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Germany invades Poland
Adolf Hitler seeks to rule Poland and gain lost land as the Nazi troops bombard Poland from the ground and the sky, thus sparks the beggining of WWII. -
Britain & France declare war on Germany
In response to Hitler's invasion of Poland, Britain and france whom were sworn to protect Poland, declare war on Germany. On September 17, Soviet forces under terms of a secret agreement with Germany marched into Poland from the East, leading to the surrender of the Poles, at this time Poland had ceased to exist as a country. -
Churchill becomes Prime Minister of Britain
Winston Churchill known for his military leadership ability replaces Neville Chamberlain as British Prime Minister after he loses confidence of the house of commons. Churchil promised the British people that they will "Never Surrender" and they never did. -
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Evacuation of Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo)
The evacution occured along the Belgium Coast and it lasted nine days. The evacuation was the largest of its kind in history and ended in an unexpected success. Over 338,000 allied troops were saved from capture by the Nazis. -
Italy enters war on side of Axis powers
Italy enters the war on the side of the Axis powers under the leadership of Mussolini. The purpose of this was not to aid Germany in becoming more powerful but to rather drive the British out so the they could extend their Mediterranean empire and regain their former Roman Empire glory. However Italy never achieved the dream of their former Glory, as they barely managed to survive the British offensive. -
France signs armistice with Germany
The armistice was signed near ompiègne, France, by military officials of the Nazi party and reprisentatives from the French republic. Adolf Hitler deliberately chose Compiègne as the site to sign the armistice due to its symbolic role as the site of the 1918 Armistice with Germany that signaled the end of World War I with Germany's surrender. -
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Battle of Britain
Germany begins the first in a long series of bombing raids against Great Britain, initiating the beging of a three and a half month battle known as the Battle of Britain. -
Tripartite Pact signed
Germany , Italy and Japan become the axis power when this pact was signed. The pact's conditions were to provide mutual assistance if any of the three signatories are attacked by any nation not already involved in the war. -
Operation Sea Lion (Planned)
Operation Sea Lion was created by Hitler as a plan to invade Great Britain in 1940. However, it was never carried out as the Germans lost the battle of Britain and it was thought that Hitler became more interested in the forthcoming attack on Russia as opposed to invading Britain. -
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Siege of Tobruk
For an extended period of time, the Allied forces prevented the advance of the German army. This included a barage of attacks from their airforce. Included in this allied force was a garrison of Australian soldiers. These soldiers found shelter during these attacks underground and the Germans gave them the nickname 'The Rats of Tobruk'. -
operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the codname for Germanies invasion of the Soviet Union. It was known for being the largest military operation in history involving more than 3 million Axis troops 3,500 tanks. Despite the enormous casualties Germany had inflicted, they had failed to land a decisive blow. They had underestimated both the resources of the Soviet Union and its willingness to accept massive losses. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor occured just before 8am when hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked American navel base which was located at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The bombardment lasted two hours, but was extremely destructive, as the Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight huge battleships, and almost 200 airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died in the attack, and another 1,000 were wounded. -
Britain and US declare war on Japan
As an outcome of the Bombing of Pearl Harbor President Franklin Roosevelt requests, and receives, a declaration of war against Japan. -
Japan take Singapore
Singapore had been a British colony since the 19th century but in July 1941, when Japanese troops occupied French Indochina, the Japanese telegraphed their intentions to transfer Singapore from the British to its own expanding empire. On the eve of the Pearl Harbor attack, 24,000 Japanese troops were transported from indochina to the Malay Peninsula, and Japanese fighter pilots attacked Singapore, killing 61 civilians from the air. -
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Battle of Midway
Thanks to a breakthrough in code breaking the US was able to prevent Japan's planned ambush of their remaing aircraft carriers. The victory allowed the Unites States and allies to move into offensive position. -
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First Battle of El Alamein
This battle was fought between the Allied forces which included UK, Australia/NZ, South Africa and British India againts the Axis force of Germany and Italy. This Battle was important for Victory allowed control of the ports and cities of Egypt. These facilities allowed for access to supplies. -
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Battle of Stalingrad
Known for being one of the bloodiest battle in history, the battle of Stalingrad left nearly 2 million military and civilian casualties. This war prevented the German advance into the Soviet Union, and marked the turning of the tables in favour of the Allies. -
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Second Battle of El Alamein
This battle was fought between the Allied forces which included the UK, Australia/NZ, South Africa and British India, the French and Greek forces, againts the Axis force of Germany and Italy. This battle which was a sequal to a battle where neither the Allies or the Axis group had clear victory. The only way to break this stalemate was for both parties to regroup and continue fighting another battle. As a result of this the Allies were victorious, this marked a major turning point in the war. -
D-Day Landing
the Allied Forces of Britain, America, Canada, and France attacked German forces on the coast of Normandy, France. With a huge force of over 150,000 soldiers, the Allies attacked and gained a victory that became the turning point for World War II in Europe. By the end of D-Day over 150,000 troops had landed in Normandy. By June 17th over half a million Allied troops had arrived and they began to push the Germans out of France. -
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Battle of the Bulge
This battle was Germany's last attempt to drive the Allies off of mainland Europe, this battle is also considered one of the greatest battles ever fought by the US military, due to majority of the troops involved on the Allied side were American. It was snowing when the Germans attacked, and the Americans were not prepared, as the Germans broke through the line and killed thousands of American troops. Despite the quick advance and overwhelming forces, the Americans stood their ground. -
Mussolini captured and executed
Mussolini and his mistress are captured and shot by italian partisans as they attempted to flee to Switzland. -
Hitler commits suicide
Adolf Hitler, Dictator of Germany shoots himself with a pistol in his air raid shelter, self sufficiant bunker. -
German Forces surrender
General Alfred Jodl, signs the unconditional surrender of all German forces. He first hoped to limit the terms but General Dwight Eisenhower demanded complete surrender of all German forces, those fighting in the East as well as in the West. -
V.E. Day
Victory in Europe day = V.E day. This is the day which marks the official unconditional surrender of the German Army, which marks the end of WW2 in Europe. -
Atomic Bomb dropped on Hiroshima
This was the day that the US dropped the first atomic bomb on a major city. The US were hoping that with the force shown the Japanese would surrender and stop fighting. This was not the case. -
Soviet Union declares war on Japan
With this declaration of War, the Soviet Union invaded Japanese territory. WIth this added attack, it put pressure on the Japanese Government to Surrender. -
Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
Hoping that the Japanese would finally surrender, the USA dropped the second A bomb on this populated city which held a large industrial zone. With this act it finally broke the spirits of the Japanese Government. -
Japanese surrender - End of WWII
After the second Atomic bomb, the Japanese finally surrended bringing a close to WW2. This allowed the USA to formally occupy the country of Japan. The formal surrender occured on the US navy ship USS Missouri. -
United Nations is born
With the end of WW2 the United Nations - UN was formed which replaced the League of Nations which was ineffective. WIth the establishment of the UN it is hoped that another such conflict (WW2) would be prevented.
