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Japan invades China, initiating World War II in the Pacific.
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Germany incorporates Austria in the Anschluss. Hitler wanted all German speaking nations in Europe to be a part of Germany, and this included Austria.
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Germany, Italy, Great Britain, and France sign the Munich agreement which forces the Czechoslovak Republic to cede the Sudetenland, including the key Czechoslovak military defense positions, to Nazi Germany.
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France and Great Britain guarantee the integrity of the borders of the Polish state.
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Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sign a nonaggression agreement and a secret codicil dividing Eastern Europe into spheres of influence.
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Germany invades Poland, initiating World War II in Europe.
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Germany, Italy, and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact,forming alliances known as the Axis Powers
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The Soviet Union invades Finland,initiating the so-called Winter War. The Finns sue for an armistice and must cede to the northern shores of Lake Lagoda and the small Finnish coastline on the Arctic Sea to the Soviet Union. This occurs from 1939-1940.
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Finland, seeking redress for the territorial losses in the armistice concluding the Winter War, joins the Axis just before the invasion. The Germans quickly overrun the Baltic States and, joined by the Finns, lay siege to Leningrad by September. In the center, the Germans capture Smolensk in early August and drive on Moscow by October. In the south, German and Romanian troops capture Kiev in September and capture Rostov on the Don River in November.
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Japan plans a surprise bomb attack on the U.S. naval base, Pearl Harbor.
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The United States declares war on Japan, entering World War II. Japanese troops land in the Philippines, French Indochina, and British Singapore. By April 1942, the Philippines, Indochina, and Singapore are under Japanese occupation.
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British and U.S. navies halt the Japanese naval advance in the central Pacific at Midway.
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US and British troops land at several points on the beaches of Algeria and Morocco in French North Africa. The failure of the Vichy French troops to defend against the invasion enables the Allies to move swiftly to the western border of Tunisia and triggers the German occupation of southern France on November 11.
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Axis forces in Tunisia surrender to the Allies, ending the North African campaign.
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The Badoglio government surrenders unconditionally to the Allies. The Germans immediately seize control of Rome and northern Italy, establishing a puppet Fascist regime under Mussolini, who is freed from imprisonment by German commandos on September 12.
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The Germans launch a final offensive in the west, known as the Battle of the Bulge, in an attempt to re-conquer Belgium and split the Allied forces along the German border. By January 1, 1945, the Germans are in retreat.
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British and U.S. troops successfully land on the beaches of Normandy in France, opening a "Second Front" against the Germans.
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Knowing that everyone hated him, Hitler informed his troops that he would commit suicide and ordered them to burn his body. This led to many believing that he escaped since his body could not be found.
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Japan was the last force still fighting. The United States launched the first ever atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in Japan.
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After the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan surrendered unconditionally to the U.S. ending World War II. This day is known as VJ Day, or Victory over Japan Day.
