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Germany invaded Poland. Over the next year, Nazi Germany and its allies conquered much of Europe. German officials confiscated Jewish property, in many places required Jews to wear identifying armbands, and established ghettos and forced-labor camps.
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Poland, for its part, had guarantees of French and British military support should it be attacked by Germany. Hitler intended to invade Poland anyway, but first he had to neutralize the possibility that the Soviet Union would resist the invasion of its western neighbour.
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German and Soviet forces gain control over Poland and begin to divide the country beetween them.
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Assessination attempt on Adolf Hitler fails
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Hitler told his people that 1940 will be the most decisive year in German history.
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Germany invades France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; Winston Churchill becomes the British Prime Minister.
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The majority of the British and elements of the French forces escaped at Dunkirk. With the fighting ended, the Germans began to consider ways of resolving the question of how to deal with Britain. If the British refused to agree to a peace treaty, one option was to invade.
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The battle takes place over the English Channel, as German planes attack British shipping. The Battle of Britain has begun. Major resources will have to be committed by the RAF to protecting English shipping convoys.
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The U.S. Navy awards contracts for 210 ships including 12 aircraft carriers and 7 battleships. Germany warns that all ships in war zones prescribed by the Axis are subject to attack,
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Hitler occupies Romania as part of his strategy of creating an unbroken Eastern front to menace the Soviet Union. Romania had come under the control of a fascist government that bore great resemblance to that of Germany’s, including similar anti-Jewish laws.
