World War Timeline

  • Japan invades China

    Seeking raw materials to fuel its growing industries, Japan invaded the Chinese
  • Germany annexes Austria

    The annex of Austria into Nazi Germany
  • Germany annexes Sudetenland

  • Germany invades Poland

    The invasion of Poland marked the beginning of World War II
  • Nazi and Soviets divide Poland

  • Battle of Britain

    The Battle of Britain was a military campaign to defend the United Kingdom against Germany
  • Tripartite Pact

  • Operation Barbarossa

    The code name for the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union
  • Pearl Harbor

    A surprise military attack by the Japanese Navy,
  • Japan captures Burma and the Philippines

  • Battle of Midway

    The Battle of Midway is a air/sea battle between Japan and United States, 6 months after Pearl Harbor
  • Battle of Stalingrad

    Germany and a few allies fought the Soviet Union
  • Battle of Alamein

    The battle that prevented the Axis from coming into Europe
  • Axis troops in North Africa surrender

  • Italy surrenders

  • Operation torch starts

    Allied invasion of French North Africa during the World War II
  • Tehran Conference

    Leaders coordinated their military strategy against Germany and Japan
  • D-Day landings

    Airborne landings by the Allied forces, the largest seaborne landing in history.
  • Battle of the Bulge

    One of the most costliest battles fought by the U.S. Army. Also the last known Offensive Campaign of Germany
  • Yalta Conference

    Germany's unconditional surrender, it would be divided into four post-war occupation zones, controlled by U.S., British, French and the Soviet Union
  • Allied troops capture Iwo Jima

  • Hitler commits suicide

  • Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Death

  • Mussolini execution

  • Germany surrenders

  • Potsdam conference

    Various agreements on the German economy, punishment for war criminals, land boundaries and reparations
  • The U.S. drops Atomic Bomb on Japan

    The United States drops two atomic bombs on Japan in hopes of ending the war
  • Japan surrenders