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Germany invades Poland
Before the invasion of Poland, the Germans intention was to wage war, turning it into what would become the “blitzkrieg strategy” meaning lightning war. Once Hitler had a base of performance inside Poland, the target country, he instantly began plotting to destroy all enemies. In the aftermath of the Poland invasion, Poland was divided among Germany and the Soviet Union. The invasion of Poland was considered to be one of the major beginnings of World War 2. -
Britan and France Declare war on Germany
Both Britain and France, the allies of the overrun nation, declare war on Germany. There were more than 1,100 passengers on board, ‘Athenia’ the British ocean liner. 112 people on board lost their lives after the British ocean liner was sunk by a German U-30 submarine after they had assumed the liner was armed and threatening. As for the response from Britain, they began bombing German ships on September 4. They were also following orders by not harming German civilians. -
Churchill becomes Prime Minister of Britain
The First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, was called to replace the position as British prime minister, which originally was occupied by Neville Chamberlain. In 1940 on May 10th, Adolf Hitler invaded Holland, Belgium, and the Netherlands. On that same day, Neville Chamberlain formally lost the confidence of the House of Commons. Winston Churchill, who was best known for his military leadership ability, was decided British prime minister, replacing Neville Chamberlain. -
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Evacuation of Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo)
The Dunkirk evacuation was the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, France. The action was determined when a large number of Belgian, British, and French troops were cut off and enclosed by the German army. 7,669 men were evacuated on the very first day of the Dunkirk evacuation, by the close of the eighth day, an overall of 338,226 soldiers had been rescued by a rapidly constructed fleet of over 800 boats. The events at Dunkirk stay a famed memory in the UK. -
Italy enters war on side of Axis power
During the time of World War 2, there were two vital alliances, and they were the Axis and Allies. The Axis Powers consisted of Germany, Italy and Japan while the Allies consisted of Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union. From the 10th of June 1940, Italy fought aside the allies on the Axis side throughout WWII. The main goal of the Allied Powers was to defeat the Axis Powers. -
France signs armistice with Germany
The Armistice was signed at 6:36pm on June 22nd 1940. It was signed near Compiègne, France. The Compiègne Forest was deliberately chosen by Adolf Hitler, as the location to sign the armistice due to its symbolic role as the site of the 1918 Armistice with Germany that signaled the end of World War I with Germany's surrender. -
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Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain is also known as the Second World War. The people of Britain officially recognised the war beginning on July 10th and ending on October 31st 1940. The Battle was reported as the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces. The main goal of the German forces was to force Britain to consent to and already arranged peace settlement. -
Tripartite Pact signed
On September 27th 1940, the Tripartite Pact which is also known as the pact of Berlin was an agreement between Germany, Italy and Japan. The Pact was signed in Berlin. The Pact was a defensive military alliance. The Tripartite Pact was later joined by Hungary, Romania, and Yugoslavia. -
Operation Sea Lion
Operation Sea Lion was the code name for Germany's proposed invasion into the United Kingdom during the Battle of Britain in the Second World War. After the Fall of France Germany expected the British to pursue a peace agreement. Invasion was contemplated as a last alternative if other options failed. Operation Sea Lion was delayed permanently on September 17th 1940 and the operation was never carried out. -
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Siege of Tobruk
Between April and November 1941, approximately 14,000 Australian soldiers were besieged in Tobruk by a German–Italian army. The Siege of Tobruk lasted 241 days. The siege of Tobruk took place in Tobruk, Libya. The location of the siege was close by to the town’s harbour. This was vital because it was easily accessed by the troops. Most of their supplies were bought through the harbour by boats. Tobruk was subject to reiterated ground assaults and nearly constant attacking and bombing. -
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was a code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II. The operation was powered by Hitler's desire to defeat Soviet territory. Within the two years leading up to the invasion, the two countries were permitted to sign a political and economic pact for strategic reasons. However, on December 18th 1940, Hitler allowed an invasion of the Soviet Union, with a planned start date of May 15th 1941. Although the real invasion began on June 22nd 1941. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbour
The Bombing of Pearl Harbour occurred in Hawaii, and at approximately 8:10 am the first bombs were dropped. The bombing was and outrageous shock to the navy and others nearby. The attack was intended to act as a preventive action to keep the United States from obstructing with military actions that the Empire of Japan proposed in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the U.K, Netherlands and the U.S. Eventually the attack caused the entry of the United States into the second world war. -
Britain and US declare war on Japan
The day before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt requested congress declaration of war against Japan. Roosevelt spoke a speech about the attack on Pearl Harbor from the Japanese. Within an hour, he had declaration of war. The President later signed the declaration at approximately 4:10pm and to show his sympathy of those who were killed in the Pearl Harbour attack, he wore a black armband. -
Japan take Singapore
Singapore was an island at the South end of the Malay Peninsula, since the 19th century. They were part of the British colony. The Japanese notified Singapore to change to the Japanese empire, when the troops of Japan dominated French Indochina. Roughly 24,000 Japanese troops were later transported from Indochina to the Malay Peninsula and Japanese fighter pilots attacked Singapore, which killed 61 civilians, considering to be one of the greatest military defeats of the British Empire. -
