World War II Timeline

By haynuh

  • The Rise of Adolf Hitler

    Adolf Hitler is apppointed Chancellor of Germany.

  • Nazis become a political party

    The Nazis became the only legal political party in Germany and establishes a dictatorship.

  • Hitler assumes the role of Führer und Reichskanzler

    German President Paul von Hindenburg dies, Hitler takes the role of Führer und Reichskanzler. German soldiers and sailors are forced to swear personal loyalty to Hitler.

  • Germany and Italy declare an alliance.

  • Spanish nationalists attack the Republican army

    Spanish nationalists under General Francisco Franco attack the Republican army, beginning the Spanish Civil War which lasts for three years. Franco is supported by Germany and Italy, while the Republican government receives support from the USSR.

  • Germany reoccupies the Rhineland

    Germany reoccupies the Rhineland, violating the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I.

  • Japan invades China

    Japan invades China, beginning the Second Sino-Japanese War, which will become part of World War II.

  • Roosevelt declines the Neutrality Act

    Roosevelt, supporting the Chinese resistance to Japan, declines to enforce the Neutrality Act and does not declare an embargo.

  • Rape of Nanking

    After the fall of Nanking, the capital of the Chinese Republic, Japanese troops kill hundreds of thousands of civilians and systematically rape some 20,000 women and girls. The incident becomes known as the "Rape of Nanking."

  • Hitler threatens war with Czechoslovakia

    Hitler threatens war with Czechoslovakia to annex the German-speaking district of the Sudetenland. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain agrees to permit the annexation.

  • Hitler withdraws support from China

    Hitler withdraws support from China, seeking an alliance with Japan against the USSR. The USSR now supports the Chinese Republic against Japan.

  • The Night of Broken Glass

    On Kristallnacht (the "night of broken glass"), November 7, more than 7,000 Jewish shops and 1,600 synagogues are damaged or destroyed.

  • Pact of Steel

    Germany signs alliance treaty with Italy (the "Pact of Steel").

  • Germany and the USSR sign a non-aggression pact

    Germany and the USSR sign a non-aggression pact on August 23. Britain signs a Mutual Assistance Treaty with Poland.

  • Germany invades Poland

    Germany invades Poland on September 1.
    Britain, France, Australia, and New Zealand declare war on Germany two days later

  • Soviet Union invades Finland

    The Soviet Union invades Finland on November 30.
    In response, the League of Nations expells the Soviet Union.

  • Finland signs a peace treaty with the Soviet Union

  • Germany invades Denmark and Norway

  • Germany invades France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands

    The Netherlands surrenders five days later.
    Belgium surrenders on May 28.

  • Italy declares war on Britain and France.

  • Germany invades the Soviet Union

  • Germany invades Romania, Italy invades Greece.

  • Britain and the Soviet Union sign a mutual assistance treaty

  • Pearl Harbor bombed, US and Britain declare war on Japan

    Japan bombs Pearl Harbor on December 7. The following day, the United States and Britain declare war on Japan. Germany responds on December 11 with a declaration of war on the U.S.

  • China declares war on Japan

    China declares war on Japan on December 9.

  • Germany forces surrender at Stalingrad

    German forces surrender at Stalingrad — the first major defeat of a German army since the war began.

  • British attack on Germany

    British planes drop 3,000 tons of bombs in a single-day raid on Hamburg, Germany.

  • Germans withdraw from southern Italy

  • Germany begins using V-2 rockets against Britain

  • US forces push the German army back into Germany

    US forces push the German army back into Germany, winning the Battle of the Bulge.

  • Germans begin their last offensive of the war

    The Germans begin their last offensive of the war, to defend oil fields in Hungary.

  • US drops a second atomic bomb

    On August 9, the US drops a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan.

  • Japanese government agrees to surrender

    On August 14, the Japanese government agrees to surrender unconditionally.

  • U.S. troops invade Okinawa

  • Adolf Hitler commits suicide

  • US drops the first atomic bomb

    The US drops the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6.

  • Japan surrenders

    On September 2, V-J (Victory in Japan) Day, Japan surrenders unconditionally to the United States and its allies