-
Germany invades Poland
On the first of September 1939, Germany launched a military campaign to invade Poland. German forces invaded Poland from the north, south, and west during the morning after signing an agreement with the Soviet Union in order to allow Germany to invade Poland first. -
Britain and France declare war on Germany
On September 3 1939, the combined forces of Britain and the France declared war on Germany, following Hitler’s invasion of Poland. The prime minister of Britain, Neville Chamberlain announced the declaration of war on the radio and once this had been done, World War two had begun. -
Churchill becomes Prime Minister of Britain
In April 1940, after British forces failed to prevent the German occupation of Norway, Prime Minister Chamberlain lost the support of many members of his Conservative Party and was then replaced by Winston Churchill in May. Churchill was known for his military leadership ability and he then formed an all-party coalition and quickly won the popular support of British people. -
Evacuation of Dunkirk
The Evacuation of Dunkirk or Operation Dynamo was the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the harbour and beaches of Dunkirk, France. The evacuation took place between 26 May and 4 June 1940. The operation was decided upon when large numbers of soldiers from backgrounds such as Belgian, British, and French, were cut off and surrounded by the German army during the Battle of France. -
Italy enters the war on the side of the axis powers
When Germany invaded Poland on the first of September 1939 World War 2 began. On the 10th of June 1940, Italy entered World War II on the Axis side, when the defeat of France became more of a possibility. After Italy had entered the war, some Jewish refugees living in Italy were placed in the Campagna concentration camp. -
France signs armistice with Germany
On the 17th of June, 1940, Marshall Petain, a well-known World War 1 hero announced that the French Army must surrender. The French then called on the German army to sign an armistice. The Armistice was signed on June 22. The terms were that two thirds of France were to be occupied by the Germans, the French army was to be disbanded and then France must bear the cost of the German invasion. -
Period: to
Battle of Britain
The battle of Britain was one of the first major battles to take place entirely in the air. It was fought between the Royal Air Force of Britain against the German Air Force. The battle was recalled to take place from the 10th of July until the 31st October 1940. -
Operation Sea Lion
Operation Sea Lion or “Unternehmen Seelöwe” in German, was a code for a proposed invasion of the United Kingdom during the Battle of Britain. After France fell, the Nazis expected Britain to ask for a peace agreement and they imagined the invasion as a last resort if all else failed. However, on the 17th of September the operation was cancelled. -
Tripartite Pact Signed
The Tripartite Pact, also known as the Berlin Pact, took place on the 27th of September 1940. It was an agreement between Germany, Japan and Italy. The pact was a defensive military alliance that was later joined by Hungary and Yugoslavia and then Slovakia. The pact was directed at the United States and later on Japan declared war on the United States. -
Period: to
Siege of Tobruk
The Siege of Tobruk was a desert campaign that lasted for 341 days in 1941. After the Axis forces pushed through Cyrenaica from El Agheila during Operation Sonnenblume against the British West Desert Force in Libya. At the end of 1940 the British had beaten the 10th Italian Army during Operation Compass. -
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany, which was launched on 22 June 1941. The German’s achieved surprising victories and managed to secure some of the most economically important areas. When operation Barbarossa failed, it opened up the Eastern Front where it became the site for some of the biggest battles. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
The bombing of Pearl Harbor was a surprise attack by the Japanese Navy against the United States Naval base in Pearl Harbor. This attack was what made the United States decide to enter the war. The attack was intended to prevent the US fleet from interfering with military actions that Japan had planned in south east Asia. -
Japan takes Singapore
Japan’s occupation of Singapore took place from 1942 to 1945. Japan’s military force began the occupation after defeating the combined forces of Britain, India, Australia and Malaysia in the battle of Singapore. The occupation became a major turning point in the histories of multiple nations including Singapore, Japan and Britain. -
The Battle of Midway
The battle of Midway was a naval battle that took place in the Pacific theatre of World War 2. It lasted from the fourth and seventh of June in 1942 and the operation was conducted by the Japanese military who were trying to eliminate the United States. Following the Pearl Harbour attack the Japanese hoped that a defeat here would force the United States to surrender from the war. -
