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Germany invades Poland
Germany demonstrated their Blitzkrieg strategy on poland, bombarding them from the air to destroy infrastructures and weaken them before commencing a massive land invasion, The polish, despite high numbers, were underequipped and tried to advance on Germany using WWI tactics instead of holding defensive positions. Hitler then set up camps inside poland where he eliminated any opposers to the Nazi ideology.This day is most commonly said to be the single event that kickstarted WWII. -
Britain and France declare war on Germany
In retaliation to Germany's invasion of Poland, on this day Britain and France decided that Hitler was a threat that needed to be stopped and sent ultimatums to Hitler that he must withdraw from Poland. Hitler did not respond, so France and Britain declared war. However, the support provided for Poland was not enough and they were successfully taken over. -
Churchill become Prime Minister of Britain
Winston Churchill replaces Neville Chamberlain as prime minister of Great Britain after Chamberlain resigns. Chamberlain had declared war against Germany but shown he was incapable of fighting the war and lost the confidence of the house of commoms. Winston Churchill was known for his military leadership and quickly gained the support of the country. -
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Evacuation of Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo)
The evacuation of Dunkirk, code-named Operation Dynamo, was the evacuation of all the Allied troops trapped on the seaport of Dunkirk. French, British and Canadian troops were trapped between the English Channel and advancing Germany forces. Winston Churchill warned that the entire "core of the British army" were likely to die. About 338,226 soldiers , including 98,229 British and 139,997 French were evacuated by a fleet of 860 boats. It was the result of the crushing British defeat in France. -
Italy enters war on side of Axis Powers
On this day, Italy declared war on Great Britain and France after withholding formal alliance to either side. This declaration against the Allies cemented their position as an Axis power alongside Germany and Japan.
Italy took a long time to enter the war as Mussolini wanted only to be involved if he could win in a low-risk scenario. France was seeming to be about to fall (and it did), as Germany was currently invading it, encouraging Mussolini to act. -
France signs armistice with Germany
On this day, France signed an armistice with Germany to surrender. The armistice split France into two parts - one to be governed by Germany and one to be left with the French government. Germany's 'portion' of France was 2/3 of the country, with France keeping the southeastern region.
The armistice was signed to end the German conquest of France which had been going on since June 5. Northern France would remain under German occupation for the next 4 years. -
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Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain took place between British and German airforces in the skies primarily over London. It was carried out as German troops continuously bombed Britain, trying to destroy their air force. Germany soon found that Britains Air force was a difficult opponent, and had to focus their efforts from destroying British towns and army defenses to the Air Force itself. Britain had the innovating Radar technology, which aided them in driving Germany out of their skies to win the battle. -
Tripartite pact signed
The Tripartite pact was an agreement signed in Berlin that would form the axis power alliance. Germany, Italy and Japan signed into the axis powers. The pact said that should Germany, Italy or Japan come under attack from any nation not already in the war, they would give aid. This was a threat specifically at the currently-neutral America. -
Operation Sea Lion
Operation Sea Lion was a German plan of attack scheduled to take place sometime in late 1940, but it was never carried out. It was a plan to fully conquer Britain, completing a few key goals including full destruction of her air force. The date continued to be pushed back and eventually cancelled due to a lack of coordination by Germany, British defences, and distraction due to the Soviet Union. -
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Siege of Tobruk
The Siege of Tobruk was a battle that took place in Tobruk,Libya. The battle began as Tobruk was besieged by Italian and German forces, ending when the Allied 8th Army took control of the area. Tobruk had a valuable port which saved the Axis having to ship supplies through 1500km of desert. 14,000 Australian soldiers were involved in defending Tobruk from the Axis powers. -
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union. It involved more than 3 million axis troops and 3500 tanks, never before seen numbers. Stalin had refused to notice the evidence that an attack was imminent by Germany, and thus the Soviet Union was unprepared.
The Soviets ultimately survived, but took phenomenal losses to men, territory and weaponry. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
On this day Japan launched a surprise attack on America , bombing their military base at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii. They used primarily bomber planes and torpedoes. There were 2403 American deaths, and over 3000 total American casualities.
