-
The Second World War began when Germany invaded Poland. Britain and France had pledged to defend Poland.
-
Both, the French and British, declared war on Germany. France wasn't strong enough, so Britain was the one to start fighting against Germany. By the end of the month, Polish resistance had collapsed.
-
Between October 1939 and April 1940 there was a little fighting between Britain, France and Germany. This period became known ad the "Phoney War".
-
Between October 1939 and March 1940 there was a war between Finland and the URSS in the small Baltic state of Finland. The Finnish army fought with great skill and ferocity but in the end the URSS defeated her small neighbour.
-
The French and British started mining Norwegian waters at the same time Germany invaded Norway and Denmark.
-
In May 1940 Winston Churchill came to power in Britain.
-
After months of waiting, Hitler struck west. The Netherlands, Belgium and France were invaded and rapidly defeated by German foreces.
-
Sensing that the war was nearly over, Mussolini joined forces with Germany. He wanted Italy to get some of the rewards of victory.
-
German planes bombed military sites, factories and London in August and September. The British airforce, the RAF, fought back and the clash of the two airforces became known as the Battle of Britain. Although there were heavy losses on both sides, the RAF got upper hand in the Battle of Britain and as a result Hitler was forced to put off his plans for an invasion of Britain.
-
Germany invaded the Soviet Union in an operation known to the German leaders as Barbarossa.
-
The German leadership decided on a Final Solution to the question of how Jewish people should be treated by the Nazi authorities. Death camps were set up to exterminate the Jewish population.
-
Over 3 million Soviet troops had been captured and Germans were moving to Moscow. At this point the campaign began to go wrong for Hitler.
-
The Japanese went to war against the USA with a surprise attack on the USA naval base of Pear Harbor. The result was that the USA joined forces with Britain and the URSS to fight Germany, Japan and Italy.
-
By the early months of 1942 Japanese forces seized control of much of Eastern Asia and the islands of the Pacific.
-
The USA stopped the tide of Japanese conquest at the Battle of Midway Island.
-
In the summer, the Germans renewed their attack on the URSS. They concentrated their forces in the south and tried to capture the southern city of Stalingrad.
-
A fierce battle between the URSS and Germany for the control of Stalingrad was fought in the autumn.
-
The German army in north Africa was defeated by British forces at the Battle of El Alamein.
-
The Soivet forces launched a counter-attack and the German army was eventually surrounded.
-
The German army at Stalingrad surrendered. The battle for Stalingrad was a crucial event. It proved that the Red Army could beat the German army. After Stalingrad Germany was on the defensive and the war began to go against Hitler.
-
The Germans and Italians had been completely driven out of north Africa.
-
Brisith and American forces landed in Italy.
-
The Germans abandoned the siege of Leningrad, which had been going on for two years.
-
Rome was taking in June 1944 but it was not until 1945 that the whole of Italy was under British and American control.
-
Frances was invaded. This was known ad "D Day".
-
The Germans were in retreat across the Soviet Union.
-
The British and American forces had reached Paris.
-
The Americans invaded the Philippines. Over 170,000 Japanese soldiers were killed before the capital Manila was taken.
-
The Germans launched a counter-attack in the Ardennes are of Belgium. After some early success the German attack was turned back.
-
German power in Europe finally collapsed. Soviet forces captured Berlin and Hitler committed suicide.
-
The war continued against Japan. The American government was very worried about the level of Japanese resistance.
-
Two atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
-
The devastations caused by the bombs forced the Japanese government to surrender. The Second World War was over.
