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Germany Invades Poland
On this day Germany invaded Poland from both the land at Warsaw and in the air. They achieved this invasion by using 2,000 tanks, over 1,000 planes, mass bombings and also by the use of a large army containing 1.2 million troops. Even though Poland had 1 million troops themselves, Poland was defeated and they surrendered to the Germans on September 27, 1939. Adolf Hitler sent his troops in to overrun Poland as he wanted to expand his 'motherland' and regain lost territory. -
Britain & France Declare War on Germany
After Germany had invaded the Rhineland and Czechoslovakia, Britain had sworn to protect Poland. Months later Germany invaded Poland, which they believed they would be able to get away with, this forced Neville Chamberlain to send out an ultimatum. This ultimatum told Germany and Hitler that they were to withdraw their troops from Poland or Britain and France will declare war. But after not hearing from Germany, Britain had declared that 'a state of war would exist between the two countries.' -
Chruchill Becomes Prime Minister of Britain
Winston Churchill was originally First Lord of the Admiralty but then replaced Neville Chamberlin as Prime Minister on this day. The reason to why he replaced him was because Chamberlain had declared war on Germany, but for the next eight months showed himself to be ill-equipped for the daunting burden of keeping Britain safe from the Nazis. On the day that Churchill was admitted as Prime Minister Germany invaded Holland, Belgium, and the Netherlands, giving WInston Churchill a very hard start. -
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Evacuation of Durnkirk (Operation Dynamo)
Germany was continuing their advance into France and General Viscount Gort who was a commander of the British Expeditionary Force in France, could see that Germany had the upper hand to the French Army in this battle. Because of this he made a tough decision to evacuate the troops from France immediately or they could all be at risk of dying. Therefore this action saved troops of the British and French Army to live another day to then fight at another battle and day. -
Italy Enters the War on Side of The Axis Powers
Benito Mussolini did not declare war on Britain and France until this date, around 9 months after the Second World War had commenced. He most likely declared war then as the defeat of France by Germany became apparent. During World War 1 Italy had originally sided with the Axis Powers but then changed sides to the Allied Forces in 1915. Mussolini was a fascist so he was very influenced by Hitler and his way of running his country which could influence him joining the Axis Powers. -
France Signs Armistice With Germany
On June 5th Nazi armies had entered France and continued to move through the country until reaching Paris, the capital on June 14th. With France being vulnerable to this attack by Germany, a member of the French government stated on the 17th of June that, “It is with a heavy heart that I tell you today that we must stop fighting.” The governments of both France and Germany agreed to sign an armistice on June 22nd. Signing this armistice meant that France had formally surrendered to Germany. -
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Battle of Britain
German and British air forces clashed in the skies over the United Kingdom to fight and defend in the first major military air battle. The aim of the Germans was to win air superiority over Southern Britain and the English Channel by destroying the British air force and aircraft industry. Fortunately the Royal Air Force was able to overcome the Luftwaffe after twelve weeks of battling which saved Britain from a potentional ground invasion and possible occupation by German forces. -
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Operation Sea Lion
Operation Sea Lion was Nazi Germany's plan to invade and attack the United Kingdom during the end of 1940. This plan of Germany's did not happen but they thought to do it at this specific time as France had just fallen under Nazi Germany. Hitler's Operation Sea Lion never occured due to Great Britain winning the Battle of Britain leaving Germany not as strong as before. If Germany however had won the air battle, Operation Sea Lion could have occured, so Britain winning was a great advantage. -
Tripartite Pact Signed
This agreement was also known as the Berlin Pact and was the formal agreement of three countries; Italy, Japan and Germany. Signing this pact meant that these three countries became the Axis Powers and now had to protect each other if either of the countries were under attack. The main reason to why these countries signed this agreement was to make the neautral United States think twice before joining the allies, as they would now have a greater battle. -
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Siege of Tobruk
