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Germany invades Poland
Germany invaded Poland withmore than 2,000 tanks and over 1,000 planes. Germany broke through the borders and entered to Warsaw. There bombing and heavy shelling was used and Warsaw eventually surrended. -
Britain & France declare war on Germany
Britain & France (being allies) had sworn to protect Poland and with Germany invading Poland they sent final chances for Hitler to withdrawl but Hitler declined which resulted in Britain & France declaring war on Germany. -
Churchill becomes Prime Minister of Britain
After losing a confidence vote in the House of Commons, Neville Chamberlain resigned and Winston Churchill took place as the Prime Minister. -
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Evacuation of Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo)
The improving Gemany army forced the British, French, Belgian and Canadian troops back to Dunkirk. Churchill ordered the start of Operation Dynamo to evacute some of the troops by destroyers and transport ships. Over 330,000 Allied troops were rescued from the beaches of Dunkirk, France. -
Italy enters war on side of Axis powers
During the war Italy sided with the Axis powers alongside Germany. Their sole purpose for this was they wanted to expand their Mediterranean empire by pushing the British out rather than wanting to help Germany be the next superpower in the world. -
France signs armistice with Germany
The armistice was signed with Germany with the call to France to end the hostilicies and pay for the costs of the German invasion. The two northern parts of France would remain under German occupation while the southern part would be free. The Nazis also swore to evacuate the northwestern part of France when the fighting with Britian ended. -
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Battle of Britain
Over the UK the British and German air forces clashed in the skies. Britians victory of this saved them from ground invasions and German occupation. -
Operation Sea Lion
Hitler devised a plan for the invasion of Britain but it never happened due to Germany losing the Battle of Britain. -
Tripartite Pact signed
Germany, Italy and Japan sign this pact in Berlin and form the Axis powers. It involved the assistance of each other if a nation that was not already part of the war attacked one of the three countries. -
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Siege of Tobruk
On the coast of Libya, Tobruk was attacked from the west by a German-Italian army under the command of General Erwin Rommel.This event lasted for 241 days and represented Germanys first major setback. -
Operation Barbarossa
Hitler sent his armies off to an invasion of the Soviet Union. Three and a half million Axis troops and three thousand tanks smashed across the border of Russia. In the end Germanys plan had failed. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
The American naval base ar Pearl Harbor in Hawaii was bombed by hundreds of Japanese fighter planes. 20 American naval vessels and nearly 200 airplanes were destroyed. More than 20,000 American soidiers and sailors died and another 1,000 were wounded. -
Britain and US declare war on Japan
After the events at Pearl Harbor, Franklin Roosevelt (American President at the time) requested a declaration of war against Japan. -
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Battle of the Bulge
A massive attack was launched and three German armies were sent to the west of Adrennes. This was Hitlers attempt to split the Allies in two. The Germans were successful for the first two days but then the Americans threw a counter-attack and eventually won the battle. 81,000 Americans were lost and the Germans had 100,000 who were either killed, wounded or captured. -
Japan take Singapore
Japanese fighter pilots attacked Singapore from the air and killed 61 civilians. 5,000 Japanese troops landed in Singapore and pro-Japanese leaflets were dropped onto the island encouraging them to surrender. Britains defense was collapsing and Singapore surrended to the Japanese. 62,000 Allied soldiers were taken as prisoners. -
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Battle of Midway
The Japanese began their plan to destroy the US aircraft carries but American code breakers managed to intercept a number of Japanese transmissions so now the US knew of Japans plans and began to create their own trap for Japan. This ended up being a four day sea and air battle. This was the first major victory for the Allies in the Pacific with the loss of many Japanese ships, aircrafts and soldiers. -
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First Battle of El Alamein
This was the battle for control over North Africa. The victory helped the Allies by them being able to take oil from Africa and the Middle East. -
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Battle of Stalingrad
Stopped the German advance into the Soviet Union. -
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Second Battle of El Alamein
In the end Rommel had no more reserves. -
D-Day Landings
156,000 American, Canadian and British forces landed on the coast of France's Normandy region. More than 4,000 Allied troops died and thousands were either wounded or missing. -
Mussolini captured and executed
Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci were in disguise hoping to cross the Swiss border without being recognised but were then captured by Italian partisans and then shot. Their bodies were transported by truck to Milan where their bodies were hung upside down and displayed publicly. -
Hitler commits suicide
Underneath the Reich Chancellery building in his bunker Hitler and his wife that he married two days before committed suicide. Their bodies were taken outside the bunkers, drenched in petrol and were then set on fire. -
German forces surrender
In Reims, northwestern France, the German High Command signs the surrender of all German forces. -
V.E. day
Great Britain and the US celebrate Victory in Europe day. This was the day all German troops officially surrendered . -
Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
The US dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city Hiroshima. Germany had already been defeated but the war against Japan in the Pacific still continued. Presidant Harry S. Truman ordered a five ton bomb to be dropped on Hiroshima. 80,000 people were killed immediatley and tens of thousands died during the following weeks due to wounds and radiation posioning. -
Soviet Union declares war on Japan
Soviet Union invaded the Japanese state Manchukuo. They then took control over that state, Mengjiang, northern Korea, Karafuto and the Chishima islands with the Mongolians. -
Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
The US launch a second atomic bomb to Japan with its aim for Nagasaki. The number of people killed due to this second bomb is estimated between 60,000 and 80,000. -
Japanese surrender - End of WWII
After the attack of Hiroshima a group of Japan's supreme war council supported the acceptance of Japans surrender but the rest refused. War was then declared upon Japan and another bomb was dropped which left the council with a long debate.
In Tokyo Bay, Japan formally surrenders to the Allies resulting in the end of WWII. -
United Nations is born
The United Nations was formed by 50 nations. It was first created at the San Fransico Conference. Since the war was now over the UN's main priority was to maintain the peace and "achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character".
