Timeline of WWII
September 18,
1931
Japan invades Manchuria.
October
2, 1935–May
1936
Fascist Italy invades, conquers, and
occupies Ethiopia.
October
25–November 1,
1936
Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy
sign a treaty of
cooperation on October 25, 1936. On November 1 the Rome-Berlin
Axis is
announced.
November
25, 1936
Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact, directed
against
the Soviet Union and the international Communist movement.
July
7, 1937
Japan invades China, initiating World War II in the Pacific.
March
11–13,
1938
Germany incorporates Austria in the
Anschluss.
September
29, 1938
Germany, Italy, Great Britain, and France sign the Munich agreement
which
forces the Czechoslovak Republic to surrender the Sudetenland,
including the
key Czechoslovak military defense positions, to Nazi
Germany.
March
14–15,
1939
Under German pressure, the Slovaks
declare their independence and form a Slovak
Republic. The Germans
occupy the remaining Czech lands in violation of the
Munich agreement,
forming a Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
March
31, 1939
France and Great Britain guarantee the integrity of the borders of the
Polish
state.
April
7–15,
1939
Fascist Italy invades and annexes
Albania.
August
23, 1939
Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sign a nonaggression agreement and a
secret
codicil dividing Eastern Europe into spheres of influence.
September
1, 1939
Germany invades Poland, initiating World War II in Europe.
September
3, 1939
Honoring their guarantee of Poland’s borders, Great Britain and France
declare
war on Germany.
September
17, 1939
The Soviet Union invades Poland from the east.
September
27–29,
1939
Warsaw surrenders on September 27. The
Polish government flees into exile via
Romania. Germany and the Soviet
Union divide Poland between them.
November
30, 1939–March 12,
1940
The Soviet Union invades Finland,
initiating the
so-called Winter War. The Finns sue for an armistice and have to
cede the
northern shores of Lake Lagoda and the small Finnish coastline on the
Arctic
Sea to the Soviet Union.
April
9, 1940–June 9,
1940
Germany invades Denmark and
Norway. Denmark
surrenders on the day of the attack; Norway holds out until June
9.
May
10, 1940–June 22,
1940
Germany attacks Western
Europe—France and the
neutral Low Countries. Luxembourg is occupied on May 10;
the Netherlands
surrenders on May 14; and Belgium surrenders on May 28. On June
22, France
signs an armistice agreement by which the Germans occupy the northern
half
of the country and the entire Atlantic coastline. In southern France, a
collaborationist regime with its capital in Vichy is established.
June
10, 1940
Italy enters the war. Italy invades southern France on June 21.
June
28, 1940
The Soviet Union forces Romania to cede the eastern province of
Bessarabia and
the northern half of Bukovina to the Soviet Ukraine.
June
14, 1940–August 6,
1940
The Soviet Union occupies the
Baltic States on
June 14–18, engineering Communist coup d’états in each of them
on July
14–15, and then annexing them as Soviet Republics on August 3–6.
July
10, 1940–October 31,
1940
The air war known as the Battle of
Britain ends
in defeat for Nazi Germany.
August
30, 1940
Second Vienna Award: Germany and Italy arbitrate a decision on the
division of
the disputed province of Transylvania between Romania and
Hungary. The loss of
northern Transylvania forces Romanian King Carol
to abdicate in favor of his
son, Michael, and brings to power a
dictatorship under General Ion Antonescu.
September
13, 1940
The Italians invade British-controlled Egypt from Italian-controlled
Libya.
September
27, 1940
Germany, Italy, and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact.
October
1940
Italy
invades Greece from Albania
on October 28.
November
1940
Slovakia
(November 23), Hungary
(November 20), and Romania (November 22) join the
Axis.
February
1941
The
Germans send the Afrika Korps
to North Africa to reinforce the faltering
Italians.
March
1, 1941
Bulgaria joins the Axis.
April
6, 1941–June
1941
Germany, Italy, Hungary, and
Bulgaria invade and
dismember Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia surrenders on April 17.
Germany and
Bulgaria invade Greece in support of the Italians. Resistance in
Greece
ceases in early June 1941.
April
10, 1941
The leaders of the terrorist Ustasa movement proclaim the so-called Independent
State of Croatia. Recognized immediately by Germany and
Italy, the new state
includes the province of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Croatia joins the Axis powers
formally on June 15, 1941.
