-
Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany. His Nazi Party, or the Third Reich, takes power and Hitler is essentially the dictator of Germany.
-
Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy form the Rome-Berlin Axis treaty.
-
Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact. This was a pact against communism and Russia.
-
Japan invades China.
-
Hitler annexed the country of Austria into Germany. This is also called the Anschluss.
-
Germany invades Poland. World War II begins.
-
France and Great Britain declare war on Germany.
-
Germany invades and takes control of Denmark and Norway.
-
Germany uses quick strikes called blitzkrieg, meaning lightning war, to take over much of western Europe including the Netherlands, Belgium, and northern France.
-
Winston Churchill becomes leader of the British government.
-
Germany invades and takes control of Denmark and Norway.
-
1940 June 10 - Italy enters the war as a member of the Axis powers.
-
Germany uses quick strikes called blitzkrieg, meaning lightning war, to take over much of western Europe including the Netherlands, Belgium, and northern France.
-
Germany launches an air attack on Great Britain. These attacks last until the end of October and are known as the Battle of Britain.
-
Germany, Italy, and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact creating the Axis Alliance.
-
Germany and the Axis Powers attack Russia with a huge force of over four million troops.
-
1941 December 7 - The Japanese attack the US Navy in Pearl Harbor. The next day the US entered World War II on the side of the Allies.
-
The US Navy defeats the Japanese navy at the Battle of Midway.
-
The Allies invade and take the island of Sicily.
-
Italy surrenders to the Allies, however Germany helps Mussolini to escape and set up a government in Northern Italy.
-
D-day and the Normandy invasion. Allied forces invade France and push back the Germans.
-
1944 August 25 - Paris is liberated from German control.
-
The Germans launch a large attack in the Battle of the Bulge. They lose to the Allies sealing the fate of the German army.
-
U.S. Marines invade the island of Iwo Jima. After a fierce battle they capture the island.
-
The U.S. Third Army under General Patton crosses the Rhine River.
-
U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt dies. He is succeeded by President Harry Truman.
-
Adolf Hitler commits suicide as he knows Germany has lost the war.
-
Germany surrenders to the Allies.
-
The United States drops the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. The city is devastated.
-
Another atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.
-
Japan surrenders to US General Douglass MacArthur and the Allies.