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Germany attacks Poland, marking the start of World War II.
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Honoring their guarantee of Poland’s borders, Great Britain and France declare war on Germany.
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Soviet Union invades Poland from the east.
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Warsaw surrenders on September 27. The Polish government flees into exile via Romania. Germany and the Soviet Union divide Poland between them.
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Germany invades Denmark and Norway. Denmark surrenders on the day of the attack; Norway holds out until June 9.
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Germany attacks western Europe—France and the neutral Low Countries. Luxembourg is occupied on May 10; the Netherlands surrenders on May 14; and Belgium surrenders on May 28. On June 22, France signs an armistice agreement by which the Germans occupy the northern half of the country and the entire Atlantic coastline. In southern France, a collaborationist regime with its capital in Vichy is established.
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Italy invades the southern part of France.
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Bulgaria joins the Axis powers.
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Japan attacks Pearl Harbor.
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The United States declares war on Japan, entering World War II. Japanese troops land in the Philippines, French Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia), and British Singapore. By April 1942, the Philippines, Indochina, and Singapore are under Japanese occupation.
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Nazi Germany and her axis allies declare war on the United States.
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British and US navies halt the Japanese naval advance in the central Pacific at Midway.
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Axis forces in Tunisia surrender to the Allies, ending the North African campaign.
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Allied troops land on the beaches of Salerno near Naples.
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Allied troops land successfully near Anzio, just south of Rome.
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British and US troops successfully land on the Normandy beaches of France, opening a “Second Front” against the Germans.
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The appearance of Soviet troops on the Prut River induces the Romanian opposition to overthrow the Antonescu regime. The new government concludes an armistice and immediately switches sides in the war. The Romanian turnaround compels Bulgaria to surrender on September 8, and the Germans to evacuate Greece, Albania, and southern Yugoslavia in October.
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U.S. troops land in the Philippines
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The Germans launch a final offensive in the west, known as the Battle of the Bulge, in an attempt to re-conquer Belgium and split the Allied forces along the German border. By January 1, 1945, the Germans are in retreat.
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Hitler commits suicide.
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Germany surrenders to the Western allies.
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Germany surrenders to the Soviets.
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The United States drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
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The Soviet Union declares war on Japan and invades Manchuria.
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The United Sates drops an atomic bomb on Nagasaki.
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Japan formerly surrenders, ending World War 2.