June
22, 1941–November
1941
Nazi Germany and its Axis partners
invade the
Soviet Union. Finland, seeking redress for the territorial losses in
the
armistice concluding the Winter War, joins the Axis just before the
invasion. The Germans quickly overrun the Baltic States and, joined by the
Finns, lay siege to Leningrad (St. Petersburg) by September. In the center, the
Germans capture Smolensk in early August and drive on Moscow by October. In
the
south, German and Romanian troops capture Kiev (Kyiv) in September and
capture
Rostov on the Don River in November.
December
6, 1941
A Soviet counteroffensive drives the Germans from the Moscow suburbs in
chaotic
retreat.
December
7, 1941
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor.
December
8, 1941
The United States declares war on Japan, entering World War II. Japanese
troops
land in the Philippines, French Indochina, Vietnam, Laos,
Cambodia, and British
Singapore. By April 1942, the Philippines,
Indochina, and Singapore are under
Japanese occupation.
December
11–13,
1941
Nazi Germany and its Axis partners
declare war on the United States.
May
30, 1942–May
1945
The British bomb Koln, bringing
the war home to
Germany for the first time. Over the next three years
Anglo-American bombing
reduces urban Germany to ruins.
June
1942
British
and United States navies
halt the Japanese naval advance in the central
Pacific at Midway.
June
28, 1942–September
1942
Germany and her Axis partners
launch a new
offensive in the Soviet Union. German troops fight their way into
Stalingrad
on the Volga River by mid-September and penetrate deep into the
Caucasus
after securing the Crimean Peninsula.
August–November
1942
United
States troops halt the
Japanese island-hopping advance towards Australia at
Guadalcanal in the Solomon
Islands.
October
23–24,
1942
British troops defeat the Germans and
Italians at El Alamein in Egypt, sending
the Axis forces in chaotic
retreat across Libya to the eastern border of
Tunisia.
November
8, 1942
US and British troops land at several points on the beaches of Algeria
and
Morocco in French North Africa. The failure of the Vichy French
troops to
defend against the invasion enables the Allies to move
swiftly to the western
border of Tunisia, and triggers the German
occupation of southern France on
November 11.
November
23, 1942–February 2,
1943
Soviet troops counterattack
breaking through
the Hungarian and Romanian lines northwest and southwest of
Stalingrad and
trapping the German Sixth Army in the city. Forbidden by Hitler
to retreat
or try to break out of the Soviet ring, the survivors of the Sixth
Army
surrender on January 30 and February 2, 1943.
May
13, 1943
Axis forces in Tunisia surrender to the Allies, ending the North
African
campaign.
July
10, 1943
US and British troops land on Sicily. By mid-August, the Allies control Sicily.
July
5, 1943
The Germans launch a massive tank offensive near Kursk in the Soviet
Union. The
Soviets direct the attack within a week and begin an
offensive initiative of
their own.
July
25, 1943
The Fascist Grand Council deposes Benito Mussolini, enabling Italian
Marshall
Pietro Badoglio to form a new government.
September
8, 1943
The Badoglio government surrenders unconditionally to the Allies. The
Germans
immediately seize control of Rome and northern Italy,
establishing a puppet
Fascist regime under Mussolini, who is freed
from imprisonment by German
commandors on September 12.
September
9, 1943
Allied troops land on the beaches of Salerno near Naples.
November
6, 1943
Soviet troops liberate Kiev.
January
22, 1944
Allied troops land successfully near Anzio, just south of Rome.
March
19, 1944
Fearing Hungary’s intention to desert the Axis partnership, the Germans
occupy
Hungary and compel the regent, Admiral Miklos Horthy, to
appoint a pro German
minister president.
June
4, 1944
Allied troops liberate Rome. Within six weeks, Anglo-American bombers
could hit
targets in eastern Germany for the first time.
June
6, 1944
British and US troops successfully land on the Normandy beaches of
France,
opening a “Second Front” against the Germans.
June
22, 1944
The Soviets launch a massive offensive in eastern Byelorussia-
(Belarus),
destroying the German Army Group Center and driving
westward to the Vistula
River across from Warsaw in central Poland by August
1.
