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Germany invades Poland; Britain and France declare war on Germany. This is generally agreed upon as the start date to WWII.
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Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, begins the invasion of Belgium, the Netherlands, and France. German troops avoid the Maginot Line, and instead use blitzkrieg tactics against the Western European countries.
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British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, urged all Allied troops still in France to get to the beaches at Normandy where anything that could float across the channel was loaded with troops and taken to relative safety in Britain. This was a remarkable event in that civilians en masse participated in this evacuation and managed to rescue more than 338,000 troops from fallen France.
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France signs an armistice with Germany and is occupied by German troops until liberated in 1945.
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The day after the armistice was signed by France, Hitler visited Paris and had his photo taken at the Eifel Tower.
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Japanese planes bomb the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. The Pacific fleet is devastated. This event prompts the United Stated to enter WWII on the side of the Allies.
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US and British forces land in Sicily.
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Allied troops invade France at the beaches of Normandy. France begins to be liberated. This is the largest amphibious assault of all time.
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Hitler and his new wife, Eva Braun, commit suicide in his bunker in Berlin.
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Germany surrenders and victory in Europe is declared.
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After the Potsdam conference, allies agreed to drop an Atom bomb on Japan if they refused to surrender after a final warning. Japan did not surrender, and on August 6, the US dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese industrial center, Hiroshima.
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A second Atom bomb is dropped on Nagasaki, an important shipping center for Japan. This prompts Japans='s unconditional surrender less than a month later.
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Japan surrenders aboard the USS Missouri. World War II is officially over.
