The US remains neutral but president Roosevelt declares "limited national emergency".
Russia invades Poland
Warsaw surrenders
The last remaining Polish forces surrender
Russia invades Finland
The first German Enigma messages are decoded by British intelligence
Russia-Finland war ends. It convinces Hitler that the Russian military is ineffective.
Germany invades Denmark and Norway.
Germany invades France, Holland, Belgium, Luxemburg. Winston Churchill becomes Britain's prime minister.
German forces reach the British Channel.
The evacuation at Dunkirk ends. 338,000 troops were rescued. Churchill declares that Britain will never surrender.
Norway surrenders
German troops march into Paris
Russia invades Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
France surrenders
Germany invades the British Channel islands.
British night bombers bomb Berlin
Italy invades British-held Egypt from Libya, the North African campaign begins.
British forces in Egypt counter attack the Italians and advance along the Libyan coast
Hitler sends Rommel and the Afrika Korps to help the Italians in North Africa
Rommel attacks the British forces in North Africa.
Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece
British forces in Crete surrender.
British forces aided by Israeli volunteers invade French controlled Syria and Lebanon
Germany invades Russia. Hitler orders "maximum cruelty" against civilians, which results in fanatic Russian resistance.
German army group "Center" takes Smolensk, just 220 miles from Moscow.
The Luftwaffe bombs Moscow
The long German siege of Leningrad begins.
The Germans in the South occupy Kiev and reach the Crimea.
The final German attack towards Moscow begins (operation Typhoon).
General Tojo becomes Japan's prime minister
The Japanese Navy attacks Pearl Harbor and the Phillipines, and the US joins the war. With the German failure to defeat Russia, which is marked by their failure to take Moscow, and with the United States joining the war a day later, This date marks the ma
Dec 11 - Germany and Italy declare war on the US.
Hitler orders "fanatic resistance" and appoints himself military commander-in-chief.
Japanese forces invade Burma
Rommel begins another offensive in North Africa
Japanese forces invade the Solomon islands
Singapore surrenders to the Japanese
Battle of the Coral Sea. One Japanese carrier and one American carrier are sunk
The battle of Midway. Four Japanese carriers are sunk, and one American carrier. Japan's naval superiority is lost.
Japanese forces land in Guadalcanal
Stalin forbids further Russian retreats, at any cost.
Allied forces land in western North Africa, at Rommel's back
The Russian flanking counter attack around Stalingrad begins
The Germans fail to break the encirclement of their army in Stalingrad
The last German forces in Stalingrad surrender
The long North Africa campaign ends. The Allies control North Africa
The battle of Kursk begins
Mussolini is replaced and arrested.
The Germans know the Enigma was decoded, but believe the new types and procedures are safe again.
The Allies invade Italy's mainland
Italy surrenders. The German forces in northern and central Italy occupy it
The Russians liberate Kiev
Eisenhower becomes supreme commander of western allies forces
Battle of the Phillipine sea
Hitler survives an assassination attempt by senior German officers with light wounds.
Warsaw revolts against the Germans
Romania surrenders to the Russians. Its oil fields were Germany's only source of natural oil
Finland and Bulgaria surrenders to the Russians
Operation Market Garden in Holland
British forces land in Greece
The Marines land in Leyte, in the Philippines. In response, the Japanese Navy begins to use Kamikaze suicide pilots.
B-29 bombers begin to bomb Tokyo from bases in the Mariana islands
The German attack in the Ardennes begin
The Marines land in Luzon in the Philippines
The Russians reach Germany itself at the Oder river
The Russians liberate the Auschwitz death camp
The Ardennes campaign ends
The Marines land in Iwo Jima
The Allies occupy Cologne, Germany
The battle of Iwo Jima ends
The Marines land in Okinawa. Japan orders all its forces to use Kamikaze suicide tactic
The super battleship Yamato is sunk on its way to a Kamikaze fight in Okinawa
The Russians begin final advance to Berlin
American and Russian forces meet
German defense in northern Italy finally collapse
Adolf Hitler commits suicide in his bunker in Berlin. He appoints Admiral Doenitz as his successor.
Germany surrenders. The war in Europe ends
Battle of Okinawa ends
the US tests the atomic bomb in New Mexico. It works