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Nazi/Soviet non-aggression pact
This was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that enabled those two powers to divide Poland between them. This was significant because Hitler wanted a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union so that his armies could invade Poland virtually unopposed by a major power, after which Germany could deal with the forces of France and Britain in the west without having to simultaneously fight the Soviet Union on a second front in the east. -
Hitler invades & attacks Poland
Germany invaded Poland to regain lost territory. This event was significant because the German invasion of Poland was a primer on how Hitler intended to wage war–what would become the “blitzkrieg” strategy, and it triggered the start of World War 2. -
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WWII
World War 2 was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries including all of the great powers. Which formed two opposing military alliances, called the Allies and the Axis powers. -
Britain and France declare war on Germany
Honoring their guarantee of Poland’s borders, Great Britain and France declare war on Germany. This was significant because Britain and France had both demanded the German army to withdraw from Poland. Hitler also didn't believe that they would take action, despite the guarantee to Poland. However the British reluctantly accepted that war was necessary to stop Hitler. -
Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic was the struggle between the Allied and German forces for control of the Atlantic Ocean. This event was significant because control of the Atlantic Ocean was essential to Britain's success in WWII, as Britain depended on the Atlantic for overseas communication. Britain also depended on fishing the Atlantic waters for food. -
Canada declares war on Germany
After debating the matter Canada declared war on Germany on 10 September. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King promised that only volunteers would serve overseas. This event was significant because Canada, of its own free will, entered the war in September 1939 because it then realized that Nazi Germany threatened the very existence of Western civilization. -
Miracle at Dunkirk
The trapped British army evacuated to England from Dunkirk, France, surviving to fight another day. This event was significant, because the evacuation from Dunkirk involved the rescue of more than 338,000 British soldiers. If they hadn’t been evacucated the allies very well may have lost the war agaist the Nazi Germans. -
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain was a battle of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force and the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force, called the Luftwaffe. This event was significant because it allowed Britan to remain free from Nazi occupation. It also enabled the Americans to establish a base of operations in England to later invade Normandy on D-Day in 1944. -
Canadian soldiers defeated at Hong Kong
The defenders of Hong Kong surrendered on Christmas Day 1941, after several days of intense fighting. This event was significant because Hong Kong was the first place Canadians fought a land battle in the Second World War. -
Battle of Dieppe
The Allies launched a major raid on the French coastal port of Dieppe. This event was significant because it erased the faulty notions of Allied war planners that surprise, and tanks, were enough to make a successful amphibious assault against occupied France. -
Soviets defeat Germans at Stalingrad (Battle of Stalingrad)
Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in Southern Russia. This event was significant because it stopped the German advance into the Soviet Union and marked the turning of the tide of war in favour of the Allies. -
Italian campaign
The Allies agreed to help and decided to use Italy as a platform to attack enemy territory in Europe and help divert German resources from the Eastern Front. This event was significant because it helped secure the Mediterranean Sea for Allied shipping and contributed to the downfall of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. It was also important in determining the outcome of the war, since the Allies engaged German forces that could have possibly upset the balance in France. -
D-Day
On D-Day Allied forces launched a combined naval, air and land assault on Nazi-occupied France. This was event was significant because D-Day marked the turn of the tide for the control maintained by Nazi Germany, and less than a year after the invasion, the Allies formally accepted Nazi Germany's surrender. -
End of the War in Europe (Germany surrenders)
On May 7, 1945, Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allies in Reims, France, ending World War II and the Third Reich. This event was significant because the German Instrument of Surrender was the legal document the accomplished the extinction of Nazi Germany and ended World War II in Europe.