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Battle of Midway
One of the most significant U.S victories against Japan during WWII, had to have been the Battle of Midway. Throughout the four battle in the air and the sea, the U.S Pacific Fleet outnumbered their rival. They succeed in destroying four Japanese aircraft carriers, but unfortunately losing one of their own in the process. This completely destroyed Japan's naval strength when the four aircraft carriers were demolished. -
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First Battle of El Alamein
The First Battle of El Alamein began on July 1st, 1942 and ended July 22nd 1942. The Battle occurred in Egypt, close by the town of El Alamein. The Allies along with the Axis Powers were all involved in the battle. It was a battle of the Western Desert Campaign. -
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Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad surfaced on July 17th 1942 and ended a year later, on February 2nd 1943. The Battle was a successful defence of Stalingrad in the Soviet Union during WWII. The victory of the Soviet Union was an embarrassment to Adolf Hitler which then escalated the importance of the battle in Germany's opinion. The major Battle of Stalingrad involved Nazi Germany and its allies were up against the Soviet Union for control of the city called Stalingrad. -
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Second Battle of El Alamein
The Second Battle of El Alamein began on October 23rd in 1942 and ended on November 4th in the same year. This particular battle was a turning point in the North African campaign. The second Battle of El Alamein occurred in the same place as the first, in the small town of El Alamein. The second battle also consisted of the Allies and Axis Powers. -
D-Day Landings
On June 6th 1944, roughly after midnight, an Allied takeover upon Hitler's Fortress Europe (which was one of his military propaganda terms) arose. Approximately 156,000 American, Canadian and British forces landed on five beaches across roughly an 80 kilometre stretch on the coast of France's Normandy region. The D-Day Invasion was a very important battle in the opinion of the Allied forces. -
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Battle of the Bulge
Hitler convinced himself that the alliance between France, Britain and America was weak and if he was able to attack and defeat them, it would result in breaking up the alliance. This ended in a giant attack, being known as the Battle of the Bulge. In conclusion of the battle, around 30,000 soldiers and 44,000 infantry forces were captured or killed by the German army, this outcome seriously affected the army, also because they had lost a major number of their weapons. -
Benito Mussolini was captured and assassinated
In the final days of World War II, Benito Mussolini was instantly executed by Italian Communists in the small village of Giulino di Mezzegra in northern Italy. The final version of the event is that Mussolini was shot by a communist. After Mussolini’s assassination his body was taken to Milan and left in a suburban square, for a large crowd to physically abuse and insult his body, his body was then hung. Later on Mussolini was buried in an unmarked grave but his body was found a year later. -
Adolf Hitler commits suicide
Adolf Hitler, the dictator of Germany, evacuated away in a revamped air-raid shelter, consumes a cyanide capsule which is a suicide pill, he then shoots himself with a pistol. At Hitler’s side during his suicide were Eva Braun, who only two days before their double suicide, he married and his dog, an Alsatian named Blondi. -
German forces surrender
In the year of 1945, on May 7th the German forces surrendered at the Allied headquarters in Reims France, concluding the end of the six years of war on Europe. Hitler committed suicide the month before the German forces surrendered. -
V.E Day
May 8 1945, marks the day that both the United States and Great Britain celebrated their Victory in Europe. Cities in the United States and Great Britain, also formerly occupied cities in Western Europe, put out banners and flags, celebrated in the defeat of the Nazi war. This day was the day when German troops throughout Europe to finally lay down their arms. Germans surrendered to the Soviet antagonists in Prague. Surrender documents signed by Germans were signed in Berlin and eastern Germany. -
Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
In the year of 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, by an American, Enola Gay. The explosion was equivalent to the power of 15,000 tons of TNT. It executed 80,000 people immediately. The United States became the very first and only country to use atomic weaponry during WWII. -
The Soviet Union declares war on Japan
The Soviet Union declared war on Japan, on August 8th 1945, releasing more than a million Soviet soldiers into Japanese occupied Manchuria in northeastern China. The Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov informed the Japanese Ambassador Sato that the Soviet Union declared war on the Japanese Empire, this was two hours before Manchuria got invaded. The invasion formed a haven for the Chinese communist forces as they had been fighting the Japanese and Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists. -
Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
On August 8th, 1945, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. This was also the second atomic bomb dropped by the United States on Japan. This resulted in Japan to fully surrender. -
Japan surrender - End of WWII
Japan ultimately surrenders to the Allies which brought the end of WWII on September 2nd 1945. In early August, the same year, the war reached a high intensity point when Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed. The Allies stated for Japan to surrender in the Potsdam Declaration, or known as the Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender, and on August 15th, Japanese Emperor Hirohito accepted the terms. Japan formally surrendered on September 2nd, 1945. -
United Nations is born
50 representatives of their countries came to San Francisco at the United Nations Conference on International Organisations to create the United Nations Charter on October 24th 1945. This Charter was signed on June 26th, 1945, by the 50 representatives. The United Nations was formed to be an intergovernmental organisation to replace the unproductive League of Nations. The Charter is a foundational treaty of the United Nations.