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WWII begins
Germany invades Poland, WWII begins -
Blitzkrieg
Hitler launches his blitzkrieg, also known as lightning war, against Holland and Belgium. -
Italy enters the war
Italy enters the war and joins the Axis powers. Soon after they invade Southern France -
France signs armistice with Germany
The French sign an armistice with Germany, which took France out of the war and into German occupation -
Tripartite Pact
Germany, Italy, and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact, which was a pact of mutual alliance -
Battle of Britain ends
after 3 months of air raids and bombing, the German Luftwaffe failed to win against Royal Air Force despite months of targeting Britain's military post and population as a whole. A turning point in the war because Germany lost -
Pearl Harbor Day
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, causing the US to declare war on Japan -
US declares war on Japan
US enters WWII -
Battle of Midway
The US defeated the Japanese navy at the Battle of Midway because of this, the US navy was able to push the Japanese back. -
Allies push into North Africa
Eisenhower helped British and American forces and gradually closed in on Germans -
Allies take Sicily
Allied troops win the island of Sicily -
Italy Surrenders
Mussolini had been thrown out of office and the new government of Italy surrendered to the Allies. The Germans took control of the Italian army, freed Mussolini from imprisonment and set him up as head of a government in Northern Italy, which blocked any further allied advance through Italy. -
Second Front against Germans
British and US troops successfully land on the Normandy beaches of France -
Allies cross the Rhine
The Allies crossed the Rhine while Soviet forces were approaching Berlin -
Roosevelt dies
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Hitler commits suicide
Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his bombproof shelter -
German forces surrender
German forces in Italy surrender to the Allies -
Hiroshima bomb
The Japanese generals refuse to surrender, so the US drop an atomic bomb on the island of Hiroshima. -
Nagasaki bomb
The US drop an atomic bomb on the island of Nagasaki because the Japanese did not surrender after Hiroshima -
MacArthur accepts Japan’s surrender
Officially ends WWII
