-
Japan invades Manchuria.
-
Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact, directed against the Soviet Union and the international Communist movement.
-
Japan invades China, initiating World War II in the Pacific.
-
Germany incorporates Austria in the Anschluss.
-
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.
-
France and Great Britain guarantee the integrity of the borders of the Polish state.
-
Germany invades Poland, initiating World War II in Europe.
-
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.
-
Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sign a nonaggression agreement and a secret codicil dividing eastern Europe into spheres of influence.
-
Honoring their guarantee of Poland’s borders, Great Britain and France declare war on Germany.
-
The Soviet Union invades Poland from the east.
-
Warsaw surrenders on September 27. The Polish government flees into exile via Romania. Germany and the Soviet Union divide Poland between them.
-
The Soviet Union invades Finland, initiating the so-called Winter War. The Finns sue for an armistice and have to cede the northern shores of Lake Lagoda and the small Finnish coastline on the Arctic Sea to the Soviet Union.
-
The Soviet Union invades Finland, initiating the so-called Winter War. The Finns sue for an armistice and have to cede the northern shores of Lake Lagoda and the small Finnish coastline on the Arctic Sea to the Soviet Union.
-
Germany invades Denmark and Norway. Denmark surrenders on the day of the attack; Norway holds out until June 9.
-
Germany invades Denmark and Norway. Denmark surrenders on the day of the attack; Norway holds out until June 9.
-
Italy enters the war. Italy invades southern France on June 21.
-
The Soviet Union forces Romania to cede the eastern province of Bessarabia and the northern half of Bukovina to the Soviet Ukraine.
-
The Italians invade British-controlled Egypt from Italian-controlled Libya.
-
Germany, Italy, and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact.
-
Bulgaria joins the Axis.
-
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor.
-
A Soviet counteroffensive drives the Germans from the Moscow suburbs in chaotic retreat.
-
Axis forces in Tunisia surrender to the Allies, ending the North African campaign.
-
The Germans launch a massive tank offensive near Kursk in the Soviet Union. The Soviets blunt the attack within a week and begin an offensive initiative of their own.
-
US and British troops land on Sicily. By mid-August, the Allies control Sicily.
-
The Fascist Grand Council deposes Benito Mussolini, enabling Italian marshall Pietro Badoglio to form a new government.
-
Allied troops land on the beaches of Salerno near Naples.
-
Soviet troops liberate Kiev.
-
Allied troops land successfully near Anzio, just south of Rome.
-
Allied troops liberate Rome. Within six weeks, Anglo-American bombers could hit targets in eastern Germany for the first time.
-
British and US troops successfully land on the Normandy beaches of France, opening a “Second Front” against the Germans.
-
Anglo-American forces break out of the Normandy beachhead and race eastward towards Paris.
-
Allied forces land in southern France near Nice and advance rapidly towards the Rhine River to the northeast.
-
Finland concludes an armistice with the Soviet Union, leaving the Axis partnership.
-
US troops land in the Philippines.
-
US troops cross the Rhine River at Remagen.
-
The Soviets launch their final offensive, encircling Berlin.
-
Hitler commits suicide.
-
Germany surrenders to the western Allies.
-
Germany surrenders to the Soviets.
-
The United States drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
-
The Soviet Union declares war on Japan and invades Manchuria.
-
The United States drops an atomic bomb on Nagasaki.
-
Having agreed in principle to unconditional surrender on August 14, 1945, Japan formally surrenders, ending World War II.