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Japan invades Manchuria.
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Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy sign a treaty of cooperation on October 25; on November 1, the Rome-Berlin Axis is announced.
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Japan invades China, initiating World War II in the Pacific.
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Under German pressure, the Slovaks declare their independence and form a Slovak Republic. The Germans occupy the rump Czech lands in violation of the Munich agreement, forming a Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
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Germany invades Poland, initiating World War II in Europe.
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from the east.
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, initiating the so-called Winter War. The Finns sue for an armistice and have to cede the northern shores of Lake Lagoda and the small Finnish coastline on the Arctic Sea to the Soviet Union.
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Denmark surrenders on the day of the attack; Norway holds out until June 9.
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France and the neutral Low Countries. Luxembourg is occupied on May 10; the Netherlands surrenders on May 14; and Belgium surrenders on May 28. On June 22, France signs an armistice agreement by which the Germans occupy the northern half of the country and the entire Atlantic coastline. In southern France, a collaborationist regime with its capital in Vichy is established.
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The Italians invade British-controlled Egypt from Italian-controlled Libya.
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Nazi Germany and its Axis partners declare war on the United States.
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Axis forces in Tunisia surrender to the Allies, ending the North African campaign.
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Fearing Hungary’s intention to desert the Axis partnership, the Germans occupy Hungary and compel the regent, Admiral Miklos Horthy, to appoint a pro-German minister president.
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Allied troops liberate Rome. Within six weeks, Anglo-American bombers could hit targets in eastern Germany for the first time.
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The Soviets launch their final offensive, encircling Berlin.
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Hitler commits suicide.
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to the western Allies.
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Germany surrenders to the Soviets.
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The United States drops an atomic bomb on Nagasaki.
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Having agreed in principle to unconditional surrender on August 14, 1945, Japan formally surrenders,