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Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo in the Balkans. Astria-Hungary soon declare war against Serbia.
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Germany declare war against Russia
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Germany declares war on France
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After Germany attacks Belgium, Britian declare war against Germany
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A-H declare war aginst Russia and Serbia declare war against Germany
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Asstria hungary invade Russia on Aug. 10, 1914
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The US remains neutral
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Britain declares the North Sea as a war zone, creating a blockade of goods to Germany
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A Christmas treaty is implaced
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Germany makes war zone around Britain were civilian vessals are targeted.
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The battle of Jutland begins
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The USA declares war on Germany
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Russian Revolution begins
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Russia gets a peace treaty with the central powers
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Baron Manfred von Richthofen is shot down
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Fighting ends on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month
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War Ends!
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Hitler becomes the leader of the National Socialists German Worker Party
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Benito Mussolini becomes the Pemeir fasiscts of Italy
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Mussolini dissmisses Italian Parliment
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Germany, Britain, France, and Italy sign the Munich Pact giving Germany the permission to take the Sudeten territories of Czechoslovakia
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Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany
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Nazi's band all other parties
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Hitler and Mussolini create the first of the Axis
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Germany invades Austria
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Germany, Britain, France, and Italy sighn pact allowing Germany to take control of the Sudeten territories of Czechoslovakia
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Britain delcares support for Poland
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Germany attacks Poland once again
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Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declare war on Germany after Germany continue to attack Poland ignoring the Munich pact starting the official begining of WWII
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Canada declares war on Germany
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USSR invades eastern Poland
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Poland surrenders to Germany
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Russo-Finnish War begins when the USSR invades Finland
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The first Canadian troops arrive in Britain
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Finland surrenders to the USSR and the Russo-Finnish war ends
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Denmark surrenders to Germany. Germany invades Norway
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Germany also invades Holland, later surrendering after 4 days. Germany attacks Belgium
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Evacuation of the British Expendary Force from Dunkirk on the Belgian caost
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Belgium surrenders to Germany
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Norway surrenders to Germany. Italy declares war on Britain and France
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German troops enter Paris
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The USSR invades the Baltic states
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France surrenders to Germany
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Only time when a part of Britain is occupied by Germany
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The British sink the French fleet at Oran
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Germany bombs Britain, and the British defend themselves from the air in what Winston Churchill would call their "finest hour."
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Marking the begining of the African campaigns
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Italy invades Egypt
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Japanese become part of the Axis
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Germany invades Romania
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Failing in doing so
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The powerful German Luftwaffe fails to crush British morale
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Greece repels the Italian invasion
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In doing so becomeing part of the Axis
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Greece invades Italian-held Albania
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Sidi Barrani (December 11) and Sollum (December 17) from the Italians
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Australian troops capture Bardia, Libya
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British and Australian troops capture Tobruk, Libya
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British troops capture Mogadishu, Italian Somaliland
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Becomeing part of the Axis
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The U.S. Congress passes the Lend-Lease Act giving Roosevelt the authority to sell, transfer, or lease war goods to the government of any Allied country, thereby effectively ending American neutrality.
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Briefly becoming part of the Axis, but the pro-German government is toppled two days later
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The German Afrika Korps begins its offensive in North Africa
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Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece
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The U.S. occupies Greenland
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The USSR and Japan sign a neutrality pact
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Yugoslavia surrenders to Germany
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Germany captures Athens, Greece
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The Bismark, a German battleship, was sunk by Britian while she was on a maiden voyage
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Germany pushes Britain back to Egyptian border
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German airborne troops defeat the British in Crete
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Overthrows its pro-German government
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Overthrows its Vichy French government
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Beginning Operation Barbarossa, Italy and Romania declare war on the USSR.
