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Japanese invasion of Manchuria
On September 18th, 1931, a railway explosion occurred near Mukden, Manchukuo. The railway was owned by the Japanese, who accused Chinese nationalists of the bombing and took the opportunity to attack Manchuria. -
Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany
After multiple sessions, involving industrialists, his son, the disgraced former German Chancellor Franz Von Papen, and Hitler, Hindenburg agreed and on January 30, 1933, named Adolf Hitler as the new German chancellor. -
Hitler invades Czechoslovakia
On the morning of March 15, German troops moved into the remaining Czech regions of Czechoslovakia, where they encountered little resistance. Hitler's desire to occupy Czechoslovakia was mainly due to the currency crisis, as Germany had exhausted its currency reserves before the beginning of 1939, and Germany urgently seized the gold of the Czechoslovak central bank to continue the Four Year Plan. -
Britain rearms and reassures Poland
Britain and Poland signed an agreement of mutual assistance, this meant that Britain would come to the defence of the Poles in case of military aggression by a foreign power. -
Hitler invades Poland
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, etc. was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak Republic, and the Soviet Union. This was marked the beginning of World War II. -
Phoney War
The Phoney War was an eight-month long period at the beginning of World War II when there was only one limited military land operation on the Western Front, when French troops invaded Germany's Saar district. -
Hitler invades Denmark and Norway
Under the code name 'Operation Weserübung', Nazi Germany attacked Denmark and Norway. On the same day, Denmark surrendered and was taken over. The country was a useful base of operations for the fight against Norway. -
Chamberlain resigns
Chamberlain accepted that a national government supported by all the main parties was essential. Chamberlain resigned the premiership because the Labour and Liberal parties would not follow under his leadership. -
Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg is a German word meaning “Lightning War”. It was Germany's strategy to avoid a long war in the first phase of World War II in Europe. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy on the United States against the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii. -
The Doolittle Raid
The Doolittle Raid as well as the Tokyo Raid, was an air raid on 18 April 1942 by the United States on Tokyo and other places on Honshu during World War II. It was the first American air operation to strike the Japanese archipelago. -
Italy surrenders
The invasion of Sicily happened in July 1943, leading up to the arrest and expulsion of the Italian Fascist leader, Benito Mussolini, later that month. This event prompted Italy to surrender. The armistice was signed on 3 September, but fighting in the country continued. -
Rome Liberated
The breakthrough succeeded, and the Allies drove north to liberate Rome. Allied troops marched through Rome as liberators, tremendously celebrated by cheering crowds. -
Paris liberated
The liberation of Paris was a battle that happened during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the German garrison surrendered the French capital on 25 August 1944. -
Russians reach Berlin
The Red Army barrelled into Berlin and took over the city, the final step in defeating the Third Reich and ending World War II in Europe. -
Germany Surrenders
The German Instrument of Surrender was a legal document effecting the unconditional surrender of the remaining German armed forces to the Allies, and ended World War II in Europe. ; the signing took place at 22:43 CET on 8 May 1945 and the surrender took effect at 23:01 CET on the same day. -
Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
Hiroshima was chosen as the first target because it was an important economic and military hub that had so far escaped serious air raid damage. When the Japanese surrender was still not approaching, Nagasaki became the second target. -
Japanese surrender
The reason Japan surrendered was because of the invention of a new and terrible weapon, the atomic bomb. This had forced the Japanese into a surrender that they had promised never to accept. -
Russia Declares War on Japan
The Soviet Japanese War, also known as the Liberation War of 1945 in Mongolia, was a campaign of the Second World War that started with the Soviet invasion of Japanese-occupied territory following the Soviet declaration of war against Japan. -
Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, during World War II, American bombing raids on the Japanese cities were marked the first use of atomic weapons in war.