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Germany invades Poland, inciting Poland’s allies Britain and France to declare war on Germany. -
Warsaw surrenders to German troops. Poland holds out for another 9 days before capitulating. -
British cruisers defeat a German pocket battleship at the Battle of the River Plate, the first major naval engagement of World War II. -
Germany invades Norway, ending a 6-month period of limited land operations called the “Phoney War". -
France, Holland and Belgium become overwhelmed by German “Blitzkrieg" (lightning war) -
Winston Churchill replaces Neville Chamberlain as British Prime Minister. The same day, Germany invades Belgium. -
Between 27 May and 4 June the operation was put in place after British, French and Belgian troops found themselves surrounded and cut off by the Germans, during the Battle of France. -
Paris falls to German forces. France capitulates 11 days later. -
Operation Barbarossa was the codename for the invasion of the Soviet Union. -
Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, starting war with the US. Sensing weakness, Hitler declares war on America 4 days later. -
The Japanese military strike on the US naval base Pearl Harbor, was a turning point in WW2 as it led to America’s entry into the war. -
The Battle of Midway took place in the Pacific in the June of 1942, it was a crucial and decisive naval battle, which eventually saw the Americans as victorious. -
This was a turning point in WW2. It was the German army’s first major setback, which they never fully managed to recover from. -
It was the turning point of the war in North Africa, during World War II. The battle was the continuation of the first battle of El Alamein, which had stopped the advance of the Afrika Korps forces. -
Allied Operation Torch landings and battles against Vichy France led to the surrender of Axis powers in North Africa. The Allied victory in North Africa laid the pathway for the Italian Campaign. -
German defeat at Stalingrad was a turning point in WW2 and is regarded as one of the bloodiest battles in modern history. -
The Allied invasion of Italy took place on 3rd September 1943, following the successful invasion of Sicily -
Continuing the Italian campaign, with the intention of a breakthrough to Rome, the series of four assaults by the Allies on Monte Cassino were extremely costly for the Allies, however they eventually managed to drive the German forces back. -
The Allies landed at Anzio on 22nd January 1944, as part of the Italian campaign against the German forces. -
The Allied invasion of France began and it led to the eventual liberation of France from the Nazis and contributed to the Allies victory in the war -
The Americans regained Guam from the Japanese during the Pacific campaign. -
Paris was liberated from the Nazis. -
Following President Roosevelt’s death, Vice President Harry S. Truman assumed the role of President. -
Soviet forces had surrounded the city of Berlin by 24th April, they began to make their way into the city centre, resulting in the eventual fall of Berlin. -
Following the fall of Berlin, German forces began to surrender. -
The United States detonated two nuclear weapons over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the only use of nuclear weapons in armed conflict. -
The surrender of Japan saw the hostilities of WW2 finally brought to a close.