-
Japan invades Manchuria.
-
Fascist Italy invades, conquers, and annexes Ethiopia.
-
Japan invades China, initiating World War II in the Pacific.
-
Germany incorporates Austria in the Anschluss.
-
France and Great Britain guarantee the integrity of the borders of the Polish state.
-
Germany invades Denmark and Norway. Denmark surrenders on the day of the attack; Norway holds out until June 9.
-
The air war known as the Battle of Britain ends in defeat for Nazi Germany.
-
The Germans send the Afrika Korps to North Africa to reinforce the faltering Italians.
-
Nazi Germany and its Axis partners declare war on the United States.
-
British and US navies halt the Japanese naval advance in the central Pacific at Midway.
