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Nazis take Czechoslovakia.
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Nazis sign a pact with Italy.
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Nazis and Soviets sign Pact. (Nazi soviet Pact)
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Britain and Poland sign a Mutual Assistance Treaty.
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Nazis invade Poland.
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Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declare war on Germany.
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British Royal Air Force attacks the German Navy.
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Canada declares war on Germany; Battle of the Atlantic begins.
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Soviets invade Poland.
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Nazis and Soviets divide up Poland.
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Nazis begin euthanasia on sick and disabled in Germany.
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Assassination attempt on Hitler fails.
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Soviets attack Finland.
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Soviet Union expelled from the League of Nations.
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Finland signs a peace treaty with Soviets.
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Germans bomb Scapa Flow naval base near Scotland.
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Nazis invade Denmark and Norway.
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Nazis invade France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; Winston Churchill becomes British Prime Minister.
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Holland surrenders to the Nazis.
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Evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk begins (Miracle of Dunkirk: Glorious British resistance).
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Evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk begins (Miracle of Dunkirk: Glorious British resistance).
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Norway surrenders to the Nazis; Italy declares war on Britain and France.
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Germans enter Paris.
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Hitler and Mussolini meet in Munich; Soviets begin occupation of the Baltic States.
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France signs an armistice with Nazi Germany.
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Britain recognizes General Charles de Gaulle as the Free French leader.
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German U-boats attack merchant ships in the Atlantic.
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French Vichy government (controlled by Nazis) breaks off relations with Britain.
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Battle of Britain begins.
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Soviets take Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
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Italians occupy British Somaliland in East Africa.
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irst German air raids on Central London.
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First British air raid on Berlin.
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Hitler plans Operation Sea Lion (the invasion of Britain
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German Blitzkrieg against Britain begins
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Italians invade Egypt (controlled by the British)
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Italy invades Greece.
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Hungary joins the Axis Powers
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Greeks defeat the Italian 9th Army.
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Romania joins the Axis Powers.
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British begin a western desert offensive in North Africa against the Italians.
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Massive German air raid on London.
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German General Erwin Rommel arrives in Tripoli, North Africa.
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British forces arrive in Greece.
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Nazis invade Greece and Yugoslavia.
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Yugoslavia surrenders to the Nazis.
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Greece surrenders to the Nazis.
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Operation Brevity begins (the British counter-attack in Egypt).
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Allies invade Syria and Lebanon.
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Germany attacks Soviet Union as Operation Barbarossa begins.
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Mutual Assistance agreement between British and Soviets.
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British occupy Syria.
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Göring instructs Heydrich to prepare for the Final Solution.
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United States announces an oil embargo against aggressor states.
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Roosevelt and Churchill announce the Atlantic Charter.
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Nazis order Jews to wear yellow stars.
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First experimental use of gas chambers at Auschwitz.
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Nazis murder 33,771 Jews at Kiev.
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Operation Typhoon begins (German advance on Moscow).
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The Soviet Army lounches a counter offensive around Moscow.
launches a major counter-offensive around Moscow. -
Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor; Hitler issues the Night and Fog decree.
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United States and Britain declare war on Japan.
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Hitler declares war on the United States.
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Rommel begins a retreat to El Agheila in North Africa.
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Declaration of the United Nations signed by 26 Allied nations.
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Germans begin a U-boat offensive along east coast of USA.
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SS Leader Heydrich holds the Wannsee Conference to coordinate the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question."
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First American forces arrive in Great Britain.
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First thousand-bomber British air raid (against Cologne).
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Mass murder of Jews by gassing begins at Auschwitz.
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Rommel reaches El Alamein near Cairo, Egypt.
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First Battle of El Alamein.
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First deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto to concentration camps; Treblinka extermination camp opened.
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Stalin and Churchill meet in Moscow.
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First all-American air attack in Europe.
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Massive German air raid on Stalingrad, Russia.
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Battle of Stalingrad begins.
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Operation Supercharge
Allies break Axis lines at El Alamein -
Operation Torch begins
U.S. invasion of North Africa -
Germans and Italians invade unoccupied Vichy France.
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Soviet counter-offensive at Stalingrad begins.
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British Foreign Secretary Eden tells the British House of Commons of mass executions of Jews by Nazis; U.S. declares those crimes will be avenged.
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Soviets begin an offensive against the Germans in Stalingrad.
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Casablanca conference between Churchill and Roosevelt. During the conference, Roosevelt announces the war can end only with "unconditional German surrender."
(Jan 14 - Jan 24) -
Germans surrender at Stalingrad in the first big defeat of Hitler's armies.
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German and Italian troops surrender in North Africa
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Himmler orders the liquidation of all Jewish ghettos in Poland.
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Germans begin their last offensive against Kursk.
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Allies land in Sicily.
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Allies bomb Rome
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Americans capture Palermo, Sicily.
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Mussolini arrested and the Italian Fascist government falls; Marshal Pietro Badoglio takes over and negotiates with Allies.
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Allied air raid causes a firestorm in Hamburg.
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Germans evacuate Sicily.
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Italian surrender to Allies is announced.
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Germans occupy Rome
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Germans rescue Mussolini
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Mussolini re-establishes a Fascist government.
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Allies enter Naples, Italy.
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Italy declares war on Germany; Second American air raid on Schweinfurt.
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Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin meet at Teheran.
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Soviet troops advance into Poland.
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British drop 3000 tons of bombs during an air raid on Hamburg, Germany.
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Soviet troops begin an offensive to liberate Crimea.
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Allies enter Rome.
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D-Day landings on the northern coast of France.
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Soviet offensive against the Finnish front begins.
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'Battle of the Hedgerows' in Normandy; Soviets capture Minsk.
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Assassination attempt by German Army officers against Hitler fails.
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Soviet troops liberate first concentration camp at Majdanek
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Operation Cobra (U.S. troops break out west of St. Lô).
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Anne Frank and family arrested by the Gestapo in Amsterdam, Holland.
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Germans begin a major counter-attack toward Avranches.
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Operation Dragoon begins (the Allied invasion of Southern France).
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Liberation of Paris.
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Finland and the Soviet Union agree to a cease-fire.
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Allies liberate Athens; General Rommel commits suicide.
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Massive German surrender at Aachen, Germany.
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Last use of gas chambers at Auschwitz.
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Soviet troops capture Warsaw, Poland.
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Soviet troops liberate Auschwitz
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Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin meet at Yalta.
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Allies discover stolen Nazi art and wealth hidden in German salt mines.
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U.S. troops encircle Germans in the Ruhr; Allied offensive in northern Italy.
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Soviet troops begin their final attack on Berlin; Americans enter Nuremberg.
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German forces in the Ruhr surrender.
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Soviets reach Berlin.
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Mussolini is captured and hanged by Italian partisans; Allies take Venice.
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Adolf Hitler commits suicide.
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German troops in Italy surrender
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Unconditional surrender of all German forces to Allies.
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V-E (Victory in Europe) Day.
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Allies divide up Germany and Berlin and take over the government.
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American, British, and French troops move into Berlin.
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First U.S. atomic bomb test; Potsdam Conference begins.
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First atomic bomb dropped, on Hiroshima, Japan.
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Soviets declares war on Japan and invade Manchuria.
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Second atomic bomb dropped, on Nagasaki, Japan.
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Japanese agree to unconditional surrender.
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Japanese sign the surrender agreement; V-J (Victory over Japan) Day.
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United Nations is born.
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Nuremberg war crimes trials begin (Trial against Nazi leaders)
