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The Nazis and Soviets sign the Nonaggression Pact. This pact was to keep Germany from having to fight another two front war. Germany and the Soviet Union agreed to divide Poland between themselves and the USSR could take over Finland and the Baltic countries of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
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Hitler had planned and executed a surprise attack on Poland. The German Army raided borders. France and Great Britain decided to declare war on Germany.
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President Roosevelt asked congress to allow the Allies to buy American arms. He told them that they would pay cash and then carry their supplies back over on their own ships.
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Stalin sent Soviet troops to occupy the eastern half of Poland. Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia crumbled, but Finland resisted. The Soviets sent more troops but didn't consider the winter fighting. The Soviets lost many lives but won because they had such a high population number.
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Hitler launched a surprise attack on Denmark and Norway. Denmark only took 4 hours to fall. Norway took two months.
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German troops traveled through the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. They were planning on taking over France.
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Great Britain sent out 850 ships to go save France. The ships sailed back and forth to carry troops.
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France surrenders to Germany. The Germans took control of the northern part of the country. They then left the southern part to a puppet government led by Marshal Philippe Pétain.
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The Luftwaffe, Germany's air force, began bombing Great Britain. They started with airfields and aircraft factories. They then focused on cites to break the British morale. The RAF then fought back while using radar and Enigma, their German code-making machine. The war continued until May 10th, 1941.
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Mussoini ordered his army to attack British controlled Egypt. After a week of fighting, Italian troops had pushed 60 miles inside of Egypt. This forced the British units backwards and both sides sat and waited for the first move.
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The British decided to move in and make a move on the Italians. The British swept 500 miles across North Africa and took 130,000 Italian prisoners.
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Hitler began his invasion of the Soviet Union. The invasion lasted for weeks until the pushed 500 miles inside the Soviet Union.
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Roosevelt and Churchill met secretly to issue the Atlantic Charter. It upheld free trade among nations and the right of people to choose their own government.
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A Nazi drive on moscow began to unfold. They were planning on taking over the whole capital until stopped by General Georgi Zhukov.
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Germans completely cut off the city from the rest of the Soviet Union. Hitler was planning on starving the city more than 2.5 million inhabitants. They bombed many warehouses that were stocked with food. One million people died.
