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Rape of Nanking
This was a mass murder and mass rape committed by Japanese troops against the residents of Naping which was the capital of the Republic of China. Most Japanese military records on these killings were destroyed or secret, so historians have not been able to accurately estimate the death toll of the event. -
Fall of Paris
The Germans invaded France.In six weeks, the Germans had defeated the Allies and conquered France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.German armed units pushed through the Ardennes and the Somme valley which cut off the Allied forces. When British, Belgian, and French forces were pushed back the British evacuated the British Expeditionary Force. The Axis powers were victorious. -
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Nazi Germany's invasion of the soviet union. It was driven by an ideological desire to conquer the Western Soviet Union so it could be repopulated by Germans. The invasion covered a distance of two thousand miles. It was the crucial turning point in WWII because its failure forced Germany to fight a two-front war against a coalition with superior forces. -
Pearl Harbor
Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base in Honolulu, Hawaii. Japan intended the attack to keep the US pacific fleet from interfering with military actions they planned in southeast Asia. All eight US Navy battleships were damaged, and four sunk. The attack came as a surprise to Americans and led directly to American entry into WWII. -
Bataan Death March
The Bataan Death March was when Filipino and American troops were forced to make a march to prison camps. They had to march in harsh conditions such as heat and were not treated well by the Japanese guards. The march took about 5 days to complete. Th march was characterized by severe physical abuse and was later judged by an Allied military commission to be a Japanese war crime. -
Battle of Midway
It was 6 months after Pearl Harbor and the United States won against Japan. The US was able to preempt and counter Japan's planned ambush. It was an important turning point in the Pacific campaign, the victory allowed the United States and its allies to move into an offensive position. -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
It was an act of Jewish resistance against Germany.The Ghetto refused to surrender to the police commander who had then ordered the burning of the Ghetto. Many jews were burnt alive or suffocated. It was the largest single revolt by Jews during WWII. In the summer of 1942, about 300,000 Jews were deported from Warsaw to Treblinka because of teh mass murder in the Warsaw Ghetto. -
D-Day
More than 160,000 Allied troops landed on the French coastline led by Eisenhower to march to Germany and kill Hitler. By the end, the Allies gained a foot-hold in Europe. Many people died on D-Day. It was also codenamed Operation Overlord. Normandy invasion began with overnight parachute and glider landings, massive air attacks and naval attacks. -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
Soviet soldiers were the first to liberate concentration camp prisoners. They entered the camp in Poland where they found hundreds of sick and injured prisoners. British, American, Canadian and French soldiers also freed prisoners from these camps. The British forced the remaining SS guards to gather up the corpses and place them in mass graves. -
Battle of the Bulge
This battle lasted for months. It was a surprise attack that the Allied forces did not see coming. It was the last German offensive campaign of WWII. Germany's armed forces were depleted and they could not replace them. The Allied forces took the appearance of a large bulge when they attacked. -
Operation Thunderclap
It was the code for a canceled operation planned that never happened. The plan was a massive attack on Berlin to shatter German morale. The plan was later reconsidered but it was again rejected as impractical and instead they decided to coordinate smaller attacks against cities in the Eastern Front. -
VE Day
A public holiday to mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of Germany's surrender. Celebrations erupted throughout the world when Germany was defeated. It marked the end of World War II in Europe. More than 1 million people in the UK celebrated to mark the end of the european part of the war. -
Potsdam Declaration
The Potsdam Declaration was a statement that called for the surrender of all Japanese armed forces during WWII. Truman, Attlee, and Kai-shek issued the document that stated if Japan did not surrender then they would be destroyed. -
Atomic Bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The United States dropped an atomic bomb that killed at least 129,000. The US dropped the bombs with the consent of the UK that was outlined in the Quebec Agreement. The "Little Boy" bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, and Truman called or Japan's surrender. Three days later, they dropped the "Fat Man" bomb on Nagasaki. -
VJ Day
Japan surrendered to the Allies, ending WWII. On September 2, 1945, a formal surrender ceremony was performed in Tokyo Bay, Japan aboard the battleship USS Missouri. It is also known as the memorial day for the end of the war, or the day for mourning the dead. -
German Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg was the German term for "lightning war". It was a military tactic designed to make disorganization among the enemy forces and defeat them quickly. Germany overran much of Europe and was very victorious for over two years by relying on this military tactic of the lightning war. Blitzkrieg tactics required the concentration of offensive weapons like tanks, plans, and artillery.
