt declared war on Japan. Later that same day Germany and Italy both declare war on the United States. -
Wannsee Conference
15 high ranking nazi officials met to discuss the "Final Solution" of the European Jews. Before the meeting all members knew that the Nazi party had already began to execute a small population of the Jews housed in Europe. It was estimated that over 11 million Jews would be taken before the end of the "Final Solution". -
Battle of Stalingrad
In July the Nazi army began to wage war on the Soviet city of Stalingrad. Many historians see this as the greatest battle of World War 2. The total oss of life had reached 2 million civilians and soldiers by the time the battle ended in February in 1943. -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
This ghetto confined more than 400,000 Jews within one square mile of space. Disease and starvation had become very common in this small area. This population of Jews banded together, took weapons, ad fought the German forces for around a month. -
Operation Gomorrah
This plan was set into motion by the British forces and it was a plan to drop bombs over many German cities the most major of these being Hamburg. Britain attacked during the morning and America planned to attack at night during their own "blitz week". Hitler refused to visit the cities that had aready been attacked as he refused to see the end of this war bringing around another German defeat. -
D-Day
156,000 British, American, and Canadian soldiers strom the beach at Normandy, France and begin their onslaught of the Germanforces stationedin France. This is the beginning of the end of the war in Europe and this great battle lasted for two months. -
Battle of the Bulge
Hitler's great plan was to split the allied armies by using a surprise attack. This plan caught the American army by surprise and a large-scale battle broke out. Allied troops formed a wall or bulge to defend against the German attackers and Hitler's army was defeated. -
Operation Thunderclap
Bombs were dropped over the eastern most German cities.There was two waves one of 80 bombs and the second of 180 bombs. This attack killed from 25 to 35 thousand almost all being German civilians. -
Battle of Iwo Jima/Okinawa
The United States was looking for a small base near Japan and Iwo Jima was a small island 500 miles away from mainland Japan. It was guarded by 20,000 Japanese soldiers and it ws taken over in a month. Okinawa was the biggest island in the Pacific and both the U.S. and Japanese were willing to fight over it for control of an air base. -
VE Day
This is day that the United States and Britain used to celebrate their victory in World War 2. TheGerman war machine was defeated and Stalin had announced to the Soviet masses that the war had ended. -
Creation of the United Nations
The purpose of this group was to save the future generations from the dangers of war. This union was to make the overall living quality of our world much better than it had been in the past. -
Dropping the Atomic Bombs
Two bombs were dropped one on Hiroshima and one on Nagasaki. With the dropping of both bombs more than 100 thousand people were killed and many more were infected with very dangerous nuclear radiation. -
VJ Day
The bombs were dropped because the Japanese refused to surrender peacfully so the atomic bombs were the next step. The Japanese coud no longer continue the fight after the massive bombs were destroyed.
