-
March 31, 1939
France and great Britain guarantee the integrity of the borders of the Polish state -
September 1, 1939
1.5 million German soldier invade Poland, simultaneously bombing Polish airfields -
September 3, 1939 - May 8, 1945
The Battle of Atlantic took place, becoming the longest continuous military campaign during WWII. In the middle of the battle was the Allied naval blockade of Germany, announced the day after the declaration of war, and Germany's counter-blockade -
September 3, 1939
Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declare war on Germany -
May 1940 - January 1945
1.1 million Jewish, Polish, Romani, and Soviet prisoners of war were killed -
May 10, 1940
Nazis invaded France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; Winston Churchill becomes British Prime Minister. -
July 10, 1940 - October 31, 1940
The air war known as the Battle of Britain ends in the defeat of Nazi Germany -
September 27, 1940
Germany, Italy, and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact (a defensive military alliance). -
June 22, 1941
Germany and its allies launched Operation Barbarossa, a massive invasion of the Soviet Union from the Baltic shore in the north to the Black Sea in the South -
September 29, 1941
At Babi Yar Ravine (ditch where executed bodies lay), Jews were forced to walk to the ravines edge, where troops shot them. -
December 7, 1941
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor -
December 19, 1941
Hitler takes complete control of the German Army -
January 1, 1942
Declaration of the United Nations signed by 26 Allied nations -
June 1942
British and US navies halt the Japanese naval advance in the central Pacific at Midway -
July 9, 1942
Germans began a drive toward Stalingrad in the USSR -
February 2, 1943
Germans surrender at Stalingrad in the first big defeat of Hitler's armies -
September 3, 1943
Italy surrenders to the Allies, however Germany helps Mussolini to escape and set up a government in Northern Italy. -
November 18, 1943
Large British air raid on Berlin -
June 6, 1944
D-day and the Normandy invasion. Allied forces invade France and push back the Germans. -
August 25, 1944
Paris is liberated from German control. -
October 19, 1944
Japanese attempted to balance the technological advantage of invading American forces (34 US ships sunk) -
December 16, 1944
The Germans launch a large attack in the Battle of the Bulge -
March 22, 1945
The US Third Army under General Patton crosses the Rhine River. -
April 12, 1945
US President Franklin Roosevelt dies. He is succeeded by President Harry Truman. -
September 2, 1945
Japan signed a surrender agreement on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay ending WWII