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Hungary and Slovakia declare war on the USSR
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Finland declares war on the USSR
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U.S. occupies Iceland
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Britain and Russia occupy Iran
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Declaring their joint opposition to fascism, despite the U.S. still being nominally neutral
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Germany occupies Estonia
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It would not end until January 1944
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Under the Lend-Lease Act
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Germany begins the drive towards Moscow
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The USSR evacuates its seat of government to Kuibyshev
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Halt all offensive operations against the USSR or face a war with the Allies
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The USSR then counterattacks
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Japan attacks the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
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Japan invades Siam and Malaya
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The Allies -- except the USSR -- declare war on Japan
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Germany and Italy declare war on the U.S
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The Arcadia Conference between the U.S. and Britain begins in Washington, DC
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Japan invades Hong Kong
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The Declaration of the United Nations is signed by the leaders of 26 nations
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Japan captures Manila in the Philippines
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Japan invades Burma
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Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to establish a Combined Chiefs of Staff and to the make defeating Germany their first priority. Winning the war in Europe would come before winning the war in the Pacific
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Japan invades Singapore
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To find a "Final Solution" for the Jews
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Japan invades the Solomons
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The first U.S. troops arrive in Britain
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Japan invades Rangoon in Burma
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The Bataan Death March begins
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Doolittle's raiders bomb Toyko
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This helps save Australia and blocks the Japanese juggernaut in the Pacific
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The remaining U.S. troops on Corregidor in the Philippines surrender to the Japanese
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Together with the Battle of the Coral Sea, this marks the turning point in the war in the Pacific
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Germany decimates the Czech village of Lidice after Czech resistance fighters kill SS official Reinhard Heydrich
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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers initiates the Manhattan Project to develop an atomic bomb
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The German Afrika Korps recaptures Tobruk, Libya, from the British
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Japanese troops take Guadalcanal
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Germany begins deporting hundreds of thousands of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto to the Treblinka concentration camp
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U.S. troops land on Guadalcanal
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Brazil declares war on Germany and Italy
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The battle between German and British troops at El Alamein in North Africa begins
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Operation Torch begins. U.S. forces landed in Algeria, Oran, and Casablanca
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Allied forces begin move into Tunisia
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British troops recapture Tobruk, Libya
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Australian and U.S. Army forces under MacArthur fight back the Japanese at Gona in New Guinea
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Australian and U.S. Army forces under MacArthur fight back the Japanese at Buna in New Guinea
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Roosevelt and Churchill agree that Germany must surrender unconditionally, and plan the Allied invasion of Sicily
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It is a significant turning point in the war against Germany
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U.S. troops complete the capture of Guadalcanal from the Japanese
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The Allies begin massive bombing campaign of Germany
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German troops attempt to deport the ghetto's last surviving Jews About 750 Jews fought back the Germans for almost a month
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Roosevelt and Churchill decide to delay the Allied invasion of France and in its place plan the Allied invasion of Italy. In Alaska, U.S. troops land on Attu in the Aleutian islands to retake it from the Japanese
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Axis forces in North Africa surrender
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They kill thousands of Jews and the rest are sent to the Treblinka concentration camp to die
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The U.S. government begins directly withholding income tax from wages
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Over 160,000 Allied troops land in Sicily
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The Allies begin bombing Hamburg
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The new Italian government begins peace talks
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The Allies bomb the Ploesti oil fields in Romania
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The Quebec Conference between the U.S. and Britain begins
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U.S. troops retake Kiska island in the Aleutians
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Allied invasion of Sicily, is successfully concluded when American troops take Messina
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British troops land on mainland Italy, beginning the Allied campaign in Italy. American troops land six days later. The new Italian government formally surrenders
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Mussolini soon declares himself the head of a new fascist Italian government in German-occupied northern Italy
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Italy declares war on Germany
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U.S. Marines land on Bougainville island in the Solomons
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Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin meet together for the first time
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The next day, U.S. Marines land on Tarawa. Within four days, both islands were secured, but at the cost of thousands of casualties
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Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin agree that the Western Allies would invade France in June 1944 and that when it began the USSR would launch a new offensive from the east
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Dwight Eisenhower is named supreme commander of Allied Expeditionary Forces
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The Allies land at Anzio, Italy
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The German siege of Leningrad that began in September 1941 finally ends
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The USSR bombs Stockholm, Sweden. Four days later the USSR bombs Helsinki, Finland
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German troops occupy Hungary
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The USSR retakes Odessa
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German troops surrender in the Crimea
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The Allies capture Rome
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Operation Overlord -- the Allied invasion of German-occupied Western Europe -- begins on the beaches of Normandy, France
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Germany launches the first V-1 flying-bomb on Britain
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U.S. troops make an amphibious assault on the Japanese -held island of Saipan in the Marianas
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The U.S. defeat the Japanese in a massive air battle known as the Battle of the Philippine Sea. The Japanese lost more than 400 planes and three carriers. This victory paved the way for eventual success in the Marianas invasion
