-
German Blitzkrieg
The Germans invaded Poland, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, and France in 1939-1940 because they wanted as much power as quickly as possible. The way that they were able to invade all of these places one after another and win battles was that they attacked from multiple sides or in multiple ways at once, like dropping bombs from the sky and also using tanks on the ground. The impact was the Germans controlled a lot of places quickly.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/blitzkrieg -
Fall of Paris
The Germans invaded France, and France asked for help from the US and for them to declare war. They said they would send help, but not declare war. The french tried not to surrender, but the Nazis were too strong. Many people living in Paris fled because they were scared, so when the Nazis got there and took over, it was almost empty. They still attacked and took prisoner the people left there.
https://www.theguardian.com/century/1940-1949/Story/0,,128218,00.html -
Pearl Harbor
The Japanese fighter planes attacked the naval base Pearl Harbor and killed a lot of soldiers and civilians. They bombed it and destroyed hundreds of airplanes and ships. They did this to make the US less powerful to fight back during the war. The impact of this event was that President Roosevelt asked congress to declare war on Japan.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor -
Battle of Stalingrad
This Battle was fought in Russia between the Russians and the Nazis. It lasted for 6 months and about 2 million people died, because Hitler said that all the men would be killed and the women deported if he won. In the end, the Russians won because reinforcements were sent and the surrounded the city, trapping the Germans and starving them through the winter. The result was the battle was the first loss that Hitler admitted to.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-stalingrad -
Wannsee Conference
At the Wannsee Conference, the Nazi's made the decision to have the "final solution" of mass murdering all of the Jews. 15 high ranking Nazis were at the meeting and all of them thought that this was a good idea. They had this meeting to get authorization and to learn that Hitler himself had this idea. The impact of this meeting was that they began to kill a lot of Jews everywhere.
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/wannsee-conference-and-the-final-solution -
Bataan Death March
The Japanese invaded the Philippines and made the soldiers that they defeated march 65 miles in the heat to prison camps. Thousands of people died on the march because the Japanese beat them and even more died in the camps. The Japanese did this because these people were their prisoners. The impact of this was the invasion of the Island of Leyte by the US in retaliation.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bataan-death-march -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
For a month, the Jews that were trapped in the ghetto in Warsaw, Poland rose up against the Nazis even though there was less of them and they had less weapons. They did this because they didn't want to be sent to the death camps. The Nazis went through and destroyed all of the buildings, even blowing up he synagogue. They took control back, killed a lot of people, and sent all of the survivors to death camps anyway.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/warsaw-ghetto-uprising -
D Day
D Day was when 156,000 Allied soldiers invaded the beaches of Normandy. They did this so that they could defeat the Germans there by surprising them. Part of their planning was to mislead the Germans about where they would attack, so a lot of the Germans were in the wrong place when the invasion happened. It's called the beginning of the end of the war, and the impact was that western Europe was freed from German control by the Allies.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day -
Battle of the Bulge
This battle was the last that Hitler fought against the Allied forces. He tried to split them up on their way towards Germany, and they formed into a bulge shape, but didn't break. Over 100,000 Americans died, but Hitler lost. This led to the end of WWII and Hitler losing the war.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-the-bulge -
Battle of Iwo Jima
This battle was fought between the US and Japan on Iwo Jima, which is an island near Japan. The US wanted to make it so that Japan couldn't fight in the war anymore. It lasted 6 weeks. The US bombed the island and thought they killed a lot of people, but when they invaded it the Japanese shot at them all. The Japanese hid in the forest and attacked. The impact of this battle was that almost 21,000 Japanese and 7,000 Americans died.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-iwo-jima -
Dropping of the atomic bombs
The US dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 3 days apart, killing 120,000 people. They did this because even though the war was over in Europe, the Japanese said that they would fight until the end. The US wanted the war to be over quickly, and wanted to be in control when it was over. The result of the atomic bombs was that Japan surrendered.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bombing-of-hiroshima-and-nagasaki -
Liberation of the Concentration Camps
Allied forces moved through Nazi territory and found the concentration and death camps. The Nazis moved prisoners away from the front either by train or by forcing them to march on foot with no food or warm clothing. Many of them died, and even more died when they reached their destinations and were overcrowded as well as starved. The Allies freed everyone that survived and helped them recover.
https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/liberation-of-the-concentration-camps -
Operation Thunderclap
Operation Thunderclap was the code name for the bombing of Dresden. The Allied forces bombed Eastern Germany to make it harder to get supplies through to their eastern front. This part of Germany hadn't been bombed that much during the rest of the war and didn't expect it. Since it didn't expect it and wasn't prepared the bombing was really effective.
http://ww2today.com/13-february-1945-operation-thunderclap-raf-start-firestorm-in-dresden -
VE Day
VE day was the day that German soldiers surrendered. The US and Europe celebrate this day as the victory day, even though some battles continued until the next day because they didn't hear the news that the war was over. The Germans released prisoners and sent them back home. The impact of this was that the Allied forces won the war and the Nazis lost.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/victory-in-europe -
VJ Day
This was the day that Japan surrendered, the WWII was over. It ended 6 years of war. Even though the war in Europe was over, Japan had refused to surrender for a long time, until they were bombed a lot and the atomic bombs were even dropped on two of their cities. The Allied countries all celebrated on this day, and some still celebrate every year on this day.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/v-j-day
