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Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini coins the name "Axis" for Italy and its allies when he states that the "line between Rome and Berlin is not a partition but rather an axis around which all European states...can also collaborate." -
Anti-Comintern Pact
The Anti-Comintern Pact is signed by Nazi Germany and Japan against the International Comintern but not against the Soviet Union. -
Munich agreement
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. -
Troop at Sudetenland
Nazi German troops march into the Sudetenland. Without the support of their alleged allies, France and Britain, the Czechoslovakians are powerless against Adolf Hitler's army. -
German-Soviet Nonaggerssion
Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression pact, stunning the world, given their diametrically opposed ideologies. But the dictators were, despite appearances, both playing to their own political needs. -
Germans invade Poland
German troops invade Poland all along its 1,750-mile border with German-controlled territory. -
Britian and France declare war on Germany
n response to Hitler’s invasion of Poland, Britain and France, both allies of the overrun nation declare war on Germany. -
Soviet Union invade Poland
Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov declares that the Polish government has ceased to exist, as the U.S.S.R. exercises the “fine print” of the Hitler-Stalin Non-aggression pact, the invasion and occupation of eastern Poland. -
Germany invades Norway and Denmark
German warships enter major Norwegian ports, from Narvik to Oslo, deploying thousands of German troops and occupying Norway. -
France to surrender
France signs an armistice with Nazi Germany. The armistice, signed by the French on June 22, went into effect on June 25, and more than half of France was occupied by the Germans. -
The Battle of Britian begins
Germans begin the first in a long series of bombing raids against Great Britain, as the Battle of Britain, which will last three and a half months, begins. -
Invasion of the Soviet Union
Adolf Hitler launched his armies eastward in a massive invasion of the Soviet Union: three great army groups with over three million German soldiers, 150 divisions, and three thousand tanks smashed across the frontier into Soviet territory. -
Peral Harbor
Japanese dive bomber bearing the red symbol of the Rising Sun of Japan on its wings appears out of the clouds above the island of Oahu. -
US Declare War
as America’s Pacific fleet lay in ruins at Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt requests, and receives, a declaration of war against Japan.