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Germany invades Poland
On Germany openly defies Britain and France by invading Poland, signalling the start of World War Two. Using the revolutionary warfare technique of Blitzkrieg, the German army tore through much of Poland in just a few weeks. After a brave defence, an overwhelmed Poland surrendered to German forces on the 6th of October, 1939, just a month after the invasion began. -
Britain and France declare war on Germany
No longer able to ignore the conquering intentions of Nazi Germany, shortly after Germany began it's invasion on Poland, Britain and France responded with a declaration of war. Neville Chamberlain, who had thus far attempted to avoid war with Germany, began a sharp decline in popularity. Britain sends some aid to Poland but it is limited. -
Churchill becomes Prime Minister of Britain
Winston Churchill is voted in as Prime Minister of Britain, -
Evacuation of Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo)
With 200 000 British soldiers, trapped on the French Coast, facing decimation by the Germans, the British people and the navy responded to the cause, sending ships of all types to pick up and rescue the soldiers from the seaside town of Dunkirk. -
Italy enters war side on side of Axis powers
Under the dictatorship of Mussolini, Italy entered the second world war, allying with Germany and the side of the axis powers, of which they were already part of. With Germany and Italy having much in common, including being fascist states, and having dictators that had popular support of the country., -
France signs armistice with Germany
France, with no prospect of defeating Germany and it's army, is forced to sign an armistice. The armistice, as requested by Hitler, was signed in the carriage that Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles, at the end of world war one, as an attempt to humiliate France, and sate some of Germany's appetite for revenge. -
Battle of Britain
With France taken, Germany was becoming sure of what seemed to be an inevitable victory, and began to attack British airbases and trade convoys with their Luftwaffe, in a bid to force the British to surrender or sign a peace agreement. However, they hadn't counted on the fierce defense of the RAF, who managed to fend off the Luftwaffe, preventing Germany from gaining air superiority over Britain, which rendered a German land or sea invasion impossible. -
Tripartite Pact signed
An agreement between Japan, Italy and Germany, already allies due to their mutual appetite for power, conquest and right wing mindset, was formally acknowledged with the Tripartite pact, which agreed that the 3 nations would help each other militarily and ally themselves against each other's opposing threats. -
Operation Sea Lion
Planned for late 1940, but never specified, operation Sea Lion was a planned German invasion of Britain. While the Germans saw invasion as a last resort, only if they couldn't come to terms with Britain, the battle of Britain was also used in part to secure ground and air superiority, to make a potential invasion a feasible option. As the Germans lost the Battle of Britain, failing to destroy with the RAF and incurring heavy losses, operation Sea Lion never took place. -
Siege of Tobruk
With the Axis looking to gain strategic footholds in the Mediterranean bordering Africa, the allies responded. However German commander Rommel was proving more than a match for the allied commanders, and was pressing forward into Africa. To keep the Germans from accessing the port near Tobruk, a garrison was left in the town. Small in number, the soldiers there proved extremely capable, holding out against the German army for 241 days and significantly hindered the German Africa campaign. -
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for the German invasion of Russia. Despite the two countries being allies early in WW2, Nazi, fascist Germany had little respect for communism and the Slavic Russians, whom Germans considered inferior to the British race. This meant an invasion was inevitable. While it began successfully, close to victory, the Russian winter set in and helped the Russians push the German army back, and turn the tide of the war. Millions died in the conflict. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbour
With Japan's rapid expansion into south east Asia beginning to grate on the United States, Japan feared that only a preemptive strike would be able to take out the US' navy and prevent them from attempting to wrest back Japanese control of south east Asia and Oceania. 353 Japanese aircraft took part in the large scale bombing of the Pearl Harbor naval base in Honolulu. This prompted the US to declare war on Japan, followed by Germany declaring war on the US, and then vice versa. -
Britain and US declare war on Japan
Following the devastating Pearl Harbor attack by Japan onto US naval forces, the US and Britain then declared war on Japan. Involvement of the US in the war helped turn the tide, especially when the US directly declared war on Germany following Germany's declaration of war on them, done due to German and Japan's Tripartite agreement. -
Japan takes Singapore
Seeking to take control of Asia, Japan planned it's next attack on the seemingly impenetrable British held Singapore. Impossible to defeat from sea, the Japanese used bicycles to travel through the jungle, and thus were able to take the allied soldiers by surprise. After a week of fighting, where the allies were constantly losing ground, the allies surrendered to Japanese forces, with the 80000 number of soldiers surrendering being an unheard of catastrophe. -
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was naval battle between the United States and Japan, with the result having a decisive impact on the struggle between the two countries. The United States managed to intercept the Japanese plot to strike another blow against the US navy and turned the tables, instead making it's own ambush and doing irreparable damage to the Japanese navy, and thereupon putting the Japanese on the back foot until the conclusion of the war. -
First battle of El Alamein
