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Germany invades Poland
On September first, 1939, Hitler invades Poland, using the 'Blietzkrieg' strategy, which involves the overwhelming use of Air, Land and Sea forces to overrun a country in a matter of weeks. This provoked France and Britain to declare war, 2 days later. -
Britain and France declare war on Germany
After German invasion of Poland, to which Britain and France were sworn to an alliance with, Britain sent an ultimatum to Germany. This ultimatum was ignored, and by September third, 1939, the British Prime minister Neville Chamberlain had announced that Britain and France were at war with Germany. -
Churchill becomes Prime Minister of Britain
After the previous Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, lost a confidence vote following the Nazi invasion of Norway, Holland, Belgium, and the Netherlands, he quickly resigned, and was replaced by Winston Churchill, who was known for his Military Leadership. In his first year of leadership, Churchill and his country stood alone against the Nazi empire, but he promised his country to never surrender, and they never did. -
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Evacuation of Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo)
On May 10, 1940, Germany begun their invasion of Western Europe, quickly overrunning Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg. By May 12th, they had entered France, advancing along the south of France in a wide ark, in an attempted to encircle the Allies. The allies, realising this, begun formulating a plan to evacuate the Allies to Britain. By May 26, Operation Dynamo had been launched, with ships travelling across the Channel to transport troops back to Britain. During this, the RAF provided air suppo -
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Evacuation of Dunkirk
By early 1940, The British army was sent to aid France against Nazi Germany. By this time, Nazi Germany had invaded Netherlands and Belgium, and were invading France from the north-east. By May 21, the Germans had trapped the British and French forces around the Dunkirk area. The decision was made to evacuate. On the 26 of May, the evacuation of Dunkirk began. By the 8th day of the evacuation, 338,226 soldiers had been evacuated via the Channel from a quickly assembled fleet of over 800 ships. -
Italy enters war on side of Axis powers
After great pressure by Hitler, Mussolini made the choice to ally with Germany, and entered the war. This provided Hitler with greater resources to use in the war effort. -
Operation Sea Lion
Operation Sea Lion was a theoretical plan to invade Britain by Nazi Germany, set to take place on the 17 September, 1940. This followed the Fall of France, and Hitler expected Britian to seek a peace agreement, with invasion being only a last resort. This plan required dominance over the English Channel and a landing site in Great Britian, neither of which Nazi Germany had at any point during the war. -
Tripartite Pact signed
This pact was signed by Germany, Italy and Japan. The pact allowed for mutual assistance if any nation that was not already in the war attacked any of the signatories. This also allowed Japan and Germany to recognize and respect each others power, and be allowed to keep it without the other side invading or contesting. -
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Seige of Tobruk
Tobruk is located in northern Libya. Australian and British were pushed back and forced to hold Tobruk, a fortress that was vital to hold territory in Africa. The success of this seige allowed the area around Tobruk and Libya to be secured, and prevented German advancement. -
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the codename for the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. The planning for the operation begun over a year ago, following the Fall of France. On the 22 of June, the invasion begun. Initially, the invasion looked ot be a success, however, resistance was fierce. Despite the enormous casualties inflicted by the Germans, they too had taken massive losses, and didn't take a foothold in Russia. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbour
Just before 8 a.m., hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked an American naval base at Pearl Harbor, near Honolulu. The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, kill more than 2000 men, and wound another 1000. The following day, the US declared war on Japan, which was followed by Germany and Italy declaring war on the US, America had finally joined the war. -
Japan take Singapore
the Japanese looked to expand their ever-growing empire by capturing Singapore, which was under British rule and was an important military stronghold for them. By the 8 of Febuary, Japanese forces had landed on Singapore Island and were advancing to the city. A lack of coordination and ill-equipped infantry meant that Japanese forces had reached Singapore by February 13. By February 15 Australian and British forces surrendered, giving Japan an important military stronghold in South-East Asia. -
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Battle of Midway
Wanted to establish dominance in the Pacific, Japan set their sights on Midway, an important refueling station and stronghold for the Americans. However, American code-breakers learned about the attack, and this gave them the advantage. On June 4, American Fighters and bombers intercepted 4 Japanese aircraft carriers, and began their attack. All 4 carriers were sunk, crippling the Japanese navy and giving America the advantage in the Pacific. -
