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Germany invades Poland
This is the start of the war. -
France and Great Britain declare war on Germany
They declare war because Germany invaded Poland. -
Germany invades and takes control of Denmark and Norway.
Hitler invades to guard supply routes of Swedish ore and also to create a Norwegian base to break the British naval blockade on Germany. -
Churchill becomes leader of the British government
Chamberlain resigns and gives Churchill his spot in government. -
Battle of Britain
The Royal Air Force defended the United Kingdom against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force. -
Italy enters the war as a member of the Axis powers
Mussolini joins the Axis powers to team up with Hitler. -
Germany, Italy, and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact creating the Axis Alliance
This pact formalized the alliance of Germany, Italy, and Japan. -
Germany and the Axis Powers attack Russia
Hitler sent 3 million soldiers and 3,500 tanks into Russia and took the Russian by surprise as they had signed a treaty with Germany in 1939. Stalin then signed a mutual assistance treaty with Britain and the U.S. agreed to provide similar assistance. -
Japanese attack the US Navy in Pearl Harbor
A surprise military attack by the Japanese on the U.S. Navy base in Pearl Harbor which led to the U.S. declaring war on Japan and then eventually their entry to WWII. -
Japanese take Singapore
The Japanese captured Singapore from the British, taking some 60,000 prisoners. -
Battle of Midway
The U.S. defeated the Japanese at the Battle of Midway. -
The US Navy defeats the Japanese navy at the Battle of Midway
This allowed the U.S. Navy to push Japan back. -
The Allies invade and take the island of Sicily
Codenamed Operation Husky, was a major campaign of WWII. -
Italy surrenders to the Allies
The surrender came after several weeks of negotiations between the Italian government and the Allies in the wake of Mussolini's removal from power. -
D-day
Codenamed Operation Overlord, this was a battle where some 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on beaches of France’s Normandy region. -
Paris is released from German control
The capital is freed from the control of Germany. -
The Germans attack in the Battle of the Bulge
Germany launched its final defensive through the Ardennes region of Belgium. But were beaten back by the allies. -
US Marines invade the island of Iwo Jima
They invaded because they saw it was the perfect place to build airfields to launch bombing raids against Japan which was only 660 miles away. -
The US Third Army crosses the Rhine River
The Allies crossed the Rhine while Soviet forces were approaching Berlin from the East as a plan to encircle and capture the Ruhr. -
US President Franklin Roosevelt dies
FDR suddenly complained of a pain in the back of his head and collapsed unconscious and died from a massive cerebral hemorrhage. -
Hitler commits suicide
Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his bombproof shelter with his mistress, Eva Braun. -
Germany surrenders to the Allies
German forces to the Allies in Italy. -
The United States drops an Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima, Japan
During the final stage of World War II, the U.S. bombed two Japanese cities the first one being Hiroshima. -
Another atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki, Japan
This was the second bombing of the two done by the U.S. -
Japan surrenders
Japan formally surrendered to the Allies, thus ending the Second World War.
