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France and Great Britain declare war on Germany
Britain and France had sworn to defend Poland. Honoring these obligations, the two countries sent ultimatums to Hitler demanding his withdrawal from Poland. Hitler declined to respond. On September 3, Prime Minister Chamberlain went to the airwaves to announce to the British people that a state of war existed between their country and Germany. World War II had begun. -
Germany invades France
The Battle of France was the successful German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on May 10th 1940, defeating primarily French forces. -
Italy enters the war on Germany's side
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Battle of Britain begins
The Battle of Britain was the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces, and was also the largest and most sustained aerial bombing campaign to that date. The German objective was to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force, especially Fighter Command. From July 1940, coastal shipping convoys and shipping centres, such as Portsmouth, were the main targets; one month later, the Luftwaffe shifted its attacks to RAF airfields and infrastructure. -
Italy invades Greece
On October 28th 1940, after Greek dictator Ioannis Metaxas rejected an Italian ultimatum demanding the occupation of Greek territory, Italian forces invaded Greece. The Greek army counterattacked and forced the Italians to retreat. By mid-December, the Greeks occupied nearly a quarter of Albania, tying down 530,000 Italian troops. In March 1941, a major Italian counterattack failed, humiliating the Italian military. -
Germany invades the Soviet Union
Under the codename Operation "Barbarossa," Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22th, 1941, in the largest German military operation of World War II. -
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor
The attack commenced at 7:48 a.m. Hawaiian Time. All eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged, with four being sunk.188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,383 - 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 were wounded. -
The US and Great Britain declare war on Japan
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Battle of Stalingrad begins
Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in the southwestern Soviet Union. Marked by constant close quarters combat and disregard for military and civilian casualties. -
Operation Torch begins (U.S. invasion of North Africa)
Operation Torch started on November 8th 1942, and finished on November 11th. Three days later. -
Axis forces surrender in North Africa
After victory by the Allies in the North African Campaign, the stage was set for the Italian Campaign to begin. The invasion of Sicily followed two months later -
The Allies invade Sicily
The Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky, was a major World War II campaign, in which the Allies took Sicily from the Axis Powers. It was a large scale amphibious and airborne operation, followed by six weeks of land combat. -
D-Day
During World War II (1939-1945), the Battle of Normandy, which lasted from June 1944 to August 1944, resulted in the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control. Codenamed Operation Overlord, the battle began on June 6th, 1944, also known as D-Day was when 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region. -
Assassination attempt to kill Hitler fails
On July 20th, 1944, German military leaders attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler, seize control of the government, and seek more favourable peace terms from the Allies. Between 12:40 and 12:50 the bomb detonated, demolishing the conference room. Three officers and the stenographer were seriously injured and died soon after, but Hitler survived. -
The Allies invade southern France
Operation Dragoon was the Allied invasion of southern France on 15 August 1944, during World War II -
Adolf Hitler commits suicide
Adolf Hitler commits suicide by shooting himself on April 30th 1945 in his Führerbunker in Berlin. -
Berlin is captured
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Germany surrenders to the Allies
Germany surrendered on May 7th 1945 thus bringing World War II in Europe to an end. On May 6th General Alfred Jodl arrived at General Dwight Eisenhower’s temporary headquarters – a small schoolhouse in Reims, France – to sign the surrender document. -
The United States drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima
On August 6th, 1945, the United States drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the first of two such dropped on Japan this week. At 2:45 a.m. local time, on August 6th, 1945, a B-29 Superfortress called Enola Gay, a warplane designed by the Boeing Airplane Company and modified at the company's Wichita, Kansas, plant, lifts off with two escort B-29s from Tinian, a small island in the Marianas. The planes fly 1,500 miles to Japan and the Enola Gay drops the bomb. -
The United States drops an atomic bomb on Nagasaki
After Japan's failure to surrender immediately, a second B-29, named Bock's Car, was dispatched on August 9th to drop a second atomic bomb, named "Fat Boy," on the city of Nagasaki. The only wartime uses of nuclear weapons to date claimed over 100,000 lives and injured or sickened tens of thousands more. -
Japan surrenders, ending World War II
In the morning of September 2nd 1945, more that two weeks after acceping the Allies terms, Japan formally surrendered. The ceremonies, less than half an hour long, took place on board the battleship USS Missouri, anchored with other United States and British ships in Tokyo Bay.
