World War II

World War II

Period: Jan 1, 1930 to Dec 31, 1945

Japan

Sep 18, 1931

Japan invades Manchuria

Italy

Oct 2, 1935

Fascist Italy invades, conquers, and annexes Ethiopia.

Germany & Italy

Nov 25, 1936

Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact, directed against the Soviet Union and the international Communist movement.

Japan

Jul 7, 1937

Japan invades China, initiating World War II in the Pacific.

Anschluss

Mar 11, 1938

Germany incorporates Austria in the Anschluss.

Munich Agreement

Sep 29, 1938

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.

Protectorate

Mar 14, 1939

Under German pressure, the Slovaks declare their independence and form a Slovak Republic. The Germans occupy the rump Czech lands in violation of the Munich agreement, forming a Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

Integrity Of Poland

Mar 31, 1939

France and Great Britain guarantee the integrity of the borders of the Polish state.

Albania

Apr 7, 1939

Fascist Italy invades and annexes Albania.

NonAgression

Aug 23, 1939

Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sign a nonaggression agreement and a secret codicil dividing eastern Europe into spheres of influence.

Invasion

Sep 1, 1939

Germany invades Poland, initiating World War II in Europe.

War

Sep 3, 1939

Honoring their guarantee of Poland’s borders, Great Britain and France declare war on Germany.

Battle Of Britan

Jul 10, 1940

The air war known as the Battle of Britain ends in defeat for Nazi Germany.

Tripartite Pact

Sep 27, 1940

Germany, Italy, and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact.

Pearl Harbor

Dec 7, 1941

Japan bombs Pearl Harbor.

War

Dec 8, 1941

The United States declares war on Japan, entering World War II. Japanese troops land in the Philippines, French Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia), and British Singapore. By April 1942, the Philippines, Indochina, and Singapore are under Japanese occupation.

Midway

Jun 13, 1942

British and US navies halt the Japanese naval advance in the central Pacific at Midway.

Stalingrad

Jun 28, 1942

Germany and her Axis partners launch a new offensive in the Soviet Union. German troops fight their way into Stalingrad (Volgograd) on the Volga River by mid-September and penetrate deep into the Caucasus after securing the Crimean Peninsula.

Surrender

Sep 8, 1943

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.

D-Day

Jun 6, 1944

British and US troops successfully land on the Normandy beaches of France, opening a “Second Front” against the Germans.

Liberation

Aug 20, 1944

Allied troops reach Paris. On August 25, Free French forces, supported by Allied troops, enter the French capital. By September, the Allies reach the German border; by December, virtually all of France, most of Belgium, and part of the southern Netherlands are liberated.

Hitlers Death

Apr 30, 1945

Hitler commits suicide.

V-E Day

May 7, 1945

Germany surrenders to the western Allies.

Hiroshima

Aug 6, 1945

The United States drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

Nagasaki

Aug 9, 1945

The United States drops an atomic bomb on Nagasaki