Period: to
First Battle of El Alamein
The first battle of El Alamein was a part of the Western Desert Campaign of World War 2. It was fought in Egypt between the armies of Germany and Italy against the Allied forces. The German army was commanded by field marshal Erwin Rommel who was nicknamed the “Desert Fox”. -
Period: to
Battle of Stalingrad
The battle of Stalingrad was a major battle that took place on the Eastern Front of World War 2 where Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union in an attempt to gain control of the city of Stalingrad. The battle was marked by fierce close quarters combat and there were direct assaults on civilians by air raids. The battle of Stalingrad is regarded as one of the bloodiest battles in all of history. -
Period: to
Second Battle of El Alamein
The second battle of El Alamein took place from the 23rd of October to the 11th of November 1942. It was a decisive battle that took place near the Egyptian railway halt of El Alamein. -
Period: to
D-Day Landings
The battle of Normandy lasted from June 1944 to August 1944. The battle resulted in the Allies liberating Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control. The battle was code named Operation Overlord and it began on the 6th of June where around 156,000 soldiers with backgrounds from America, Britain and Canada landed on a heavily fortified coast near France’s Normandy region. It was one of the largest amphibious assaults of all time and by late August 1944 all of North France had been liberated. -
Period: to
Battle of the Bulge
The battle of the bulge was the last major offensive campaign launched by German forces. It was a surprise attack that caught the Allies off guard and the American forces were at the front of the attack which resulted in their highest casualties for any operation during the war. -
Mussolini captured and excecuted
On the 18th of April 1945, Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini met his end at the hands of Italian communists. He was killed in the small village of Giulino di Mezzegra. The events say that he was shot by Walter Audisio, a communist partisan. But after the end of the war, the identity of Mussolini’s killer has been confused with dispute and controversy in Italy. -
Hitler commits suicide
On the 30th of April 1945, Adolf Hitler shot himself in Berlin. His wife Eva also killed herself by taking a cyanide pill. Hitler had ordered his remains to be burnt in a garden outside his bunker. Records have shown that their burnt remains were recovered in successive locations until they were cremated and scattered in 1970. -
German forces surrender
On the seventh of May in 1945, the German High Command signed the surrender of all German forces East, West, at Reims and in north-western France. At first the General who had signed the surrender hoped to limit the terms for only those still fighting western allies. But American general Dwight Eisenhower demanded that the Germans completely surrender all of their forces. -
V-E Day
V-E day or Victory in Europe Day was a public holiday that was celebrated on the 8th of May in 1945 to mark the acceptance by the Allies that Nazi Germany had surrendered all of its armed forces, this marked the end of World War 2 in Europe. -
Atomic Bomb dropped on Japan
On the 6th and 9th of August 1945 the United States gained the consent of the United Kingdom as said in the Quebec Agreement dropped the atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The two bombings killed at least 129,000 people and remains the only use of nuclear weapons in history. -
Soviet Union declares war on Japan
On the 9th of August 1945, the Soviet Union entered the war against Japan. The Soviets and Mongolians took control of multiple areas around Japan. The fast defeat of Japan’s Kwantung Army helped in the surrender of Japan and the official ending of the second world war. -
Japan Surrender - End of World War 2
On the second of September 1945, Imperial Japan announced a surrender which brought the hostilities of the second world war to a close. The Japanese decided to surrender after the bombing on two cities from the United States and the invasion of the Soviet Union and Mongolians. -
United Nations is born
On the 24th of October 1945 the United Nations Charter was effective and ready to be enforced. The United Nations was born of perceived necessity and was used in a way of negotiating peace in better ways than the old League of Nations. -
Britain and the United States declare war on Japan
After America’s fleet was bombarded by the Japanese, President Franklin Roosevelt requested and received a declaration of war on Japan. Roosevelt made a 10-minute speech called “So help us God” and it was greeted with a thunderous applause. Nine hours before the United States, the United Kingdom had also declared war on Japan.