July
25, 1944
Anglo-American forces break out of the Normandy beachhead and race
eastward
towards Paris.
August
1, 1944–October 5,
1944
The non-communist underground Home
Army rises up
against the Germans in an effort to liberate Warsaw before the
arrival of
Soviet troops. The Soviet advance halts on the east bank of the
Vistula. On
October 5, the Germans accept the surrender of the remnants of the
Home Army
forces fighting in Warsaw.
August
15, 1944
Allied forces land in southern France near Nice and advance rapidly
towards the
Rhine River to the northeast.
August
20–25,
1944
Allied troops reach Paris. On August 25,
and free French forces, supported by
Allied troops, enter the French
capital. By September, the Allies reach the
German border; by
December, virtually all of France, most of Belgium, and part
of the
southern Netherlands are liberated.
August
23, 1944
The appearance of Soviet troops on the Prut River induces the
Romanian
opposition to overthrow the Antonescu regime. The new
government concludes an
armistice and immediately switches sides in
the war. The Romanian turnaround
compels Bulgaria to surrender on
September 8, and the Germans to evacuate
Greece, Albania, and southern
Yugoslavia in October.
August
29, 1944–October 28,
1944
Under the leadership of the Slovak
National
Council, consisting of both Communists and non-Communists, underground
Slovak resistance units rise against the Germans and the original fascist Slovak
regime. In late October, the Germans capture Banska Bystrica, the
headquarters
of the uprising, and put an end to organized resistance.
September
12, 1944
Finland concludes an armistice with the Soviet Union, leaving the
Axis
partnership.
October
20, 1944
United States troops land in the Philippines.
October
15, 1944
The Hungarian fascist Arrow Cross movement carries out a coup d’état
with
German support to prevent the Hungarian government from pursuing
negotiations
for surrender to the Soviets.
December
16, 1944
The Germans launch a final offensive in the west, known as the Battle of
the
Bulge, in an attempt to re-conquer Belgium and split the Allied
forces along
the German border. By January 1, 1945, the Germans are in
retreat.
January
12, 1945
The Soviets launch a new offensive, liberating Warsaw and Krakow in
January,
capturing Budapest after a two-month siege on February 13,
driving the Germans
and their Hungarian collaborators out of Hungary
in early April, forcing the
surrender of Slovakia with the capture of
Bratislava on April 4, and capturing
Vienna on April 13.
March
7, 1945
United States troops cross at the Rhine River at Remagen.
April
16, 1945
The Soviets launch their final offensive, encircling Berlin.
April
30, 1945
Hitler commits suicide.
May
7, 1945
Germany surrenders to the western Allies.
May
9, 1945
Germany surrenders to the Soviets.
May
1945
Allied
troops conquer Okinawa, the
last island stop before the Japanese islands.
August
6, 1945
The United States drops the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
August
8, 1945
The Soviet Union declares war on Japan and invades Manchuria.
August
9, 1945
The United States drops an atomic bomb on Nagasaki.
September
2, 1945
Having agreed in principle to unconditional surrender on August 14, 1945,
Japan
formally surrenders, ending World War
II.
September 18, 1931
Japan invades Manchuria.
October 2, 1935–May 1936
Fascist Italy invades, conquers, and occupies Ethiopia.
October 25–November 1, 1936
Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy sign a treaty of cooperation on October 25, 1936. On November 1 the Rome-Berlin
Axis is announced.
November 25, 1936
Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact, directed against
the Soviet Union and the international Communist movement.
July 7, 1937
Japan invades China, initiating World War II in the Pacific.
March 11–13, 1938
Germany incorporates Austria in the Anschluss.
September 29, 1938
Germany, Italy, Great Britain, and France sign the Munich agreement
which forces the Czechoslovak Republic to surrender the Sudetenland, including the
key Czechoslovak military defense positions, to Nazi Germany.
March 14–15, 1939
Under German pressure, the Slovaks declare their independence and form a Slovak
Republic. The Germans occupy the remaining Czech lands in violation of the Munich agreement,
forming a Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
March 31, 1939
France and Great Britain guarantee the integrity of the borders of the Polish state.
April 7–15, 1939
Fascist Italy invades and annexes Albania.
