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Germany invades Poland
Germany and the USSR agreed to divide Poland between the two. Germay wanted to have more land and believed that Britain and France wouldn't go to war. Poland was under control by Germany until 1945. During this time, the Holocaust occurred. This was when over 6 million Jewish people were forced to work for the Germans, were tortured and murdered. The Holocaust ended once the allied forces invaded Germany, helping the Jewish people are punishing the Germans. -
Britain and France declare war on Germany
Germany was gaining power quickly, Britain and France wanted to stop them from further gaining power. Two days after Germany had invaded Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany. This was done to weaken Germany and to help Poland out. This didn't weaken Germany much as they still managed to become stronger -
Churchill becomes Prime Minister of Britain
Neville Chamberlain was the Prime Minister of Britain, but once he had resigned due to losing a confidence vote, Winston Churchill came to power. Chamberlain had signed the Munich Pact with Hitler but this broken when Hitler invaded Poland. After this, Chamberlain wanted to declare war on Germany but failed with this as he showed himself to be ill-equipped. Churchill was know for his military leadership ability and therefore was appointed the Prime Minister of Britain in 1940. -
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Evacuation of Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo)
France and Britain could see that Germany was getting the upper hand. France was under attack by Germany whilst many British forces were there. Britain wanted to save their forces for future defense of their country, thus evacuating at Dunkirk. -
Italy enters war on side of Axis powers
On this day, Mussolini declared war on France and Great Britain. Mussolini was aware that Italy had a lack of materials however still decided to wage war. -
France signs armistice with Germany
Once Marshal Henri Petain replaced France's previous Prime Minister Paul Reynaud, an armistice was signed with Germany. However, the fighting between the two continued as French general Charles de Gaulle instructed both France and England to continue on fighting with Germany. -
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Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain was the name given to the series of bombs from Germany dropped on Britain on 1940. Though Britain had less fighters than Germany, Britain still had its advantages. It had an effective radar system which made it hard for German sneak attacks to occur and also had superior air craft compared to Germany. -
Tripartite Pact signed
The Axis powers, Japan, Germany and Italy signed the Tripartite Pact in Berlin. This Pact provided assistance if any of the members were to suffer from an attack. The creation of this pact was aimed at America, to make it think twice about before venturing to the side of the Allies. -
Operation Sea Lion
'Opertion Sea Lion' was the name Hitler gave his planned invasion of Great Britain. This operation never fell through as Germany lost the battle of Britain. Hitler could've still gone through with this invasion but it was believed that he wanted to put all of his aim onto fighting against Russia thus not wanting to spend time on Operation Sea Lion. -
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Siege of Tobruk
14,300 troops were captured by a German Italian army during the siege.The Allied forces in North Africa swept the Italians away from the western desert and into Cyrenaica. Tobruk was subject to constant shelling and bombing. Nazi propagandist, William Joyce named the Australian troops who protected Tobruk, 'Desert Rats.' The Australians welcomes this name. -
Operation Barbarossa
Germany's invasion into the Soviet Union was named 'Operation Barbarossa.' This invasion was the largest military operation in history as it involved 3 million Axis troops and 3,500 tanks. The Soviet Union was unprepared for this attack as Stalin was in disbelief that an operation like this would occur. This led to Germany finding success easily and winning against the Soviet Union. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
Hundred of Japanese fighter planes attacked America on Pearl Harbor. The attack only lasted for two hours but did extreme damage. The Japanese destroyed 20 American naval vessels, 8 battleships and 300 airplanes. Japan's attack killed 2,000 American soldiers and also harmed an extra 1,000. -
Britain and US declare war on Japan
One day after the Pearl Harbor bombings, President Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan. Congress agreed but three days later Japan allies Germany and Italy also declared war on America, once again Congress reciprocated. It took America two years in to join WWII. -
Japan take Singapore
Singapore had been a British colony since the 19th century. Japan wanted to invade Singapore in hopes of transferring it to their own burgeoning empire. Japan fought the British forces on the Malay peninsula for the power over Singapore. Britain was both out-manned and outgunned and Singapore had surrendered. With this surrender, led Britain's complete downfall in these attacks. -
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Battle of Midway
Six months after the bombing of Pearl harbor, America defeated Japan in a naval battle. Due to decoding, America was aware of Japans planned attack. America prepared for this attack and this ended up in a victory for them which allowed them to move into an offensive position. -
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First battle of El Alamein
This was a battle of the Western Desert Campaign of WWII, fought in Egypt between the Axis forces. Germany and Italy's positions were dangerously close to Egyptian cities, base facilities and the Suez Canal. They were too fare from their bases in Libya to remain in El Alamein. This led to both sides accumulating more supplies for more offences. -
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Battle of Stalingrad
This was the name given the successful defense of the city 'Stalingrad' Many historians believe that this was the greatest battle of WWII. The Battle of Stalingrad stopped Germans from advancing into the Soviet Union. This battle was one of the bloodiest in history and resulted in the casualties of over 2 million people. -
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Second battle of El Alamein
The second battle of El Alamein was one of the first big successes against the Axis powers since 1941. This battle resulted in Allied victory, forcing Rommel to retreat into Tunisia. -
D-Day landings
On D-Day 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on the coat of Normandy, France. This was one of the largest military assaults in history.Germany was mislead about where to attack which led to Germany being defeated by France. -
Mussolini captured and executed
The Allies were fighting their way up to the Italian peninsula and would've come for Mussolini. Mussolini didn't want to fall into the hands of the British or Americans thus fleeing to the Swiss border. Mussolini tried to disguise himself in a Luftwaffe coat but was caught by Germany soldiers who shot both him and his wife. -
Hitler commits suicide
It was becoming clear that Germany would fail under the pressure from their allied forces as they had started being defeated. In June 1944, Allied armies landed in France with the intention of pushing Germany back to Berlin. Several Germany military commanders decided to assassinate Hitler but all their tries had failed. On the 30 of April, 1945, Hitler committed suicide in his underground Bunker by swallowing a cyanide capsule and shooting himself in the head. -
Germany forces surrender
After the death of Hitler, Germany signed an unconditional surrender in France that was to take effect the following day and to end WWII -
V.E day
V.E day (Victory in Europe) is the name give to the day that the Allies had accepted Nazi Germany's surrender of its armed forces. -
Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
America has discovered a way to create an atomic bomb. Thy were planning on using this on Germany but by the time that the bomb was created, Germany had already been defeated. However, the war with Japan was still raging. Truman was warned that invading Japan cause lead to many causalities but dropping a bomb would lead to a quick end to the war. The atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima which led to 80,000 people dying and many more being harmed from exposure to radiation. -
Soviet Union declares war on Japan
On this day, Russian sent over 1 million Soviet soldiers into Manchuria, Japan. The Japanese army believed that they would not engage in a Soviet attack until spring the next year. However, the Soviet Union surprised Japan when they invaded in Manchuria. -
Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
America knew that bombing japan would lead to a quick victory for themselves. After the first atomic bomb, America dropped another one three days later. this bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. This resulted in japan's unconditional surrender -
Japanese surrender - End of WWII
After Japan was bombed twice, the country was weakened and they had no choice but to surrender. So on the 2nd September, 1945 Japan surrendered and brought WWII to an end. -
United Nations is born
The League of Nations was proven unsuccessful during WWII; many countries disobeyed the League but the League had no way of stopping them for doing this, nor retaliating. Many people had also resigned from the League. After WWII was finished, the U.N was created to replace the League of Nations. The U.N promoted international co-operation and was put into place to stop any further events like WWII from occurring.
