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Period: to
Events Of WWII
This pact of mutual alliance was signed by Germany, Italy and Japan. -
British rout Italians in N. Africa
Italian forces in North Africa were routed by the British led by General Wavell. -
Italy and Germany attack Yugoslavia
German and Italian troops attacked Yugoslavia, Greece and the island of Crete. German field Marshall Erwin Rommel led the axis powers back to North Africa. -
Hitler attacks Russia - Operation Barbarossa
Hitler sent 3 million soldiers and 3,500 tanks into Russia. The Russians were taken by surprise as they had signed a treaty with Germany in 1939. Stalin immediately signed a mutual assistance treaty with Britain and launched an Eastern front battle that would claim 20 million casualties. The USA, which had been supplying arms to Britain under a 'Lend-Lease' agreement, offered similar aid to USSR. -
Pearl Harbor
The Japanese, who were already waging war against the Chinese, attacked the US pacific fleet at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, as a preliminary to taking British, French and Dutch colonies in South East Asia. -
Period: to
WWII
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Britain and US declare war on Japan
Britain and the United States declared war on Japan. -
Declared war
Germany and Italy declare war on the United States; then the United States declares war on Germany and Italy -
Japanese take Singapore
The Japanese captured Singapore from the British, taking some 60,000 prisoners. -
Anne Frank
Anne Frank and her family go into hiding -
Battle of el alamein
First Battle of El Alamein begins -
Battle of Midway
The USA defeated the Japanese navy at the Battle of Midway. Following this victory, the US navy was able to push the Japanese back. -
Allies push into N. Africa
British and American forces under the command of General Dwight Eisenhower landed in the NW of Africa and assumed control of French Morocco and Algeria. They gradually closed in on the Germans. -
Axis surrender N Africa
The British and American forces managed to defeat the Axis forces in North Africa -
Allies invade Sicily
British and US forces invaded Sicily -
Allies take Sicily
The allied troops had won the island of Sicily. -
Italy surrenders
Mussolini had been thrown out of office and the new government of Italy surrendered to the British and the USA. They then agreed to join the allies. The Germans took control of the Italian army, freed Mussolini from imprisonment and set him up as head of a puppet government in Northern Italy. This blocked any further allied advance through Italy. -
Allies meet at Tehran
Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill met to co-ordinate plans for a simultaneous squeeze on Germany. They also discussed post war settlements. Churchill mistrusted Stalin; Roosevelt anxious to show that the West would not stand against Russia, went along with Stalin's wishes for a second front in France and no diversions further east. Churchill was over-ruled and the fate of post-war Eastern Europe was thus decided. -
Leningrad relieved
The siege of Leningrad was lifted by the Soviet army. -
Rome liberated
Although Italy had surrendered in September, it was only now that the allies were able to liberate Rome from the Germans. -
D-Day
The allies launched an attack on Germany's forces in Normandy, Western France. Thousands of transports carried an invasion army under the supreme command of general Eisenhower to the Normandy beaches. The Germans who had been fed false information about a landing near Calais, rushed troops to the area but were unable to prevent the allies from forming a solid bridgehead. For the allies it was essential to first capture a port. -
Japanese evicted from Burma
British forces under General Slim, with help from guerrilla-fighting Chindits led by Orde Wingate, evicted the Japanese from Burma. -
Paris liberated
The French capital of Paris was liberated from the Germans. -
V2 Flying Bombs
The first V2 flying bombs killed three people in London. -
Battle of the Bulge
Germany launched its final defensive through the Ardennes region of Belgium. However, they were beaten back by the allies. -
Allies cross the Rhine
The Allies crossed the Rhine while Soviet forces were approaching Berlin from the East. -
Russians reach Berlin
The Russians reached Berlin shortly before the US forces. -
Death of Roosevelt
president Roosevelt died. He was succeeded by President Truman. -
Battle Berlin
Battle of Berlin begins -
Mussolini captured and executed
Italian partisans captured Mussolini and executed him. -
Hitler commits suicide
The German leader, Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his bombproof shelter together with his mistress, Eva Braun, who he had, at the last minute, made his wife. -
German forces surrender
German forces in Italy surrendered to the Allies. -
German forces surrender
German forces in north west Germany, Holland and Denmark surrendered to Montgomery on Luneburg Heath. Admiral Donitz, whom Hitler had nominated as his successor, tried to reach agreement to surrender to the Western allies but to continue to fight the Russians. His request was refused -
Donitz offers unconditional surrender
Hitler's successor, Admiral Donitz, offerred an unconditional surrender to the allies. -
V.E. day
Victory in Europe was celebrated. -
Churchill loses election
Winston Churchill lost the election to Clement Atlee's Labour Party. The Labour party promised sweeping social reforms including nationalisation of the coal and railway industries and the creation of a welfare state. The Labour party gained 393 seats to the Conservatives 213. It was generally accepted that the landslide victory for Labour was due to the men and women of the armed services who did not want to resume civilian life under the conditions that they had before they entered service. -
Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
The Japanese generals refused to surrender. The US dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. -
Russia declares war on Japan
Russia declared war on Japan and invaded Japanese-ruled Manchuria. -
Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
The US dropped an atomic bomb on the port of Nagasaki as the Japanese had not surrendered following Hiroshima. -
Japanese surrender
The Japanese unconditionally surrendered to the allies ending the second world war -
MacArthur accepts Japan's surrender
US General, Douglas MacArthur, accepted Japan's surrender thus formally ending the second world war.