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German Invasion of Poland
German invasion of Poland started in September 1st with heavy air strikes followed by advanced ground invasion which was known as the “Blitzkrieg” or “lightning war”. The goal of this strategy was to shock the opponent quickly and severely so the opponent would have no time to resist. The primary obstacle during the invasion of Poland was to overrun the Polish capital of Warsaw, which did not surrender until September 27. -
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Phoney War
since Germany was just trying to force Britain into deal with them by threatening to destroy France which went on for eight months. The Germans didn’t have the economic capital to fight a major war against France in 1939. Also, Germany failed to neutralise countries such as France or Great Britain before attempting to move towards their ambitions by conquering other European countries. -
Assassination attempt on Hitler fails
On the 16th anniversary of Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch, a bomb exploded right after Hitler gave his speech. Although Hitler was unharmed, 8 people died and 63 people were wounded. The man who planted the bomb near the beer hall was Georg Elser, a communist who made his living as a carpenter. He was murdered in Dachau concentration camp on April 9th, 1945 after being tortured by the Nazis. -
Nazis invade France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; Winston Churchill becomes British Prime Minister.
German bombers hit air bases in France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands on March 10th, 1940 when Hitler said his radio code word “Danzig”. The attack destroyed large numbers of Allied planes, harming the Allied defenses. On the same day, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigns after losing the support of the Labor Party. Winston Churchill becomes the British Prime Minister. The primary reason for the fall of France was due to mistaken assumptions of how the attack would be ca -
Nazis invade Denmark and Norway
Norway was invaded by the Nazis on April 9th, 1940 when German warships entered the major Norwegian ports, at the same time, German forces occupy Copenhagen and other Danish cities. It was the start of war in Western Europe and the end to the ‘Phoney War’. Hitler invaded Norway and Denmark in order to safeguard supply routes of Swedish ore and also to establish a Norwegian base from which to break the British naval blockade on Germany. -
Italy declares war on Britain and France
Italy entered the war on the side of the Axis powers. The main goals for Italy to declare war on Britain and France were to expand their Mediterranean empire. When Mussolini saw how easily Germany was running over France and the allies in western Europe, he decided to declare war on the Allies. However, Italy was not prepared for the war and Italy’s armed forces made little impact during the last few days of Battle of France. -
France signs an armistice with Nazi Germany
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France signs an armistice with Nazi Germany
This armistice established a German occupation zone in Northern France. In addition to this, Germany was able to ensure that France would no longer fight in North Africa and other overseas territories. This armistice put France out of the war and allowed Hitler to turn his sights to Britain. -
German U-boats attack merchant ships in the Atlantic.
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Allies invade Syria and Lebanon
Syria-Lebanon Campaign, Operation Explorer, was the Allied invasion of the Vichy-French-controlled Syria and Lebanon. The aim of this invasion was to prevent the Axis powers from waging war in Egypt, which was one of the Allied Powers stronghold. Syria and Lebanon eventually became independent as a result of this. These two countries, when independent, declared war on Germany and Japan. -
German Invasion of USSR (‘operation Barbarossa’)
Operation Barbarossa was the largest military operation in history. The Nazis, through this operation, aimed to invade and conquer the USSR. Initially successful, factors such as the weather, failures in logistic plannings, and underestimation of USSR forces, eventually resulted in the failure of this operation. This battle represented a turning point in Hitler’s fortunes. It also opened up the Eastern Front. -
Hitler takes complete authoritative control
Hitler abolished the War Ministry and appointed himself the High Command of Armed Forces. This action showed Hitler’s reluctance to accept that the German Army was not invincible (he, instead, blamed the generals). It also showed his distrust towards his military generals. -
Germans surrender at Stalingrad, the first big defeat of the Nazi army
This signified the end of Operation Barbarossa. This first defeat would soon be followed by a turn in the Third Reich’s fortunes. This surrender also opened up the Eastern Front as Hitler would continue to launch operations into Russia in hopes of conquering the USSR. -
Allies takeover Tunisia
In the Mediterranean Theatre during the North African Campaign of WWII, the Axis and Allied forces fought for control over North Africa; the Allied Powers sought for control over Northern Africa for several reasons, primarily because it not only provided the Allied Powers with natural resources, but also because it allowed direct access to mainland Europe, specifically Italy. The campaign began with the Allies landing near eastern Tunisia, in Sfax on January of 1943 and with the capture of Tunis -
Himmler orders the liquidation of all Jewish ghettos in Poland
On June 11th, 1943, Himmler sent a 6 point order to the Higher and SS Police Leader and the Chief of the SS Economic and Administrative Main Office to order for the liquidation of all of the Polish Jewish ghettos; it called for all Jews in the ghettos to be sent to concentration camps spread throughout Poland. The call for the liquidation of the Jewish ghettos across Poland also lead to the construction of both concentration camps as well as secretive killing centres by German corporations, suc -
D Day - The Allied invasion of France
The Battle of Normandy began on June 6th on D-Day when 156,000 American, Canadian, and British troops landed, through sea, along the 5 beaches strewn across the coast of France’s Normandy region; an airborne assault also took place. The assault was one of the largest amphibious assaults in both WWII and in history itself. An element of surprise played an important role in the success of the allies: the weather and a deception plan, Operation Bodyguard, distracted the Germans and allowed the atta -
Liberation of Paris
Paris was successfully liberated on August 25th, 1944 after what had begun with an uprising by the French Resistance against German battalion. The battle liberated Paris and ended the exile of the Vichy government; thus, reinstating power in the capital region of France by the French.On August 25th, 1944, von Choltitz, commander of the German battalion and military governor of Paris, surrendered despite having been told by Hitler to maintain control over the French capital no matter what. Althou -
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Yalta Conference: Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin meet at Yalta.
The Yalta Conference was planned to discuss postwar Germany, which was divided into three zones between the “Big Three”. Roosevelt wanted the USSR to provide military support against the Japanese while Churchill was more concerned with the Soviet liberated countries. Although the conference ended happily, it’s shown that the good relations will fall apart soon with USSR’s unwillingness to acquiesce or keep up with the promises. -
Soviet troops capture Danzig.
The invasion into Germany took away the Germans’ U-boats as well as their oil fields, impeding them from continuing to the fight the war with the lack of primary war resources. -
Adolf Hitler commits suicide.
Adolf Hitler commits suicide. Propaganda and censorship no longer sufficed, the Germans grew bitter with the air raids and the inexorably growing casualty numbers. Leaders such as Goebbels and Hitler committed suicide with the pressure and their realizations of the mistakes they made. Germany was in socio and economic turmoil. -
Unconditional surrender of all German forces to Allied Powers
Marks the official end of the six years of war; signed in Reims, northeastern France (headquarters of Dwight D. Eisenhower in Europe). -
First U.S. atomic bomb test; Potsdam Conference begins.
The Potsdam Conference was a meeting between the main Allied Powers, Harry S. Truman (the United States), Josef Stalin (the USSR), and Winston Churchill (Great Britain) to discuss agreements from the Yalta Conference. The conference delegated chief authority in Germany from Germany to the Allied Powers and it decentralised Germany’s economy; it focused on using agriculture to reorganise German economy. Also, Germany and Austria were divided into four occupation zones and an agreement on reparati -
United Nations is born
26 nations pledged to continue fighting against the Axis powers. Unlike the League of Nations, the US played a major in the United Nations. The organization have many sub organizations underneath and continue to function today, searching for resolutions to global problems. The P5 countries, victors of the WWII (USA, China, USSR, UK, France), having the most say.