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Invasion of Poland
In the early morning of September 1st, 1939, a German battleship began to open fire on Polish military transit depot, marking the beginning of the Second World War. -
Winter War
Early into the war, the Soviet Union decided to declare war on the much smaller and less powerful Finland, for similar reason to why Germany declared war on Poland. Unlike what happened with Germany and Poland, the Finnish were able to hold their ground extremely effectively, with the Soviets having around 5 times the amount of casualties as Finland. However, Finland knew it was only a matter of time before the Soviets overpowered them and agreed to give up a small amount of land to the Soviets. -
Battle of France
After conquering The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, Germany went through the French region of Ardennes to avoid the heavily fortified Maginot Line. Just over a month later, Germany had fully conquered France. -
Appeal of 18 June
After the Battle of France, French general Charles de Gaulle fled to London to avoid being captured by the Germans. Later that day, he made a speech through the BBC radio speaking out against the Germans. This is often thought of as the beginning of the French resistance movement, aka Free France. -
Battle of Britain
After conquering France, Germany turned its attention to Britain, though since it was separated from mainland Europe, the Germans first attempted to control the English Channel through the air to later launch a naval invasion across it. On the 31st of October of that same year, despite the Germans attempt, Britain had successfully secured the channel, and in the process, their safety from a potential German invasion. -
Tripartite Pact
The Tripartite Pact was a defensive military alliance between Germany, Italy and Japan and is believed to have been formed in reaction to The United States growing interest in going the war on the Allies sides. Under its terms, it recognised Germany and Italy as the rightful rulers of Europe and Japan as the rightful ruler of Greater East Asia. This pact was later joined by Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Slovakia.