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Adolf Hitler was sworn in by German President Paul von Hindenburg as Chancellor of Germany. -
On the morning of 12 March 1938, the 8th Army of the German Wehrmacht crossed the border into Austria. -
Germany, Italy, Great Britain, and France approved hitlers invasion Czechoslovakia -
Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact -
Britain and France declare war on Germany in response to Hitler's invasion of Poland -
Blitzkrieg tactics were used in the successful German invasions of Belgium, the Netherlands, and France -
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Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany -
On December 7, 1941, Japan staged a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, decimating the US Pacific Fleet. When Germany and Italy declared war on the United States days later, America found itself in a global war. -
The government of the United Kingdom declared war on the Empire of Japan after the attack of Pearl Harbour -
It was a naval battle, fought almost entirely with aircraft, in which the United States destroyed Japan's first-line carrier strength and most of its best trained naval pilots. -
The Battle for Stalingrad became a street-by-street, house-by-house fight, and the Soviets were able to force the German tanks down impassable streets and trap the infantry behind them. Exposed, the Nazis were easy targets for Soviet snipers and even makeshift Molotov cocktails dropped from rooftops. As a result, the casualties amounted to around 2.2 million, making it the bloodiest battle that had ever taken place. -
It stemmed mainly from a demand for early action against the European members of the Axis, and ostensibly was designed to ease the pressure on the hard-pressed Soviet armies and check the threatened advance of German power into the Middle East. -
On 8 September, the surrender of Italy to the Allies was announced, first by General Eisenhower, then in the Badoglio Proclamation by the Italian government. Italian units ceased combat and the Navy sailed to Allied ports to surrender. -
The D-Day operation of June 6, 1944, brought together the land, air, and sea forces of the allied armies in what became known as the largest amphibious invasion in military history. The operation, given the codename OVERLORD, delivered five naval assault divisions to the beaches of Normandy, France. -
The Battle of the Bulge started on December 16, 1944, when German forces launched a surprise attack on Allied forces in the forested Ardennes region in Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. The battle lasted until January 16, 1945, after the Allied counteroffensive forced German troops to withdraw. -
Mussolini and his executioner The death of Benito Mussolini, the deposed Italian fascist dictator, occurred on 28 April 1945, in the final days of World War II in Europe, -
On May 8, 1945 - known as Victory in Europe Day or V-E Day - celebrations erupted around the world to mark the end of World War II in Europe. -
After heavy fighting, Soviet forces neared Adolf Hitler's command bunker in central Berlin. On April 30, 1945, Hitler committed suicide. Within days, Berlin fell to the Soviets. German armed forces surrendered unconditionally in the west on May 7 and in the east on May 9, 1945. -
The Japanese government surrendered for two reasons, their plans to end the war had collapsed and the Emperor intervened to accept proposed Allied terms offered after the Potsdam conference.