For 241 days 14,000 Australian soldiers laid seige to Tobruk, a small town on the Libyan coast. The siege diverted Axis troops from the frontier and this siege was a part of the Western Desert Campaign. The soldiers at Tobruk had to deal with repeated ground assaults and almost constant shelling and bombing. -
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name given by Nazi Germany on their large invasion of the Soviet Union. This invasion was the largest military operation in history, involving more than 3 million Axis troops and 3,500 tanks. The reason under this invasion was that Hitler believed that the German race should seek more living space in the east so their plan was to take the Soviet Union. Eventhough the Soviet Union was unprepared for this attack they ended up driving the Germans back in the winter -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
In the morning of December 7th, a suprise military attack by Japan happened at the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. This boming and air strike by Japan involved hundreds of fighter planes over the ourse of two hours leaving devastating results. Around twenty American naval vessels were destroyed, more than 2,000 American soldiers were killed and another 1,000 soldiers wounded. After the events every battle ship had sustained significant damage. -
Britain and US Declare War on Japan
After the devasting suprise attack from the Japanese on America's naval fleet in Pearl Harbor, costing many lives and ruins, United States President Franklin Roosevelt requested and received a declaration of war against Japan. Via the radio, Roosevelt announced that, "the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory." This declaration by the United States meant that Britain too declared war on Japan, now resulting in America joining the Allies. -
Japan Takes Singapore
The Battle of Singapore started of the 8th of February until the British Empire surrendered on the 15th to the Empire of Japan resulting in the capture of Singapore. Japan occupied Singapore after defeating the joint Australian, British, Indian, and Malayan garrison on the Malay Peninsula. This defeat of the British Empire is considered one of their worst defeats as although their soldiers were prepared they, underestimated Japans ability. Resulting in sixty thousand soldiers taken as prisoners. -
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Battle of Midway
Six months after the United States joined the war they defeated Japan in a naval battle by the use of code-breaking. With the advances in code-breaking, America was able to discover Japan's planned ambush of the Unites State's remaing aircraft carriers. This battle occurred in the north-central Pacific Ocean. United States were able to come out victorious ang this victory also resulted in the Allies being able to move into offensive positions. -
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First Battle of El Alamein
This battle was a part of the Western Desert Campaign and was fought in the deserts of North Africa. This battle to who would control North Africa between the Axis and Allies, was crucial for the Allies considering the invasion of the Soviet Union and the growing Nazi Germany occupation. The British had managed to push the Axis back but after repeated air and tank attacks, the Axis had succeeded in re-entering North Africa. In retaliation, the Allies fought back with the help of US supplies -
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Battle of Stalingrad
After the Germans failed at invading the Soviet Union a year earlier Germany they again aimed to invade the Russian city of Stalingrad. In September Germany advanced into the city but were stopped by fierce defensive fighting of Russia which made this battle known to be one of the bloodiest and greatest of World War Two. Since losing this battle German were in retreat from the Eastern Front, and thus marking the turning point of the war, the Allies now were in the upper-hand. -
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Second Battle of El Alamein
The second battle in a region of North Africa was launched by a British General called Operation Lightfoot which ordered a 20-minute general bombardment of the Axis front lines. On the night of 1 November, a second phase attacks, Operation Supercharge, was designed to break through the last part of the German defences. Knowing of the defeat the Axis withdrawed from North Africa. Hitler was aiming to take over Egypt so this defeat, which set Germany back helped the British Empire. -
D-Day Landings
D-Day is other wise known as the Battle of Normandy and was given the codename Operation Overload. This battle was the one that foreshadowed the end of Hitlers dream of Nazi domination. This battle was when around 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches off the coast of Normandy and took back a part of France which was under Nazi Germany’s control. The invasion was one of the largest military assaults, but said to be the beginning of the end of war in Europe. -
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Battle of the Bulge
