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the start of WW2
After annexing the Sudetenland, Germany invades the rest of Czechoslovakia, while Italy launches an invasion of Albania -
fancisco franco
The Spanish Civil War ends, as Madrid falls to the forces of Francisco Franco. -
Nazi germany
Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia sign a mutual non-aggression pact. The agreement is signed by German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Josef Stalin's commissar of foreign affairs, V. M. Molotov. -
German troops
German troops and aircraft attack Poland. Soviet troops will invade Poland from the east on September 17, and Poland will surrender to the Germans on September 27. -
Hitler ignores the demand for german withdrawl
After Hitler ignores their demand for German withdrawal from Poland, and as the British ship Athenia is sunk by German U-boats off the coast of Ireland, Great Britain and France formally declare war on Germany. -
Charles A. Lindbergh
American aviation hero Charles A. Lindbergh makes his first anti-intervention radio speech. The U.S. non-intervention movement is supported not just by Lindbergh, but by former president Herbert Hoover, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., Henry Ford, Lindbergh and a number of senators and congressmen as well. -
poland
Poland is partitioned between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. -
president roosevelt
Although President Roosevelt has declared American neutrality in the war in Europe, a Neutrality Act is signed that allows the US to send arms and other aid to Britain and France. -
Soviet troops invade Finland.
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National Women's party
In Washington, the National Women's Party meets and urges the Congress to act on an Equal Rights Amendment. -
social security checks
The U.S. government issues its first Social Security checks, totaling just over $75,000. -
M&H
Mussolini and Hitler announce Italy's formal alliance with Germany against England and France. -
lightning war
The German Blitzkrieg ("lightning war") begins, as Rotterdam and other Dutch cities are attacked from the air. By the end of the month, the Dutch armies will have surrendered, Belgium will have surrendered, and the evacuation of British and French troops from Dunkirk will be underway. -
Germany declares a blockade
Germany declares a blockade of British waters, and begins a bombing campaign which, by September, will be killing hundreds each day. In November, German air raids will kill more than 4,500 Britons. -
G&I&J
Germany, Italy and Japan enter into a 10-year military and economic alliance that comes to be known as the "Axis". Hungary and Romania will join the Axis in November. -
land lease
Contrary to widespread isolationist sentiment, President Roosevelt recommends a "Land-Lease" program that will provide U.S. aid to the Allies. -
food comes
Britain receives its first American "Lend-Lease" aid shipments of food. By December, millions of tons of food will have arrived from the U.S. -
Iraq
British troops arrive in Iraq and will prevent Axis sympathizers from taking over the government there. In early June, British and Free French troops will invade Syria and Lebanon to prevent those countries from being taken over by the Germany. -
ATTACKK
President Roosevelt issues an order that German or Italian ships sighted in U.S. waters will be attacked immediately. -
1,000 bomber attack
The first 1,000-bomber attack on German industrial targets is carried out by Britain's Royal Air Force, as the German city of Cologne is raided. -
protector
In reprisal for the May 29 assassination of German Deputy Gestapo chief and "Protector" of Czechoslovakia, Reinhard Heydrich, German troops attempt to execute every male in the Czech village of Lidice (Bohemia), and they then set fire to the village. -
british empire
In response to Mahatma Gandhi's demand that India be granted independence from Britain immediately, Prime Minister Churchill, in a speech at Mansion House, says "I have not become the King's First Minister in order to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire." -
jewish men
A group of wives of Jewish men gather in Berlin to stop the deportation of their husbands to concentrations camp. The group of women will grow to 1,000 by March 8 and will succeed in forcing Joseph Goebbels to order the release of 1,500 men. -
Italy declares war
Italy declares war on Britain and France, and U.S. President Roosevelt announces a shift from neutrality to "non-belligerency," meaning more active support for the Allies against the Axis. -
battle of kursk
The Battle of Kursk begins. Soviet troops will eventually defeat the Germans, after a week of heavy fighting and tens of thousands of casualties on both sides. -
war
Germany and Italy declare war on the U.S. President Roosevelt calls an end to official U.S. neutrality in the war in Europe, declaring war on Germany and Italy. -
chinese act
President Roosevelt repeals the U.S. Chinese Exclusion Acts of 1882 and 1902, thus allowing Chinese residents of the United States to be eligible for citizenship. The new Chinese Act also allows for the immigration of up to 105 Chinese annually. -
Russian troops
Russian troops recapture Novgorod, and will retake Leningrad a week later. By early May, they will have recaptured Odessa and Sevastopol as well. Meanwhile the British Royal Air Force bombs Berlin with more than 2,300 tons of bombs. -
600 people
More than 600 people are massacred by German troops in the French town of Oradour-sur-Glane. While the men are shot immediately, the women and children are locked in a church the alter of which is set on fire; those who try to escape the flames are shot. -
Japanese civilians
As a U.S. taking of Saipan becomes certain, hundreds of Japanese civilians commit suicide rather than surrender. Allied B-29 bombers can reach Tokyo from Saipan, thus the capture of the island will be a turning point in the Pacific war. The Tokyo government collapses within 2 weeks. -
amsterdam
In Amsterdam, Otto Frank and his family (including his daughter Anne, then 15) are captured by the Gestapo. Jewish, they have been in hiding for more than two years, kept by Miep and Jan Gies, but have been betrayed by someone familiar with their hiding place and are put on the last convoy of trucks to Auschwitz. -
battle of bulge
The Battle of the Bulge begins. It the last major German counteroffensive, as allied troops are pushed back in Belgium's Ardennes Forest. As Allied lines fall back, a "bulge" is created in the center of the line, giving the battle its familiar name (see MAP). Two weeks of intense fighting in brutal winter weather follow before the German offensive is stopped. -
germany surrenders
Germany surrenders unconditionally to General Eisenhower at Rheims, France, and to the Soviets in Berlin. President Truman pronounces the following day, May 8, V-E Day. The U.S., Russia, England, and France agree to split occupied Germany into eastern and western halves. -
B-29
http://cds.library.brown.edu/projects/WWII_Women/NewTimeline.html
The U.S B-29 Superfortress, Enola Gay, drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese industrial city of Hiroshima. The city is leveled, and an estimated 100,000 people are killed immediately (another 100,000 will die later from radiation sickness and burns). On August 9, a second bomb will be dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. -
poland
The Japanese sue for peace after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and U.S. President Truman declares that August 14th will be V-J (Victory over Japan) Day. To date, nearly 55 million people have died in the Second World War, including 25 million in the Soviet Union, nearly 8 million in China, and more than 6 million in Poland. -
fewer than 3000 men
Russian troops find fewer than 3,000 survivors when they liberate Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp in Poland. The German S.S. has moved many of the remaining prisoners to camps inside Germany. From 1939 to 1945, one third of the Jews living in the world will have died in German concentration and extermination camps.