-
Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.
-
Germany declares war on Russia.
-
Germany declares war on France.
-
The UK declares war on Germany, after Germany invades Belgium.
-
U.S. President Woodrow Wilson announces the U.S. will remain neutral.
-
The First Battle of the Marne begins. Trench warfare begins as soldiers on both sides dig in.
-
Battle of Ypres begins.
-
The United Kingdom announces that the North Sea is a military area, effectively creating a blockade of goods into Germany.
-
The unofficial Christmas truce is declared.
-
The Dardanelles Campaign begins.
-
The Second Battle of Ypres begins. It is during this battle that the Germans first use poison gas.
-
The British ocean liner RMS Lusitania is sunk by German U-boat, U-20
-
The Battle of Verdun begins. The Battle of Verdun was the longest battle of World War I and was one of the bloodiest.
-
The Battle of the Somme begins. During the Battle of the Somme, tanks are first introduced into battle.
-
Russian Tsar Nicholas II abdicates.
-
The United States declares war on Germany.
-
The Battle of Passchendaele (also known as the Third Battle of Ypres) begins.
-
The Bolsheviks successfully overthrow the Russian government
-
Germany launches the Spring Offensive.
-
German flying ace, Baron Manfred von Richthofen (more commonly known as the Red Baron), is shot down.
-
Germany signs the armistice at Compiegne, France. Fighting ends on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month (i.e. 11 a.m. on November 11).
-
The Treaty of Versailles officially ends WWI.
-
Japan invades Manchuria.
-
Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact, directed against the Soviet Union and the international Communist movement.
-
Japan invades China, initiating World War II in the Pacific.
-
Germany incorporates Austria in the Anschluss.
-
Germany, Italy, Great Britain, and France sign the Munich agreement which forces the Czechoslovak Republic to cede the Sudetenland, including the key Czechoslovak military defense positions, to Nazi Germany.
-
Under German pressure, the Slovaks declare their independence and form a Slovak Republic. The Germans occupy the rump Czech lands in violation of the Munich agreement, forming a Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
-
France and Great Britain guarantee the integrity of the borders of the Polish state.
-
Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sign a nonaggression agreement and a secret codicil dividing eastern Europe into spheres of influence.
-
Germany invades Poland, initiating World War II in Europe.
-
Germany invades Poland, initiating World War II in Europe.
-
The Soviet Union invades Poland from the east.
-
Italy enters the war.
-
France surrenders to Germany
-
The United States begins its first peacetime draft
-
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease bill.
-
The British ship Hood is sunk by Germany's Bismarck.
-
The Bismarck is sunk.
-
Germany invades the Soviet Union.
-
The Atlantic Conference begins.
-
The Siege of Leningrad begins.
-
The Japanese launch a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
-
Germany and Italy declare war on the United States; then the United States declares war on Germany and Italy.
-
The Wannsee Conference commences.
-
Roosevelt issues Executive Order 9066, which allows the internment of Japanese Americans.
-
The Doolittle Raid on Japan begins.
-
The Battle of Midway begins.
-
First Battle of El Alamein begins.
-
Anne Frank and her family go into hiding.
-
The Guadalcanal Campaign begins.
-
The Battle of Stalingrad begins.
-
The Second Battle of El Alamein begins.
-
The Allies invade North Africa .
-
The Casablanca Conference begins.
-
The Germans surrender at Stalingrad, Soviet Union.
-
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins.
-
The Battle of Kursk begins.
-
Mussolini resigns.
-
Italy surrenders.
-
The Tehran Conference begins.
-
After 900 days, the Siege of Leningrad is finally over.
-
D-Day. :I
-
Battle of the Philippine Sea begins.
-
Assassination attempt against Hitler fails.
-
Anne Frank and her family are discovered and arrested.
-
The Allies liberate Paris.
-
Battle of Leyte Gulf begins.
-
The Battle of the Bulge begins.
-
The Yalta Conference begins.