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First battle of El Alamiein
By July 1, 1942, German and Italian forces had pushed the British back to El Alamein, a small town only 60 miles west of Alexandria. Between July 1 and July 22, the Axis attempted a final push into Alexandria, but Allies fought back, and managed to hold a standstill in Egypt, and putting the Axis armies on the defensive, -
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Battle of Stalingrad
On September 3, 1942, German armies had arrived at the outskirts of Stalingrad, a industrial city in the east of Russia. However, the Russians had built up their defenses, and figthing degenerated to street fighting. The city was very slowly being taken by the Germans, but at a great cost. By Mid-November, the Russians launched a counterattack, surrounding the Germans and forcing a surrender on the 2 of February, 1943. The German army lost over 200,000 men, and this turned the tides of the war. -
D-Day
D-Day was the beginning of the end of WW2. Prior to June 6, American and British Paratroopers landed in France, securing bridges and chokepoints. On June 6, nearly 200,000 American, British and Canadian troops landed on the beaches of Normandy. In the American strip, codenamed "Ohama", the allies were met with heavy resistance, and over 2,000 men died. However, the landing was a success, and this allowed the Allies to secure northern France and begin the recapture and invasion of Germany. -
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Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a major German counterattack through the forest of Ardennes in Belgium, France, and Luxemborg. Attempting to push back the allied forces, the Germans attacked the American Allied forces, catching them off guard, and incurring USA's highest casualties of the war. However, delays gave time for the Allies to reinforce the American line, and improved weather meant that air support could attack the Germans, sealing their defeat, and the fate of the war. -
Mussolini captured and executed
Despite Mussolini's attempts to flee, Benito is captured by Italian rebels and partisans, and executed shortly after. After defeat of the Axis became apparent, Mussolini attempted to flee to Switzerland. He made it to the swiss border, only to discover that the guards had defected to the rebels. Despite attempting to hide among German soldiers, he was caught, shot and hung upside down in Milan for everyone to see. -
Soviet Union declares war on Japan
Within 2 months of the war officially ending, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, forcing over a million soldiers into Manchuria. At the time, the Hiroshima bombings had not had the intended effect of forcing Japan to surrender. Around half of the Japanese Cabinet was against surrender, until the Soviets invaded Manchuria. The assault was so strong that the Emperor Hirohito began to plead to the war council to consider surrender. -
German forces surrender
On the 7th of May, 1945, the German Instrument of Surrender was signed by representatives of the German OKW, the allied Expenditionary force, and the supreme high command of the Soviet army, with french and US representatives as legal witnessesm thus ending the war in Europe. -
V.E day
V.E day was a public holiday celebrated by the Allies and Members of the commonwealth to commemorate Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender to the allied forces. It marked the end of WW2 in Europe. However, the war at the pacific, between allies and the Japanese, was still going strong. -
Hitler commits suicide
With the fall of Berlin imminent, and Russian, British and American soldiers closing in to Hitler's bunker, Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazi party, swallowed a Cyanide pill shortly before shooting himself in the head. However, this did not end the war, but merely forced a new government to be established, which a week later surrendered the the Allies. -
Atomic Bomb dropped on Hiroshima
With the permission of the United Kingdom, reasoning that "Losses from this will not compare to the loss of the continuation of the war", the United States dropped a 16 kiloton fission bomb over Hiroshima, a large city in the south of Japan. Around 70,000 people were killed, roughly 30% of the population, and another 70,000 were injured. -
Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
Nagasaki was a seaport town, and was of great importance because of its production of ships and, military equipment among other war materials. On the 9 of August, a 20 kiloton nuke was dropped, hitting the city's industrial area, decimating the Urakami Valley, and killing 50,000. -
Japanese surrender - End of WW2
The surrender of the Empire of Japan was formally signed on the 2nd of September, 1945, onboard USS Missouri (Fun fact, my Great-Grandfather was on board that ship when the Japanese surrendered). This followed the 2 atomic bomb droppings and the invasion of Manchuria. It was decided by the Japanese government that the cost of war was too high, and that surrender would end suffering on both sides. This formally ended WW2. -
United nations is born
The U.N charter was first signed at the San Fransisco conference, which was attended by 50 representatives of 50 nations. The objective of the Charter was to "“save succeeding generations from the scourge of war", uphold rights, promote social progress, and for countries to aid each other in times of need. It was offically first help on the 24th of October, 1945.