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Germany Invades Poland
On this day, German forces marched into Poland to take it for themselves. This action marked the beginning of World War II. This was a week after the Molotov Ribbentrop Pact was signed. A non-agression treaty between Germany and the Soviet Union. The Nazi's invaded from the west, north and south whilst the Soviet Union invaded from the east. There was no chance Poland was going to fend off the attackers and after weeks of fighting, Germany annexed the east of Poland. -
Britain & France Declare War On Germany
Allied nations France and Britain declare war on Germany once they heard of the news in Poland. Britain began bombing German ships on the 4th of September but working under orders to not hurt German civilians. France began an attack on the west of Germany 2 weeks after the invasion but had a disadvantage due to having to squeeze through the borders of Belgium and Luxembourg who were both neutral. -
Churchill Becomes Prime Minister Of Britain
Winston Churchill became prime minister to replace Neville Chamberlain. In his first speech since becoming prime minister, he stated that "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat”. He explained about the bold plan for the British Resistance. Britain only had themselves against the German Forces but said that the nation will never surrender. -
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Evacuation Of Dunkirk
The evacuation of Dunkirk which was also known as Operation Dynamo was an evaucuation of Allied Soldiers on the coast of France between 27th of May 1940 and the 4th of June 1940. The evacuation had been decided once Belgium, France and Britain realized their trrops had been surrounded by German troops. -
Italy Enters The War On The Side Of Axis Powers
Benito Mussolini stated that it is urgent that there is imperial expansion, and helping Germany in the war would aid in their conquest to gaining land for their needs. -
France Signs Armistice With Germany
The Armistice between France and Germany was signed hear Compiegne in France by military officers and officials. One of thise officials was Wilhelm Keitel, the commander in chief for the Wehrmact. The Armistice signed stated that German's may occupy Northern and Western France. -
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Battle Of Britain
The Battle of Britain was the name given to the defence force of Britain by the Royal Air Force The Battle Of Britain was Britain's first major campaign to only include the Air Force. -
Operartioon Sea Lion
Operation Sea Lion was the codename for an invasion of the United Kingdom. It was planned for late 1940, around September and fortunately it did not happen. This invasion was seen as a final option if necessary. Germany was expecting to see a peace agreement after they took down France but was surprised when Britain did not back down. -
Tripartite Pact Signed
The Axis powers were formed together including the nations Germany, Italy and Japan when they signed the Tripartite Pact in Berlin. The Pact stated that if any nations who aren't already in the war were to attack any of the 3 nations then they would assist each other. The pact was aimed at the USA who was currently neutral, scaring them to not join the war. -
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Siege of Tobruk
The Siege of Tobruk was a battle that lasted for 241 days when the Axis powers that pushed to Cyrenaica from El Agheila. 14,000 Australian soldiers were besieged by German and Italian troops. It was important that the Allies helped protect Egypt and the Suez Canal as this would have forced the Axis powers to have to go through a 1500km desert for supplies. -
Operation Barbarossa
Germany invades the Soviet Union which was codenamed Operation Barbarossa. This was the largest military operation ever in history which included over 3 million Axis troops and 3,500 tanks. Hitler believed that the "German Master Race should seek space in the east at the expense of the Yugoslavians." -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
"A date which will live in infamy." was a quote from Franklin D. Roosevelt. On this day at around 8am hundreds of Japanese planes attacked Peral Harbor in Hunolulu, Hawaii. The attacks lasted 2 hours and they managed to destroy almost 8 American naval vessels, 8 of which were battleships. 300 planes were destroyed and more than 2000 soldiers and sailors were killed and another 1000 wounded. -
Britain And The US Declares War On Japan
The day after the Pearl Harbor attacks, Britain and the US declared war on Japan. Britain declared war after Japan attacked Malaya, Singapore and Hong Kong. The US declared war on Japan after the attacks at Pearl Harbor. -
Japan Take Singapore
5000 Japanese troops marched into Singapore territory and the British were outmanned and outgunned. Japanese propaganda was dropped in the form of leaftlets encouraginf surrender. Singapore ended up surrendering which lost Britain's control on the east. -
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Battle of Midway
6 months after the attack on Peral Harbor, the US battled and defeated Japan in one of the most important battles of WWII. The US was able to counter act Japan's planned ambush due to code breaking. This victory allowed Britain and USA to move to an offensive position. -
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First Battle of El Alamein
the British had succeeded in driving Rommel into a defensive position in Libya. The Italian troops that had preceded Rommel’s German forces in North Africa, only to be beaten back by the British, then saved from complete defeat by the arrival of Rommel, were now back on the winning side, their dwindled numbers having fought alongside the Afrika Korps. -
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Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle on the Eastern Front 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, on the eastern boundary of Europe. -
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Second Battle of Al Alemein
The Second Battle of El Alamein was a major battle of the Second World War that took place near the Egyptian railway halt of El Alamein. With the Allies victorious, it marked a major turning point in the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. -
D-Day Landings
The Normandy landings were the landing operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. -
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Battle of The Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive campaign launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium, France, and Luxembourg on the Western Front toward the end of World War II in Europe. -
Mussolini Captured and Exexuted
The death of Benito Mussolini, the deposed Italian fascist dictator, occurred on 28 April 1945, in the final days of World War II in Europe, when he was summarily executed by Italian Communists in the small village of Giulino di Mezzegra in northern Italy. -
Hitler Commits Suicide
Adolf Hitler killed himself by gunshot on 30 April 1945 in his Führerbunker in Berlin. His wife Eva (née Braun) committed suicide with him by taking cyanide. -
German Forces Surrender
The final battles of the European Theatre of World War II as well as the German surrender to the Western Allies and the Soviet Union took place in late April and early May 1945. -
V.E Day
Victory in Europe Day, generally known as V-E Day, VE Day or simply V 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. -
Soviet Union Declares War On Japan
At 11pm Trans-Baikal time on August 8, 1945, Soviet foreign minister Molotov informed Japanese ambassador Satō that the Soviet Union had declared war on the Empire of Japan, and that from August 9 the Soviet Government would consider itself to be at war with Japan. -
Atomic Bomb Dropped On Nagasaki
American President Harry S. Truman called for Japan's surrender 16 hours later, warning them to "expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth." Three days later, on August 9, the U.S. dropped a plutonium implosion-type bomb (Fat Man) on the city of Nagasaki. -
Japanese Surrender
The surrender of the Empire of Japan was announced by Imperial Japan on August 15 and formally signed on September 2, 1945, bringing the hostilities of World War II to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy was incapable of conducting major operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent. -
United Nations is Born
The United Nations was born of perceived necessity, as a means of better arbitrating international conflict and negotiating peace than was provided for by the old League of Nations.