The attack was strategically placed by Japan on a US military base to gain Pacific control and to subdue America so they would not join the war against them. However this threat backfires, as the attack angered America into a declaration of war. -
Britain and US declare war on Japan
In the day immediately following the bombing of Pearl Harbour by Japan, which took 2400 American lives, the US under Roosevelt declares war on Japan. The declaration followed a ten minute public speech from Roosevelt, where all 82 US senators voted to declare war. Britain had also declared war on Japan, in response Japans militarism in invading numerous Pacific isle countries. -
Japan takes Singapore
The battle began in Singapore between Japan and Britain in July 1941, where Singapore had been a strategic British stronghold and colony. It lasted for many months with Japan progressively defeating Britain until February 8, when 5000 Japanese troops landed on Singapore island, overwhelming and outnumbering the British troops. Inevitably on February 15th, Britain gave up Singapore to Japan, losing their foothold in the east. -
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Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway took place in the Pacific War Theatre between the United States and Japan. The victory of the naval battle allowed US forces to move into offensive positions in the pacific. The engagement started as Japan wanted to sink US ships which had survived the Pearl Harbour bombings six months earlier. The US was able to intercept Japanese codes to expect and prepare for the ambush that was coming. The Japanese were forced to retreat, losing approxiately 4800 men. -
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First battle of El Alamein
The battles of El Alamein concerned control of North Africa. The Afrika Korps lead by German military leader Rommel attacked against the Allies. Rommels army was tired and running low on supplies before the battle even started, but gained an early foothold which would inevitably be lost to the Allied forces. The German and Italian troops would no longer win battles in the African theater, as the Allies regained control of it for the rest of the war. -
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Battle of Stalingrad
The battle of Stalingrad was the defense of Soviet city Stalingrad from German forces. The victory was a monumental one in turning the war in favour of the Allies that Germany never quite recovered from. Stalingrad was a large industrial city and would be valuable territory to the Germans for war equipment. The Germans were trapped in Stalingrad after heavy defense and counterattacks from the USSR, and soon had to surrender most of the army as they were freezing in the winter and out of food. -
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Second battle of El Alamein
The Allied forces had successfully defended El Alamein from the Axis powers in the first battle, and in the second battle attacked back against Rommel's forces. Rommel's request to Hitler to withdraw was denied, and so his army stood their ground as entire Axis units were overrun before being forced to retreat. Rommels army lost around 38000 men to death, injury or capture. The Allied forces now had control of North Africa. -
D-Day landings
The allied forces launched a surprise attack against the German occupation of Western Europe in the D-day landings, also known as the Normandy landings. The German forces were caught by surprise when 1000 British bombers attacked the coastal defences. The landings covered multiple beaches, and most went well except for at Omaha, which was going bad enough that it was almost called off (but eventually succeeded after 2000 casualties). Eventually Paris was liberated as the allies succeeded. -
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Battle of the Bulge
The battle of the bulge was the last major German attack against the Allies. Hitler hoped to split the allies into two with a surprise blitzkrieg through the Ardennes to Antwerp. Over 250,000 German troops launched the desperate and deadly battle against the American defensive forces. The Germans had a critical downfall in lacking fuel to supply their offensive, leading them to eventually abandon their vehicles. 181,000 men, German and American, were lost in the battle. -
Mussolini captured and executed
Benito Mussolini, the fascist leader of Italy, was captured and executed by Italian partisans. The allies were closing in from the south, and the Italian anti-fascist partisans were rising up to seize cities in the north, putting a lot of pressure on Mussolini which eventually caught up to him as he tried to escape the country to Switzerland. He and his mistress that he was with were both executed by machine gun firing squad. -
Hitler commits suicide
Adolf Hitler, Fuhrer of Germany, took his own life in his underground shelter. He took a cyanide pill before shooting himself. The war had been progressively leading to his defeat, and he knew that the Russians would very soon overtake the reich. His wife Eva Braum also committed suicide alongside him.
The German forces issued an unconditional surrender 8 days later. -
German forces surrender
In the wake of the death of their chancellor Hitler, German forces signed an unconditional surrender. The surrender took place at Allied headquarters in Reims, France, ending the war in Europe.
The Soviets conquered Berlin on May 2, leading to an inevitable defeat for the rest of the country. Germany had no leverage in asking to surrender only some forces or other special terms, and were forced to surrender all forces under demand of Eisernhower. -
V.E. day
V-E day, or "Victory in Europe day", is a public holiday celebrating the victory over Germany which ended the war in Europe. The day marked the formal acceptance of Germany's surrender by the Allies, and was celebrated by Britain and the US. -
Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
The bombing of Hiroshima was the world's first sighting of the Atom Bomb. The United States dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, to end the war with them after they refused to surrender unconditionally. The bomb, "Little Boy", was released 1900 feet above Hiroshima and immediately killed roughly 80,000. Another 60,000 would die by the end of the year due to radiation sickness and 35,000 injured. Only 20 doctors were left alive and capable of working. Japan did not surrender immediately after. -
Soviet Union declares war on Japan
Nearing the end of the war, Stalin's Soviet Union finally declared war on Japan. The USSR sent over 1 million troops to Manchuria, China, to fight the 700,000 Japanese troops that were occupying it. The Soviet forces decimated the Japanese, destroying any hopes that they could continue to fight in the war. -
Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
To follow the US's bombing of Hiroshima, a second nuclear bomb is dropped on Nagasaki. The second bomb was dropped as the bombing of Hiroshima was not enough to convince Japan to surrender, but luckily the Nagasaki bombing would lead to their surrender. The bomb, "Fat Man", killed somewhere between 60-80 thousand. -
Japanese surrender - End of WWII
The Japanese surrender was the event which finally ended the six years of world warring. The surrender was signed aboard the US Missourri in Tokyo Bay with over 50 allied officials. Japan did not agree to unconditionally surrender after the first atomic bomb at Hiroshima and an invasion by the USSR in Manchuria, it took a second Atomic bomb at Nagasaki. -
United Nations is born
The United Nations was born from the after-effects of WWII as a necessity. It was to be a system which would help better manage international affairs and conflicts, in hopes to prevent wars occuring in the future following the unnceccesary devastation of WWII. The original U.N. declaration was signed by 26 countries in 1942 against the Axis powers. The main aim was negotiating and maintaining the peace of the world, receiving input from all co-operating countries.