Even with the D-Day landings making Germany weaker, the German army launched an offensive attack that was intended to cut through the Allied forces to turn the war in Hitler's favour. The battle started with two hours of bombardment on the Allies lines that was followed by a huge armoured attack. For two months this fighting continued resulting in the Allies defeating Nazi Germany for what was their last major offensive attack against the Allies in WW2. -
Mussolini Captured and Executed
As the war was nearing an end and Benito Mussolini realised that the Allies were winning, so he attempted to escape them as he did not want to beome a prisoner. Mussolini only made it as far as the Swiss border which was where guards already were, so he tried to disguise himself as a pilot in the Luftwaffe, but this plan failed. He was captured and shot secretly by partisans, who were communists. Mussolini's body was then transported back to Milan where he was hung upside down publicly. -
Hitler Commits Suicide
With WW2 nearing an end and with Germany almost defeated by the Allies, Hitler knew he would face severe consequences especially by the Russians. On the night of April 30th, in his bunker under his headquarters in Berlin, Hitler commits suicide by swallowing a cyanide capsule and shooting himself in the head. Hitler and his wifes remains were immediately brought above ground where they were burned and buried in a shallow grave to hide them from the Russians. -
German Forces Surrender
With the Allies nearing victory as they had left Germany defeated, General Alfred Jodl, the German HIgh Command signed an unconditional surender to the Allied Forces. Originally Johl wanted to only surrender those troops still fighting the Western Allies, but his alternative was turned down and all those troops fighting in both the East and the West had to surrender. The unconditional surrender was done at 02.41 in a small schoolhouse in Reims, France. This brought WW2 in Europe to an end. -
V.E Day
A day after Nazi Germany surrender, bringing World War Two in Europe to an end, Victory in Europe Day is celebrated by both Great Britain and the United States. Not only did the main Allied Forces celbrate but those countries in Europe that were once under Nazi Germany occupation. On V.E Day those countrieds would put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of NAzi Germany, the horrible superpower who had spread so much terror and violence around the world. -
Atomic Bomb Dropped On Hiroshima
Although the war had come to an end in Europe, Japan refused to surrender to the Allies. Because of Japan's resistance to surrender and their threat to many countries, America deployed the world's first ever atomic bomb over the city of Hiroshima, Japan. This explosion which happened at 8:15am wiped out 90 per cent of the city, killed 80,000 immediately and left devastating consequences. One of them being that ten thousand more people would die from radiation exposure. -
Soviet Union Declares War On Japan
Even with an Atomic bomb dropping on a city of Japan, they still didn't unconditionally surrender. Now that the war in Europe had fiished the SOVIET union weren't busy anymore fighting the Germans on the Eastern Front. Thus resulting in them declaring war on Japan. Not only did they declare war, the Soviet Union made a suprise invasion by sending 1 million Soviet soldiers into Japanese-occupied Manchuria, northeastern China. -
Atomic Bomb Dropped on Nagasaki
With one atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima the Americans thought that Japan would automatically agree to unconditional surrender, but they didn't even with the devastating outcomes. At 11:02am the bomb called "Fat Man" was dropped, even more powerful then the bomb droppped on Hiroshima. The Nagasaki bomb caused around 40,000 deaths and made a destruction over 4 kilometres. The Allies and the majority of countries faced with war were hoping that Japan would finally surrender after it all. -
Japanese Surrender - End of WW2
After six years of horrific events, fear and devastation the war finally comes to an end with the unconditional surrender of Japan. On the 15th of August the Emperor of Japan announced their surrender to the Allies, "continuing the war can only result in the annihilation of the Japanese people…” Upon the USS Missouri in Tokyo, Japan, the foreign minister signed on behalf of Hirohito the unconditional surrender of Japan, and therforeresulting in the end of World War Two. -
United Nations is Born
The United Nations first adopted the idea and concepts in June 1945. It wasn't until ater the surrender of Japan and end of World War Two that these concept came into action. The U.N. is made up of the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and around 40 other countries. The whole point of developing the U.N was to maintain worldwide peace and security, develop relations among nations and fostering cooperation between nations in order to solve social, economic or cultural problems.