The African campaign for the Germans was pressing forward, and they had beaten the British into a retreat. However with supplies running low for both sides, a series of battles centered around El Alamein began, with the axis gaining the early upper hand before some well coordinated allied attacks eventually pushed them back. The battle was largely a stalemate but importantly for the allies, it halted the axis advance. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The German army was quickly pressing through Russia, and had the option to end the conflict quickly by going straight to Moscow. Instead, they diverted to Stalingrad, where the bitter defense and Russian winter began to unravel their seemingly unbeatable army. Hitler refused to give up, his pride dependent on capturing the city, and thus many men and resources were lost in the battle for Stalingrad, which ended in vain. The Russian launched a counterattack and Germany began to lose the war. -
Second battle of El Alamein
The allies were slowly beginning to take the upper hand in Africa, and this victory would be the most decisive yet. Having already pushed Rommel's 'Korps' back, the allies mounted another offensive on the axis forces, in an attempt to start driving the axis completely out of Africa. The allies came away with a resounding victory and it helped turn the tide of the war. -
D-Day Landings
With the tide of war turning against the Germans, the allies saw to push back Germany from Britain and begin the next phase of the war to take down Germany itself. In the largest seaborne invasion ever, with 156000 landing initially on the beach to fight the Germans. After slow progress at the beginning, the allies began to overpower the axis defenders and were soon pushing into a France, D-Day being a decisive and important victory. -
Battle of the Bulge
With the allied armies pushing back through Europe towards Germany, the Germans made one last, huge, desperate attempt to force the allies into a peace treaty, or at least a retreat, so the Germans could concentrate on the Russians at the eastern front. While initially successful, with heavy allied casualties, the German plan began to unravel due to weather and fierce allied resistance, and the axis sustained heavy losses. The German defeat all but ended their chances of winning WWII. -
Mussolini captured and executed
While a powerful figure early on, Italy's poor war efforts and the general turn against the axis saw Mussolini's reputation deteriorate among the Italian people. Nearing the end of the war, he and his mistress, along with some other fascist leaders attempted to cross the border to Switzerland. However they were captured by communist partisans, who held Mussolini before later killing him, The exact time and cause of death is still disputed by historians today, although it is agreed he was shot. -
Hitler commits suicide
The red army was advancing from the east, and the allied forces from the rest, and it was clear that Berlin would soon be taken. Most axis leaders had now attempted to flee, or had killed themselves. Hitler, along with several servants and German commanders were in his own 'Fuhrerbunker' in Berlin. After detailing some final orders, he and his wife committed suicide in their private quarters. Hitler by shooting himself, his wife, Eva, by cyanide. -
German forces surrender
After Hitler's death, the German forces, mostly older men and young boys by this point, were completely demoralized, and general Helmuth Weidling, the commander of the Berlin defense area, surrendered unconditionally to the commander of the russian army Vasily Chuikov. News of Germany's surrender spread quickly and celebration around the world was rife. -
V.E. Day
Upon the unconditional German surrender, celebrations erupted around the world, with the fighting, at least in Europe, suddenly at an end. In the US, Russia, Belgium, France, Australia, and many more countries, people took to their feet to celebrate, with a million people in Britain crowding the streets in Trafalgar Square and up to Buckingham Palace, to see the royals waving on the balcony. V.E. day is still commemorated today. -
Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
In a highly controversial action, that is still debated today, the United States, led by president Truman, dropped the atomic bomb 'little boy' onto the Japanese city of Hiroshima. With Japan still in war with the US, and following the 'Bushido' conduct, with most Japanese fighters choosing death over surrender, the US saw the atomic bomb as the best strategy in order to get Japan to submit. The damage was devastating with over a 100000 people in Hiroshima dying, and the city being obliterated. -
Soviet Union declare war on Japan
Once Germany had fallen, Stalin, the leader of Russia, followed up on his promise to war with Japan once Germany was dealt with, declaring war in August 1945. Already shaken by the Hiroshima bombing, the Japanese army in Manchuria quickly fell to the red army, with other Japanese conquered lands on the mainland also falling to the Russians. The defeat helped end the war even quicker, though Japan's decision to surrender was likely based off the 2nd bomb dropped on Nagasaki a day after. -
Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
Three days after dropping the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, the US had not received a surrender from Japan, and chose to drop a second atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki. While not quite as destructive as the first, the bomb still killed over 50000 people in Nagasaki and the surrounding area. Along with the first bomb, the necessity to drop the second is also debated. -
Japanese surrender - End of WWII
Having faced two atomic bombs, and under attack by the Russians, the Japanese finally agreed to a surrender, officially ending the horror that was world war two. Japanese's surrender meant the last of the axis had fallen, and consequently like the German surrender earlier, this was celebrated around the world, particularly America. -
United Nations is born
After the failure of the League of Nations to prevent world war two, the necessity for a more effective 'league' was high, as so to prevent more conflict from occurring. While the negotiations and planning were mostly done as WWII was in it's closing stages, several countries' inability to sign the UN declaration prevented it's formation. Once Poland signed on October the 24th, 1945, it officially formed with the goal of protecting life, liberty, religious freedom, human rights and justice.