-
Period: to
Japan invades Manchuria
Manchuria was attacked by Japan in 1931. Japan was becoming increasingly crowded due to its limited size as a nation and its rapidly increasing population. Manchuria offered nearly 200,000 square kilometres which would easily accommodate Japans population.It was also believed that Manchuria was rich in minerals, forestry and rich agricultural land. The army launched a full-scale invasion of Manchuria and by the end of 1931 they occupied the whole province. -
Hitler becomes Chancellor
Hindenburg appointed Hitler as chancellor. On 30 January 1933, the new cabinet was sworn in during a brief ceremony in Hindenburg's office. -
The Munich Agreement
Adolf Hitler turned his attention to the ethnically German Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia. 1938, Hitler ordered his generals to begin making plans for an invasion of the Sudetenland. the Czechoslovak government was forced to declare martial law in the region. A war scare spread across Europe and both nations were eager to avoid war. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sent a telegram to Hitler requesting a meeting with the goal of finding a peaceful solution. -
Germans invade Poland
On this day in 1939, German forces bombard Poland on land and from the air, as Adolf Hitler seeks to regain lost territory and ultimately rule Poland. World War II had begun. The German invasion of Poland was a primer on how Hitler intended to wage war--what would become the "blitzkrieg" strategy. -
Germans invade France
-
Germans invade Norway
-
Period: to
Germans invade Norway
-
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain was the German air force's attempt to gain air superiority over the RAF from July to September 1940. Their ultimate failure was one of the turning points of World War Two and prevented Germany from invading Britain. -
Germans invade Soviet Union
Under the name Operation "Barbarossa," Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. This was the largest German military operation of World War 2. -
Japan attacks Pearl Harbor
On December 7th 1941, Japanese planes attacked the United States Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory. The bombing killed more than 2,300 Americans. -
Period: to
Battle of the Coral Sea
This battle was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War 2 between the Imperial Japanese Navy and naval and air forces from the United States and Australia. -
Period: to
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was a struggle for naval hegemony in the Pacific Ocean, -
Period: to
Battle of Guadalcanal
This battle was a military campaign fought on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific theatre of World War II. -
Period: to
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War 2. Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad. -
Operation Torch
Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of French North Africa during the North African Campaign of World War 2. It was an Allied invasion of French North Africa. -
Battle of Kursk
This battle was an engagement between German and Soviet forces on the Eastern Front near Kursk. Kursk was to be the biggest tank battle of World War 2. -
Italy surrenders.
One month after Italy surrendered to Allied forces, it declared war on Nazi Germany, its onetime Axis powers partner. Italy was led into the war by Benito Mussolini, the fascist prime minister who had formed an alliance with Nazi Germany in 1936. -
D-Day
D-Day is the day that a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. -
Period: to
Operation Market Garden
Operation Market Garden was an unsuccessful Allied military operation, fought in the Netherlands and Germany in the Second World War. It was the largest airborne operation up to that time -
Period: to
Battle of the Bulge
This battle was a major German campaign launched through the dense forest of the Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium, France and Luxembourg on the Western Front toward the end of World War II in Europe. -
Period: to
Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima was Operation Detachment. It was a major battle in which the United States Armed Forces fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Empire. -
Germany Surrenders (VE Day)
Germany officially surrendered to the Allies, bringing an end to the European conflict in World War II. General Alfred Jodl, representing the German High Command, signed the unconditional surrender of both east and west forces in Reims, France, which would take effect the following day. -
Bombing of Hiroshima
The Bombing of Hiroshima was when an American B-29 bomber dropped the world's first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. -
Japan Surrenders (VJ Day)
More that two weeks after acceping the Allies terms, Japan formally surrendered. The ceremonies, less than half an hour long, took place on board the battleship USS Missouri, anchored with other United States' and British ships in Tokyo Bay.
