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Hitler annexed Austria to carry out his plans to unify all German-speaking people.
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Hitler, Chamberlain, Daladier and Mussolini met in Munich and agreed that Hitler should have the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia.
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Britain began re-arming, conscription was introduced, and assurances were given to Poland, who was being threatened by the Fuhrer.
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Hitler and Stalin signed a non-aggression pact which included secret clauses for the division of Poland.
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The months following Britain's declaration of war, as Britain saw no military action. (through May 1940)
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Hitler ignored the assurances he gave in the Treaty of Munich and invaded the country.
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Adolf Hitler invaded Poland.
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Italian forces in North Africa were routed by the British led by General Wavell.
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Hitler invaded/occupied Denmark and Norway to safeguard supply routes of Swedish ore and also to establish a Norwegian base from which to break the British naval blockade on Germany.
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Hitler launched his 'lightning war' against Holland and Belgium, and Rotterdam was bombed almost to extinction.
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Neville Chamberlain resigned and Winston Churchill became the new head of the wartime coalition government.
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The British commander-in-chief, General Gort, had been forced to retreat to the coast at Dunkirk. The troops waited under merciless fire to be taken off the beaches, and more than 338,000 men were rescued.
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Italy entered the war on the side of the Axis Powers with hope of gaining spoils from war.
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The French signed an armistice with Germany taking France, which had been devastated, out of the war and into Germany occupation.
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(through October 31st 1940) The Battle of Britain was comprised of heavy Germany bombing and air raids. The RAF defended the skies and the raids had ceased by October 31st.
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A pact of mutual alliance signed by Germany, Italy, and Japan.
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German and Italian troops attacked Yugoslavia, Greece, and the island of Crete.
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Hitler attacked Russia and took them by surprise as they had signed a treaty with Germany in 1939. Stalin immediately signed a mutual assistance treaty with Britain and launched an Eastern front battle. The USA also offered aid to the USSR.
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The Japanese attacked the US pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, as a preliminary to taking British, French and Dutch colonies in South East Asia.
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The Japanese captured Singapore from the British, taking some 60,000 prisoners.
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The USA defeated the Japanese navy at the Battle of Midway, and was then able to push the Japanese back.
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Churchill ordered General Alexander to destroy the German-Italian army commanded by Field-Marshall Rommell together with all its supplies and establishments in Egypt and Libya.
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First Russian victory against Germany
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British and American forces under the command of General Dwight Eisenhower landed in the NW of Africa and assumed control of French Morocco and Algeria, and gradually closed in on the Germans.
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Montgomery attacked the German-Italian army in North Africa, and then chased the enemy about 1,500 miles across the desert.
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The British and American forces managed to defeat the Axis forces in North Africa.
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British and U.S. forces invaded Sicily.
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Allied troops won island of Sicily.
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Mussolini had been thrown out of office and the new government of Italy surrendered to the British and the U.S.A., and then agreed to join the Allies. The Germans took control of the Italian army, freed Mussolini from imprisonment and set him up as head of a puppet government in Northern Italy.
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Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill met to co-ordinate plans for a simultaneous squeeze on Germany, and also discussed post war settlements.
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The siege of Leningrad was lifted by the Soviet army.
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Allies liberated Rome from the Germans.
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The Allies launched an attack on Germany's forces in Normandy, Western France, as it was essential for the Allies to first capture a port.
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British forces evicted the Japanese from Burma.
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The French capital of Paris was liberated from the Germans.
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The first V2 flying bombs killed 3 people in London.
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Germany launched its final defensive through the Ardennes region of Belgium, but were beaten back by the Allies.
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The Allies crossed the Rhine while Soviet forces were approaching Berlin from the East.
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The Russians reached Berlin shortly before the U.S. forces.
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President Roosevelt died, and was succeeded by President Truman.
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Italian partisans captured Mussolini and executed him.
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Adolf Hitler committed suicide with his last minute wife, Eva Braun, in his bombproof shelter.
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German forces in Italy surrendered to the Allies.
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German forces in northwest Germany, Holland, and Denmark surrendered to Montgomery on Luneburg Heath.
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Hitler's successor, Admiral Donitz, offered an unconditional surrender to the Allies.
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Victory in Europe was celebrated.
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Winston Churchill lost the election to Clement Atlee's Labour Party, which promised sweeping social reforms including nationalization of the coal and railway industries and the creation of a welfare state.
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The Japanese generals refused to surrender, and the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on the island of Hiroshima.
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Russia declared war on Japan and invaded Japanese-ruled Manchuria.
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The U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on the island of Nagasaki as the Japanese had not surrendered following Hiroshima.
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The Japanese unconditionally surrendered to the Allies ending the second World War.
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U.S. General, Douglas MacArthur, accepted Japan's surrender, thus formally ending WWII.