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The Allies liberate Cherbourg
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The USSR retakes Minsk
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Japanese troops on Saipan surrender
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The Allies liberate Caen
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Hitler then kills about 200 suspected plotters. U.S. troops make an amphibious assault on the Japanese -held island of Guam in the Marianas
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U.S. troops make an amphibious assault on the Japanese -held island of Tinian in the Marianas
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The Allies liberate Florence
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U.S. troops complete the recapture of Guam
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The Allies landing in the South of France, beginning Operation Anvil
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The USSR invades German-occupied Romania
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Romania surrenders
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The Allies liberate Paris
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The Allies liberate Pisa
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The Allies liberate Brussels and Antwerp
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The USSR invades Bulgaria. Germany launches the first V-2 flying-bomb on Britain
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Bulgaria makes peace with the USSR, then declares war on Germany
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The Allies enter Germany
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The ambitious Allied airborne assault in Arnhem, Holland -- Operation Market-Garden -- fails to shorten the war against Germany
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The Allies liberate Boulogne
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The USSR occupies Estonia. Over 6,000 Allied survivors of Operation Market-Garden in Arnhem, Holland are taken prisoner by the Germans
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The Allies liberate Calais
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Soviet troops enter Yugoslavia
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The Allies enter Greece, following the withdrawal of German troops
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The Allies liberate Athens
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The Allies capture Belgrade
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The Allies capture Aachen, the first city to be taken in Germany
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Soviets troops enter East Prussia
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The U.S. Navy defeats the Japanese in the Battle in Leyte Gulf the Japanese Navy was now virtually powerless
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Axis forces in Greece surrender
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The Allies capture Albania
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U.S. B-29 bombers begin the massive bombing campaign against mainland Japan in Europe, the Allies capture Strasbourg
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Germany begins its last-ditch offensive in the Ardennes
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U.S. troops hold Bastogne, stalling the German offensive in the Ardennes
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U.S. Army troops land on Luzon in the Philippines
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Advancing from the East, Soviet troops capture Warsaw
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Japanese troops retreat to the coast of China
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Discovering hundreds of corpses from people who were recently murdered, thousands of people barely alive, and the earthly remains of approximately 1,000,000 men and women
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Americans suffered some 75,000 casualties and the Germans lost 80,000 to l00,000. The Americans can recover from their military losses; the Germans cannot. Few people besides Hitler believe Germany can still win the war
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It is the single deadliest sinking in maritime history, killing between 6,000 and 10,000 people, most of whom were civilian refugees and wounded German soldiers
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Britain, and the USSR begins. Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin discuss their plans for Europe after the war, and Stalin agrees to declare war on Japan. In the Pacific, the Allies finally retake Manila in the Philippines after three years of brutal Japanese occupation
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The Allies begin firebombing Dresden, Germany, killing at least 135,000
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In the Pacific, U.S. Marines land on Iwo Jima
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In Europe, the Allies capture Saarbrucken
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Finland declares war on Germany
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The Remagen bridge over the Rhine, and the city of Cologne
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U.S. firebombing of Tokyo kills about 85,000 Japanese
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U.S. troops complete the capture of Iwo Jima from the Japanese, at the cost of 20,000 American casualties
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The Allies capture Mandalay, Burma
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Soviet troops capture Danzig
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The fierce Japanese defenders would inflict about 35,000 American casualties. In Europe, the Allies surround over 300,000 German troops in the Ruhr, and the final Allied offensive in northern Italy begins
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The Allies capture Hanover, Germany
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Discover that the prisoners had liberated themselves from a forced evacuation. A few days later, British troops liberate the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp for women
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 63. Harry S. Truman becomes president of the United States
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Soviet troops capture Vienna, Austria
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The Allies capture Arnhem, in the Netherlands
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The last of the German troops trapped on the Ruhr River surrender
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Soviet troops reach Berlin
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U.S. and Soviet troops meet at the Elbe River in Germany
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U.S. troops liberate the Dachau concentration camp where they discover evidence of gruesome medical experiments
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Nazi Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels is scheduled to become the new German Chancellor but he also kills himself -- after having his wife and six children killed. Karl Donitz is named as Hitler's successor
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The remaining German troops in Italy surrender
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Germany surrenders unconditionally
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V-E Day is declared -- Victory in Europe
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Soviet troops occupy Prague and the Allies liberate the Channel Islands
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U.S. troops complete the capture of Okinawa, providing a secure base for the final assault on Japan
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The Trinity Test. The parts of the bombs to be dropped on Japan are already on their way. In Germany, the Potsdam Conference between the U.S., Britain, and the USSR begins. Disagreements over the future of Europe plant more seeds for the coming Cold War
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The U.S., Britain, and China issue the Potsdam Declaration which gives an ultimatum to Japan: unconditionally surrender immediately, or face "prompt and utter destruction." In Britain, Clement Atlee replaces Winston Churchill as Prime Minister
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A U.S. B-29 named Enola Gay drops the "Little Boy" atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan. Approximately 140,000 people in the area will die by the end of the year
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The USSR declares war on Japan. Soviet troops invade Japanese-held Manchuria
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A U.S. B-29 named Bock's Car drops the "Fat Man" atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. Approximately 70,000 people in the area will die by the end of the year
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Japan agrees to unconditionally surrender
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V-J Day is declared -- Victory over Japan
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Japan signs the formal surrender agreement on board the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay. World War II, the most devastating war in human history, is over