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Germany invaded Poland on September 1 of 1939 and thus began World War II. In response, Britain and France declared war on Germany. German forces invaded western Europe in the spring of 1940.
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The Soviet Union invades Finland and starts the so-called Winter War. The Finns ask for an armistice and have to cede to the Soviet Union the northern shores of Lake Lagoda and a small portion of the Finnish coast on the Arctic Sea.
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Italy enters the war. Italy invades southern France on June 21.
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Germany, Italy, Hungary and Bulgaria invade and dismember Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia surrenders on April 17. Germany and Bulgaria invade Greece in support of the Italians. Resistance in Greece ceases in early June 1941.
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Germany and its Axis partners launch a new offensive in the Soviet Union. German troops fight to enter Stalingrad (Volgograd) on the Volga River in mid-September and penetrate deep into the Caucasus after securing the Crimean Peninsula.
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The United States drops an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Japan, having agreed in principle to unconditional surrender on August 14, 1945, formally surrenders and World War II ends.