-
Germany and the Soviet Union agree to a nonaggression pact leaving the Soviets free to strengthen their western frontier, and Hitler free to attack Poland.
-
Official beginning of WWII
-
-
-
Adolf Hitler takes neutral Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg.
-
-
Benito Mussolini's Italian forces attack France from the south.
-
Responding to the embargoes imposed by the United States, Japan joins the German-Italian alliance.
-
Germany invades the Soviet Union violating the Nonaggression Pact.
-
The Japanese government decides to attack Pearl Harbor if negotiations with the United States fail.
-
-
Germany and Italy, Japan's axis partners, declare war on the United States. The United States declares war on Germany, Italy, and Japan.
-
The Italian government officially surrenders to the Allied powers; still, German forces occupy much of Italy.
-
The Allies capture German holdings in Naples.
-
U.S. forces, aided by a Free French division, liberate Paris from Nazi control.
-
Allied forces take the beaches of Normandy.
-
Germany surrenders to the Allies
-
The United States drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing 75,000 people instantly, and injuring more than 100,000.
-
A second atomic bomb is dropped in Nagasaki
-
Japan surrenders, ending the war.
