WWII timeline

  • Neutrality Act

    The Neutrality Acts were passed by the United States Congress in the 1930s, in response to the growing outrages in Europe and Asia that eventually led to World War I
  • Rise of Fascism and Nazism

    By 1933 the Nazis were the strongest party in Germany. Their leader, Adolf Hitler, dissolved parliament, took over power and made Germany a fascist state. Fascism is a form of radical authoritarian nationalism
  • Germany's Expansion and Annexation of Austria

    the territorial expansion of Germany between 1935 and 1939, before the beginning of the Second World War. Hitler’s Germany annexed his native Austria and incorporated it into the Reich as the Eastern March.
  • Signing of the Non-Aggression Pact (Germany and USSR)

    shortly before World War II broke out in Europe, enemies Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union surprised the world by signing the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, in which the two countries agreed to take no military action against each other for the next 10 years.
  • Blitzkrieg Attack on Poland

    Poland was attacked by Germany. The German attack was code-named Operation White (Fall Weiss). The attack on Poland started when blitzkrieg tore through the Polish military and by the end of the month Poland had surrendered to the Germans and the country was occupied.
  • Lend-Lease Act

    the Lend-Lease Act was the principal means for providing U.S. military aid to foreign nations during World War II.
  • Battle of Britain

    Battle of Britain (German: Luftschlacht "Air battle for England") is the name given to the Second World War air campaign waged by the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940.
  • Bombing of Pearl Harbor

    Japanese planes attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory. The bombing killed more than 2,300 Americans. It completely destroyed the American battleship U.S.S.
  • Invasion of Africa by Eisenhower

    After proving himself on the battlefields of North Africa and Italy in 1942 and 1943, Eisenhower was appointed supreme commander of Operation Overlord–the Allied invasion of northwestern Europe
  • Battle of Midway

    The Battle of Midway was a crucial and decisive naval battle in the Pacific Theatre of World War II.
  • Battle of Stalingrad

    Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in the south-western Soviet Union.
  • Transition of the U.S. home front to war production

    In 1943 full industrial and agricultural war production had been achieved; that is, the capability to meet the ongoing Allied needs for war materials and food had been reached. While war production did not slow down, special emphasis on war mobilization was no longer needed. It was up to the armed forces on the battlefield to achieve victory
  • D-Day

    the day of the Normandy landings—initiating the Western Allied effort to liberate mainland Europe from Nazi occupation during World War II.
  • Liberation of majdarek

    The Majdanek extermination camp in Lublin was liberated by Soviet troops on July 23, 1944; it was the first of many Nazi concentration camps to be liberated by the Allies.
  • The Battle of the Bulge

    The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive campaign launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium, France, and Luxembourg on the Western Front toward the end of World War II in Europe.
  • Battle of Iwo Jima

    The American amphibious invasion of Iwo Jima during World War II stemmed from the need for a base near the Japanese coast. Following elaborate preparatory air and naval bombardment, three U.S. marine divisions landed on the island in February 1945.
  • Battle of Okinawa

    This battle was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945.
  • V-E Day

    Victory in Europe Day, generally known as V-E Day, VE Day, or simply V Day was the public holiday celebrated on 8 May 1945 to mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces.
  • Bombing of Hiroshima and Nogaski

    A uranium gun-type atomic bomb (Little Boy) was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, followed by a plutonium implosion-type bomb (Fat Man) on the city of Nagasaki on August 9.
  • V-J Day

    it was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War II. Since then, both August 14 and August 15 have been known as “Victoryover Japan Day,” or simply “V-J Day.”