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Japan invades Manchuria to gain lost land and raw materialas.
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Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany.
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Fascist Italy invades, conquers, and annexes Ethiopia.
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Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy sign a treaty of cooperation on October 25.
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November 1 the Rome-Berlin Axis is announced.
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Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact, directed against the Soviet Union and the international Communist movement.
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Japan invades China, initiating World War II in the Pacific.
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Germany, Italy, Great Britain, and France sign the Munich agreement which forces the Czechoslovak Republic to cede the Sudetenland.
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Sticking to their guarantee of Poland’s borders, Great Britain and France declare war on Germany.
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The Soviet Union invades Poland from the east.
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Germany invades Denmark and Norway. Denmark surrenders on the day of the attack. Norway fights until June 9.
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Germany attacks western Europe, France and the neutral countries. On June 22, France signs an armistice agreement by which the Germans occupy the northern half of the country and the entire Atlantic coastline.
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Italy enters the war as the newest axis power.
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The air war known as the Battle of Britain ends in defeat for Germany. Ends on October 31, 1940
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The Italians invade British controlled Egypt from Italian-controlled Libya.
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Germany, Italy, and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact.
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Bulgaria joins the Axis.
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Germany and Bulgaria invade Greece in support of the Italians. Resistance in Greece surrenders in early June 1941.
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Germany and its Axis allies (except Bulgaria) invade the Soviet Union.
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The United States declares war on Japan, entering World War II.
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Japan bombs Pearl Harbor.
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Nazi Germany and its Axis partners declare war on the United States.
