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Concentration Camps
Nazi police held the power to arrest people who needed preventive detention. The people who qualified were political opponents or people who Nazi’s found defiant. The camps first started out as labor camps, then turned into death camps. In 1937 an elite group of Nazi’s became incharge of the camps, they chose to selectively kill entire groups of people. They would stuff hundreds of Jews into what looked like a shower room, then gas would come out of the shower heads killing everyone. After, to d -
Invasion of Nanking
Japan needed to take over China because they have a vast amount of land and resources, unlike the volcanic island Japan. The Japanese went into Nanking, China with the intent of controlling the city. The Japanese killed more than 300,000 Chinese civilians and military were killed. Once Japan had declared war on China, the US stopped supplying Japan with materials. -
Euthanaisa Program
The Euthanasia Program was developed to cleanse the race in order to create a productive society. Hitler created a secret order to selectively kill all children under the age of 5 who showed signs of mental and physical disabilities. The government would confront the parents of the kids, and say they are going to take their child to a camp to help the child achieve more. When really the government would take the child to a concentration camp, kill them, then send the parents a letter saying the -
Hitler attacks Poland
Hitler told Russia that they were attacking Poland. Germany said if Russia lets them take over Poland and not defend them, then Germany will let Russia have half of Poland. -
Attacks of Pearl Harbor
Japan needed to diffuse America, so they could take over rubber plantations. Japan needed the supplies in order to take over China. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii on December 7, 1941. Pearl Harbor was the main port for the Navy. In this attack over 2,000 lives were lost and many aircraft and naval vessels were sunk or destroyed. This event left our military frazzled and a mess. -
Wansee Program
Fifteen Nazi officials came together to discuss “The Jewish Question”. Nobody straight up said “let’s murder a bunch of Jews”, they referred to it as “The Jewish Question”. They agreed that the migration of Jews was necessary, but expensive. They came up with a “Final Solution”, which was the death camps. When the war was over, nobody could be charged for the crimes because in their meeting agenda and minutes, they always used code words to refer to events. -
Battle of Stalingrad
Germany tried to overtake Russia before, but failed. Battle of Stalingrad was Germany’s second attempt to take over Russia. Hitler wanted to use Russia as the living space for his Aryan race. Germany was not prepared for Russia’s harsh winters. The soldiers would send notes to Hitler pleading for supplies and warm clothes, however Hitler ignored their requests. Russia also used total war on Germany, however they destroyed their own land, which in the later years became a problem because their re -
Executive Order 9066
After the attack on Pearl Harbor most Americans feared Japanese immigrants. So FDR ordered that all Japanese descendants were to be moved to internment camps. Most camps were in the desert where they had minimal rations of food, no running water, strict security. People got so caught up with the fact that the immigrants were from Japan and they were bad. When really the immigrants chose to leave, they are no longer a part of Japan. -
Navajo Code Talkers
The Marines used the Navajo Code Talkers to create an unbreakable code with their native language. The Japanese were known for being able to break any code sent, but very few people even knew about the Navajo language. In order for people to be able to speak Navajo they had to have grown up a Navajo, it was an unwritten language. -
Rosie the Riveter
Rosie the Riveter was a campaign made to get women out of the house and working. Since most men were out fighting in the war they needed women to work in factories. Rosie was a woman that had some features that people thought men had. She was a figure that showed women, “you can still be a girl and work at the same time.” -
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was the turning point of the war for the Pacific Theater. The entire battle was fought in the water. It wasn’t a planned attack, American ships just came across Japanese ones, so they went to battle. More than 5,000 American soldiers died, 4 aircraft ships sunk and 322 planes went down. The beneficial outcome from this was most of Japan’s supplies were lowered. -
Bataan Death March
All of the people captured by the Japanese army were to march to a prisoner of war camp. It was a 5-12 day, 60 mile march. The people marching received little to no food and water. They weren’t aloud to move out of line or stop unless told to or they were killed. 10,000-13,000 Filipinos and Americans were killed from starvation, dehydration, heat stroke or killed from Japanese soldiers. -
Tuskgee Flyers
Tuskegee flyers became the first, all African American, World War 2 fighter pilots. At first the government told them no, then when the war got really bad they became desperate and said yes. Nobody believed in them, everyone thought they would fail. People claimed the African Americans lacked hand-eye coordination. During the war no bomber being escorted by the Tuskegee men had been taken down by enemy fire. -
War Production Board
American companies started making war goods. The government organized national drives for resources like scrap metal, cloth, cooking fat and paper that could be recycled and made into supplies for the soldiers at war. Due to the encouragement of giving metal items to drives, this resulted in companies starting to make products from rubber and plastic. -
Wartime Consumers
People in the US had money, but nothing to buy. So the government encouraged people to buy war bonds, this was a way for people to lend money to the government to help pay for war, and it made people feel like they were helping the soldiers. The Office of Price Administration controlled rationed goods and prices. People needed coupons in order to buy food and supplies. People limited the amount of things they consumed with the idea that: more consumed here, less left for the people at war. -
Warsaw Ghetto
The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest formed Jewish ghetto in all of German occupied Europe. It was set in the Polish capital, where over 400,000 Jews within the area were put in. Over months the residents within the ghetto were sent to the Treblinka death camp. -
Korematsu v. US
Fred Korematsu was born in America, but his parents originated from Japan. He was to be sent to the internment camp, but denied, so he was arrested and thrown into the camp. Fred sued the United States saying Order 9066 was unconstitutional and discriminated people on race. However the court said that people could be discriminated based on race during a national conference. -
D-Day
D-Day otherwise known as Operation Overlord was the turning point of World War 2. The American forces stormed German occupied beaches of Normandy. This was and still is the largest sea, land and air overtake ever. The allied powers won this overtake. -
Yalta Conference
This was a meeting where Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill discussed what would happen when the war ended. They all agreed to split Germany into four zones, allowing them each free elections. Each allied country had to overlook their zone to ensure they were following the rules provided. -
Nuremburg Trials
Nuremberg trials was a court where high ranking Nazi officials were tried after the war. They were to be tried on crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Around 1% of Nazi’s recieved punishment, everyone else got away and continued to live life without any consequences. -
Potsdam Declaration
Truman, Churchill and Stalin told Japan they would only accept an unconditional surrender. Japan would have to give up their military and allow for the allies to decide their government. -
Bomb dropped on Nagagsaki
On August 9, 1945 the United States dropped their second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. The bomb was referred to as “Fat Boy”. 60,000-80,000 people died the first few months after the bomb was dropped, due to radiation, disease, injuries and many other things. -
Bomb dropped on Hiroshima
On August 6, 1945 the United States dropped their first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. The United States sent out a list of places in Japan that should be evacuated because they were going to drop a bomb on some of those places, unless Japan surrendered. 80,000 people instantly died from the bombing. -
Okinawa
When America took over Okinawa this was the last and largest battles of the Pacific. It was one of the bloodiest battle killing around: 200,000 Japanese and 19,000 Americans. -
Auschwitz Liberation
Auschwitz was the largest death camp found in Poland. Most of the prisoners in Auschwitz were forced to march to another concentration camp because the officers knew the Soviets were coming, so they had to cover their tracks. When the Soviets stormed the camp they liberated about 7,000 people who were ill and dying. Approximately 1 in 6 Jews died at Auschwitz. -
Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima is a small island off of Japan. By the time U.S. marines were able to secure the island, around 200,000 Japanese lives were lost. 7,000 Americans lost their lives as well.
