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Japan invades Manchuria
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Creation of Luftwaffe
Hitler announced the creation of a new air force in Germany. -
Fascist Italy invades, conquers, and annexes Ethiopia
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Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy sign treaty of cooperation
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Rome-Berlin Axis is announced
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Anti-Comintern Pact
Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact, directed against the Soviet Union and the international Communist movement. -
Japan invades China
The invasion initiates World War II in the Pacific. -
Fascist Italy invades and annexes Albania
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Nazi Germany and Soviet Union sign nonaggression agreement
They also signed a secret codicil dividing eastern Europe into spheres of influence. -
Germany invades Poland
This invasion initiates World War II in Europe. -
Great Britain and France declare war on Germany
The British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, announced that unless Germany agreed to withdraw their recent aggression against Poland, 'a state of war would exist between the two countries. -
Soviet Union invades Poland from the east
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Warsaw surrenders
The Polish government flees into exile via Romania. On September 28, 1939 Germany and the Soviet Union divide Poland between them. -
Blitzkrieg against Denmark and Norway
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Germany attacks Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, and France
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France surrenders
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Battle of Britain
Germans bomb British cities. This air war, which is known as the Battle of Britain, ended in defeat for Nazi Germany on October 31, 1940. -
Tripartite Act
Germany, Italy, and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact. -
Germany invades Greece and Yugoslavia
Greece and Yugoslavia are captured by Germany. -
Hitler invades Soviet Union
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Pearl Harbor
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor in the United States. The provoked the United States to enter the war. -
Germany declares war on the United States
Germany declared war upon the United States, in response to what was claimed to be a series of provocations by the United States government when the US was formally neutral during World War II. -
Battle of Coral Sea
The Battle of Coral Sea was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II between the Imperial Japanese Navy and naval and air forces from the United States and Australia. American naval forces stopped Japanese advance and saved Australia from the threat of invasion. -
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was a crucial and decisive naval battle in the Pacific Theatre of World War II. The United States won this battle. U.S. planes destroyed 4 attacking Japanese aircraft carriers and defeated the Japanese navy. This was a major turning point of the war in Asia. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of 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 in Southern Russia. Stalingrad was a major industrial center on Volga. Hitler's best unit, the German Sixth Army, was lost. This signified that the Germans could lose. -
Battle of Tunisia
The Tunisia Campaign was a series of battles that took place in Tunisia during the North African Campaign of World War II. -
Germans surrender at Stalingrad
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Battle of Kursk
The Battle of Kursk was a battle between German and Soviet forces on the Eastern Front near Kursk in the Soviet Union. Soviets defeated the Germans at the Battle of Kursk. -
Rome falls to the Allies
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D-Day
Allied forces under U.S. general Dwight D. Eisenhower landed on the Narmandy beaches in history's greatest naval invasion. This was known as Operation Overlord. Allies fought their way past underwater mines, barbed wire, and horrible machine gun fire. -
Paris is liberated
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Mussolini dies
Benito Mussolini was shot by Italian partisans, or resistance fighters. -
Hitler dies
Adolf Hitler commits suicide. -
Germany surrenders
The German commander surrendered and the war in Europe is over. -
VE Day
VE 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. -
U.S. drops first atomic bomb
The U.S. dropped an atomic bomb ("Little Boy") on Hiroshima in Japan. -
U.S. drops second atomic bomb
A second atomic bomb ("Fat Man") was dropped on the city of Nagasaki, Japan. These were the only times nuclear weapons have been used in war. -
Japan formally surrenders
This ended World War II.
