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Period: to
Events
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Japanese invasion of China
The Japan-China War The Japanese claimed that they had been attacked by the Chinese troops at the Marco Polo Bridge close to Beijing. Using this as an excuse, the Japanese launched an invasion of China using the already conquered Manchuria as a launching base for all of their troops.
The war against China resulted in up to 4 million Chinese casualties while 60 million where made homeless. -
Rape of Nanking
The Chinaese capital, falls to Japanese forces, while the Chinese government flees to Hankow. To break the spirit of Chinese resistance, Japanese General Matsui Iwane ordered that Nanking be destroyed. Most of the city was burned, and Japanese troops sent a campaign of atrocities against civilians. In what became the “Rape of Nanking,” the Japanese killed an estimated 150,000 male “war prisoners,” murrdered an additional 50,000 male civilians, and raped at least 20,000 women and girls of all age -
Ribbentrop/Molotov Pact
Before WW II broke out in Europe, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union surprised the world by signing the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, which they agreed to take no military action against each other for the next 10 years. Joseph Stalin viewed the pact as a way to keep his nation on peaceful terms with Germany, this gave him time to build up the Soviet military. Hitler used it to make sure Germany was able to invade Poland. The German-Soviet Pact fell apart in June 1941. -
Germany's invaison of Poland
German forces invaded Poland on land and from the air, as Hitler seeks to regain his lost territory and rule Poland. Thus, WW II had began.
The German invasion of Poland was a based on how Hitler intended to create a war that would become the “blitzkrieg” strategy. Once the German forces had made their way through, a devastating feild of territory, infantry moved in, killing off any remaining resistance.
Great Britain would respond with bombing raids over Germany three days later. -
German Blitzkrieg
Conventional wisdom traces blitzkrieg, all the way to the development in Germany between the years 1918 & 1939 of a body of doctrine using their mobility to be able to prevent repetition of the attritional deadlock of WW I. Which was first tested in Poland, the concept then reached perihelion in France and the Low Countries in 1940. Inwhich, less than six weeks the German army had crushed the combined forces of four nations. -
Operation Barbarossa
Barbarossa was the largest military attack of WW II, and was to have major consequences for the people of Russia. Operation Barbarossa was based on a massive attack based, which was based on blitzkrieg. Russia ended up being defended by four army units. Though Russia had a large army, the purges had wiped out a large part of the army’s senior commands. -
Pearl Harbor
Hundreds of Japanese planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor right nearby Honolulu, Hawaii. The attack lasted for only hours, but it was devastating: The Japanese destroied nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight huge battleships, and almost 200 airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors where killed in the attack, and another 1,000 had been wounded. The day after the attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan. -
Wannsee Conference
Nazi officials met to discuss the details of the “Final Solution” of the “Jewish question. Heydrich met with Adolf Eichmann, who was the chief of the Central Office of Jewish Emigration, and 15 other officials from other Nazi ministries and organizations at Wannsee. The agenda devised a plan that would render the “final solution to the Jewish question” in Europe. Months later, the “gas vans” in Poland, were killing 1,000 people a day. This later provided key evidence during the Nuremberg war. -
Bataan Death March
US surrender on the main Philippine island of Luzon to the Japanese during WW II. Approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make a 65-mile march to prison camps. They marched in intense heat and endured harsh treatment by Japanese guards. Thousands perished in what soon became known as the Bataan Death March. -
Operation Gomorrah
British bombers attack Germany by night, while Americans bomb it by day in its own “Blitz Week.” 167 civilians in Britain die as a result of German bombing raids in July. British attacks on Hamburg continued until November of the same year. The percentage of British bombers loss increased with each attack as the Germans became better at distinguishing between Window diversions and actual bombers. Operation Gomorrah was devastating to Hamburg and the German's morale. -
Allied invasion of Italy
The British 8th Army begins the Allied invasion of the Italians, crossing the Strait of Messina and landing at Calabria, also known as the “toe” of Italy. On the day of the landing, the Italian government secretly agreed to the Allies’ terms for surrender, but it didn't go public until September 8. -
D-Day
the Battle of Normandy, resulted in the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control. which was named Operation Overlord, the battle began when 156,000 Americans, British and Canadian forces landed on 5 beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily gaurded coast of France’s Normandy region. This invasion was one of the largest military assaults in history, and it required extensive planning. By spring, the Allies had defeated the Germans. -
Operation Thunderclap
Operation Thunderclap’ had been under discussion within the Allied Command for some time, the idea was to bomb the eastern-most cities in Germany to stop their transportation behind what was becoming the Eastern front. They to show the German population, in even more devastating fashion, that the air defences of Germany were now no match to them and that the Nazi regime had failed them. At Yalta Churchill had promised to do more to support the Soviet forces moving west into Germany. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The American's invasion of Iwo Jima during WW II came from the need for a base near the Japanese coast. Following elaborate preparatory air and naval attack, 3 U.S. marine divisions landed on the island in February.Iwo Jima was defended by around 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops, who fought from a network of caves, dugouts, tunnels and underground installations. Despite the difficult conditions, the marines wiped out the defending forces after a month of fighting. -
Battle of Okinawa
Last and biggest of the Pacific island battles of World War II, the Okinawa campaign involved the 287,000 troops of the U.S. Tenth Army against 130,000 soldiers of the Japanese Thirty-second Army. There were air bases that where vital to the projected invasion of Japan. At the end of the 82-day campaign, Japan had lost more than 77,000 soldiers, and Japan had lost more than 77,000 soldiers and the Allies had suffered more than 65,000 casualties, including 14,000 dead. -
Potsdam Declaration
The last of the WWar II meetings, which was held by the “Big Three” heads of state. Featuring American President Harry S. Truman, British Prime Minister Winston and Joseph Stalin. The talks established a Council of Foreign Ministers and a central Allied Control Council of Germany. The leaders had various agreements on the German economy. Although the talks centered mostly on postwar Europe, the Big Three also issued a declaration demanding “unconditional surrender” from Japan. -
VE Day
Both Great Britain and the US celebrate Victory in Europe Day. Cities in both nations, and formerly occupied cities in Western Europe, put out flags and banners, celebrating the defeat of the Nazi war machine. -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
The US becomes the first and only nation to use atomic weapons during the war when it drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Although dropping the atomic bomb on Japan marked the end of WW II, many historians argue that it also ignited the Cold War. -
VJ Day
it had been announced that Japan had surrendered to the Allies, which ended WW II. Ever since then, both August 14 and August 15 have been known as “Victory over Japan Day,” or simply “V-J Day.” Several months after the surrender of Nazi Germany, Japan’s capitulation in the Pacific brought six years of hostilities to a final and and highly anticipated close. -
Battle of the Bulge
The Germans launch the last offense of the war, Battle of the Bulge, it was an attempt to push through the Allied front line. The battle lasted for three weeks, which resulted in the deaths of American and civilian life. Nazi atrocities abounded, including the murder of 72 American soldiers by SS soldiers. The US suffered went through its second-largest surrender of troops of the war.
