WWII Timeline

Benito Mussolini

Mar 16, 1921

Founded Fascist Party in 1921

Germany - Adolf Hitler

Mar 16, 1923

Attempted to overthrow the German government in 1923 and failed, and he was sent to jail.

Rhineland

Mar 16, 1930

Sudetenland

Mar 16, 1930

Given to Hitler for appeasement

Anshluss

Mar 16, 1930

Blitzkreig

Mar 16, 1930

Japan

Jan 1, 1931

Japan invades Manchuria

Japan

Mar 16, 1931

Japan - Military Leaders ( 1931 invaded Manchuria )

Italy invasion

Mar 16, 1935

Italy invaded Ethiopia

War with China

Jan 1, 1937

Rape of Nanjing - 200,000 - 300,000 Chinese massacred!

WWII Starts!

Sep 1, 1939

Gernany attacks Poland. Germany wins!

War

Sep 3, 1939

Britain and France declare war on Germany

Japan

Jan 1, 1940

Japan formed a military alliance with Germany and Italy. Japan took control of French Indochina with permission of the French Vichy government.

Sitzkrieg

Apr 1, 1940

Germany takes over Denmark and Norway

Sitzkrieg

May 1, 1940

Gernamy attacks France - Attacked through the Ardennes Forest in Northern France

Dunkirk

May 1, 1940

Dunkirk - 340,000 Allied troops escape, Netherlands and Belgium fall to Germany. By the end of June, France surrenders to Germany

Hideki Tojo

Oct 1, 1941

General Hideki Tojo took control of Japan

Pearl Harbor

Dec 7, 1941

U.s Pacific fleet - 20 warships, 200 aircraft destroyed.
2,400 Americans killed
USS Arizona
" A date which will live in infamy"
Destoryed isolationism

The Doolittle Raid

Apr 18, 1942

Days after loss in Philippines, 16 American bombers attacked Tokyo

Stalingrad

Period: Aug 1, 1942 to Jan 1, 1943

Stalingrad - Major industrialized center in the Volga River (Last German offensive in the East)

D-Day

Jun 6, 1944

D-Day 15,000 Allied troops carried across the English Channel. They were led by Omar Bradley. 10,000 Allied casualties - successful!

Holocaust

Sep 1, 1944

The slaughter, mass murder, and deliberate annihilation (genocide) of 6 million European jews. - Hitler

Yalta Conference

Feb 1, 1945

Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin met to plan for postwar peace.

Iwo Jima

Feb 20, 1945

Volcanic island 750 miles south of Tokyo
Cave Network -- Bloody Fighting
Flag raising on top of Mount Surbachi

FDR Death

Apr 12, 1945

FDR dies suddenly and vice president, Harry Truman takes over

Okinawa

Apr 20, 1945

Bloodiest Battle
Island 350 miles from Japan
Largest landing force in Pacific history
Japanese did not challenge landing, retreated to South 5 days later Japan attacked

Hitler

Apr 30, 1945

Hitler commits suicide

VE Day

May 8, 1945

marked the formal end of the war in Europe

United Nations

Jun 20, 1945

50 countries met in San Fransisco

Surender

Jul 26, 1945

demanded Japanese surrender or "prompt and utter destruction"

Hiroshima

Aug 6, 1945

Enola Gay - Paul Tibbets
80,000 Killed

Nagaski

Aug 9, 1945

over 40,000 killed

Japans Response

Aug 15, 1945

Emperor Hirohito surrendered over the radio
(VJ Day)

Surrender

Sep 2, 1945

Surrender on USS Missouri