-
Japan invades Manchuria, China
The Japanese invasion of Manchuria began on September 19, 1931, when Manchuria was invaded by the Kwantung Army of the Empire of Japan. Japan chose Manchuria for its natural resources, lacking in the japanese islands -
Italian invasion of Ethiopia
On the 3rd of October 1935 Italy invaded Ethiopia and, by May 1936 defeated the ethiopian army. Both Italy and Ethiopia were member nations of the League of Nations and yet the League was unable to control Italy or to protect Ethiopia. -
Rape of Nunking, China
The Nanking Massacre, also known as the Rape of Nanking, was an episode of mass murder and mass rape committed by Japanese troops against Nanking, China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. -
Munich Conference
Mussolini, Chamberlain, and Daladier gathered on 29th September 1938 with Hitler in Munich, Germany, with the purpose of appeasing the Nazi Leader, by conceding him the Sudetenland, some territories of Czechoslovakia -
Germany invades Poland
This day marks the beginning of World War II. In the picture you may see the city of Wieluń just after German Luftwaffe bombing. -
Nazis invade France
Germany invades France, as well as Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. On May 10, 1940, and on June 22, a month later, an armistice is signed in Paris between France and Nazi Germany. -
Battle of Dunkirk
After losing the Battle of Dunkirk to the Germans, 338 000 allied troops managed to evacuate and escape to England. This was the biggest evacuation in History, also known as the "Miracle of Dunkirk." -
Appeal of 18 June
Charles de Gaulle gives a speech on BBC Radio appealing all french people to help him creating the French Resistance . -
German Blitzkrieg against Britain begins
German airplanes start bombing the United Kingdom. London is a key target. Bombardments ocurred at night -
Operation Barbarossa
Germany attacks the Soviet Union, breaking the non-aggression pact, and so the Operation Barbarossa begins. -
Enigma key broken
On this day in 1941, crackerjack British cryptologists break the secret code used by the German army to direct ground-to-air operations on the Eastern front. -
Gas Chambers in Auschwitz
First experimental use of gas chambers in Auschwitz. In the next 4 years, more than a million people died in this extermination camp -
Pearl Harbor Attack
The Japanese attack the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. On the day after, Franklin D. Roosevelt announces the entrance of the United States in WWII -
Battle of Midway
American naval victory at Battle of Midway, in June, marks turning point in Pacific War - 4 Japanese aircraft carriers are sunk. -
Warsaw ghetto uprising
Jews are deported from Warsaw Ghetto to concentration camps. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad (August 23, 1942 – February 2, 1943) was the most strategically decisive battle of the whole war for it was a turning point in the European theatre of World War II–the German forces never regained the initiative in the East . -
Nazi defeated at Stalingrad
Surrender at Stalingrad marks Germany's first major defeat. Nazi troops can not overcome soviet army in the winter. -
Operation Torch
On November 8, 1942 , the Operation Torch, code name to the U.S. invasion of North Africa begins. On May 13, 1943 - German and Italian troops surrender -
D Day
On this day, the Allied troops landed in Normandy, north of France, in an operation called Operation Overloard. This day marks the beggining of french liberation. -
Liberation of Paris
This day marked the liberation of Paris by the Allied troops and french resistance, as well as the exile of the Vichy government to Sigmaringen in Germany. -
Liberation of Auschwitz
Japanese retreat to Chinese coast and Soviets liberate Auschwitz. -
VE Day
Victory in Europe! Germany surrenders to the Red Army in Berlin. It marks the end of the war in Europe. -
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
the United States conducted the atomic bombings of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ( August 6th and 9th) in Japan during the final stages of World War II in 1945, killing more than 150 000 -250 000 people. -
End of World War II
Japan announces its surrender to the Allies, signing the Instrument of Surrender on September 2, officially ending World War II.
