-
Germany Invades Poland
The German-Soviet Pact of August 1939, which said that Poland was to be divided between the two powers, enabled Germany to attack Poland without the fear of Soviet interference. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. The Polish army was defeated within weeks of the invasion and Germany had gained east Poland. -
Britain and France Declare War
Britain and France declare war on Germany. Britain and France are at war with Germany following the invasion of Poland two days ago. The Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, announced the British deadline for the withdrawal of German troops from Poland had expired. -
Operation Sea Lion
Operation Sea Lion, also written as Operation Sealion, was Nazi Germany's code name for the plan for an invasion of the United Kingdom during the Battle of Britain in the Second World War. -
Churchill becomes Prime Minister of Britain
Churchill becomes Prime Minister. Friday 10 May 1940 was one of the most dramatic days in British history. The government was in disarray as Winston Churchill became PM and, on the continent, Germany ended the Phoney War by invading the Low Countries. -
Evacuation of Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo)
At 18:57 hours on 26 May 1940, the signal was received to start Operation Dynamo. The evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force and French troops from Dunkirk's beaches on the north coast of France was about to begin -
France signs armistice with Germany
The negotiations succeded and the Armstice was signed in the same wagon the previous one was -
Battle for Britain
The Battle of Britain was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force defended the United Kingdom against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force, the Luftwaffe. -
Italy enters war on side of Axis powers
Finally, on September 27, 1940, Germany, Italy, and Japan signed the Tripartite Pact, which became known as the Axis alliance. Even before the Tripartite Pact, two of the three Axis powers had initiated conflicts that would become theaters of war in World War II. -
Tripartite Pact signed
The Tripartite Pact, also known as the Berlin Pact, was an agreement between Germany, Italy and Japan signed in Berlin on 27 September 1940 by, respectively, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Galeazzo Ciano and Saburō Kurusu. -
Battle of Britain ends
-
Siege of Tobruk
The Siege of Tobruk lasted for 241 days in 1941, after Axis forces advanced through Cyrenaica from El Agheila in Operation Sonnenblume against Allied forces in Libya, during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. -
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, which started on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. -
Siege of Tobruk Ends
-
Operation Barbarossa Ends
-
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, on the morning of December 7, 1941. -
Britain and US declare war on Japan
On December 8, 1941, the United States Congress declared war on the Empire of Japan in response to that country's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor the prior day. It was formulated an hour after the Infamy Speech of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. -
Japan takes Singapore
The Japanese occupation of Singapore in World War II took place from 1942 to 1945, following the fall of the British colony on 15 February 1942. Military forces of the Empire of Japan occupied it after defeating the combined British, Indian, Australian, and Malayan garrison in the Battle of Singapore. -
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was a decisive naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II which occurred between 4 and 7 June 1942, only six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea. -
Battle of Midway Ends
