WW11 Important Facts

Fascist Italy invades, conquers, and annexes Ethiopia.

Oct 2, 1936

Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy sign a treaty of cooperation on October 25; on November 1, the Rome-Berlin Axis is announced.

Oct 25, 1936

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

Nov 25, 1936

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

Jul 7, 1937

Japan invades Manchuria.

Sep 18, 1937

Germany incorporates Austria in the Anschluss.

Mar 13, 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.

Sep 29, 1938

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.

Mar 15, 1939

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

Mar 31, 1939

Fascist Italy invades and annexes Albania.

Apr 15, 1939

Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sign a nonagression agreement..

Aug 23, 1939

Germany Invades Poland

Sep 1, 1939

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

Sep 3, 1939

The Soviet Union invades Poland from the east.

Sep 17, 1939

Warsaw surrenders on September 27. The Polish government flees into exile via Romania. Germany and the Soviet Union divide Poland between them.

Sep 29, 1939

Soviet Union

Mar 30, 1940

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.

Jun 9, 1940

Germany invades Denmark and Norway. Denmark surrenders on the day of the attack; Norway holds out until June 9.

Italy enters the war

Jun 10, 1940

Italy enters the war. Italy invades southern France on June 21.

Germany attacks western Europe

Jun 22, 1940

Germany attacks western Europe—France and the neutral Low Countries. Luxembourg is occupied on May 10; the Netherlands surrenders on May 14; and Belgium surrenders on May 28. On June 22, France signs an armistice agreement by which the Germans occupy the northern half of the country and the entire Atlantic coastline. In southern France, a collaborationist regime with its capital in Vichy is established.

The Soviet Union forces Romania

Jun 28, 1940

The Soviet Union forces Romania to cede the eastern province of Bessarabia and the northern half of Bukovina to the Soviet Ukraine.