August 23, 1939
Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sign a nonaggression agreement and a secret
codicil dividing Eastern Europe into spheres of influence.
September 1, 1939
Germany invades Poland, initiating World War II in Europe.
September 3, 1939
Honoring their guarantee of Poland’s borders, Great Britain and France declare
war on Germany.
September 17, 1939
The Soviet Union invades Poland from the east.
September 27–29, 1939
Warsaw surrenders on September 27. The Polish government flees into exile via Romania.
Germany and the Soviet Union divide Poland between them.
November 30, 1939–March 12, 1940
The Soviet Union invades Finland, initiating the so-called Winter War. The Finns sue for an armistice and have to cede
the northern shores of Lake Lagoda and the small Finnish coastline on the Arctic Sea to the Soviet Union.
April 9, 1940–June 9, 1940
Germany invades Denmark and Norway. Denmark surrenders on the day of the attack;
Norway holds out until June 9.
May 10, 1940–June 22, 1940
Germany attacks Western Europe—France and the neutral Low Countries. Luxembourg is occupied on May 10;
the Netherlands surrenders on May 14; and Belgium surrenders on May 28. On June 22, France
signs an armistice agreement by which the Germans occupy the northern half
of the country and the entire Atlantic coastline. In southern France, a collaborationist regime
with its capital in Vichy is established.
June 10, 1940
Italy enters the war. Italy invades southern France on June 21.
June 28, 1940
The Soviet Union forces Romania to cede the eastern province of Bessarabia and
the northern half of Bukovina to the Soviet Ukraine.
June 14, 1940–August 6, 1940
The Soviet Union occupies the Baltic States on June 14–18, engineering Communist coup
d’états in each of them on July 14–15, and then annexing them as Soviet Republics on August 3–6.
July 10, 1940–October 31, 1940
The air war known as the Battle of Britain ends in defeat for Nazi Germany.
August 30, 1940
Second Vienna Award: Germany and Italy arbitrate a decision on the division of the disputed province
of Transylvania between Romania and Hungary. The loss of northern Transylvania forces Romanian King Carol
to abdicate in favor of his son, Michael, and brings to power a dictatorship under General Ion Antonescu.
September 13, 1940
The Italians invade British-controlled Egypt from Italian-controlled Libya.
September 27, 1940
Germany, Italy, and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact.
October 1940
Italy invades Greece from Albania on October 28.
November 1940
Slovakia on November 23,Hungary, November 20, and Romania on November 22 join the Axis.
February 1941
The Germans send the Afrika Korps to North Africa to reinforce the faltering Italians.
March 1, 1941
Bulgaria joins the Axis.
April 6, 1941–June 1941
Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Bulgaria invade and dismember Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia surrenders on April 17.
Germany and Bulgaria invade Greece in support of the Italians. Resistance in Greece ceases in early June 1941.
April 10, 1941
The leaders of the terrorist Ustasa movement proclaim the so-called Independent State of Croatia.
Recognized immediately by Germany and Italy, the new state includes the province of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Croatia joins the Axis powers formally on June 15, 1941.
June
22, 1941–November
1941
Nazi Germany and its Axis partners
invade the
Soviet Union. Finland, seeking redress for the territorial losses in
the
armistice concluding the Winter War, joins the Axis just before the
invasion. The Germans quickly overrun the Baltic States and, joined by the
Finns, lay siege to Leningrad (St. Petersburg) by September. In the center, the
Germans capture Smolensk in early August and drive on Moscow by October. In
the
south, German and Romanian troops capture Kiev (Kyiv) in September and
capture
Rostov on the Don River in November.
December
6, 1941
A Soviet counteroffensive drives the Germans from the Moscow suburbs in
chaotic
retreat.
December
7, 1941
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor.
December
8, 1941
The United States declares war on Japan, entering World War II. Japanese
troops
land in the Philippines, French Indochina, Vietnam, Laos,
Cambodia, and British
Singapore. By April 1942, the Philippines,
Indochina, and Singapore are under
Japanese occupation.
December
11–13,
1941
Nazi Germany and its Axis partners
declare war on the United States.
May
30, 1942–May
1945
The British bomb Koln, bringing
the war home
to Germany for the first time. Over the next three years
Anglo-American
bombing reduces urban Germany to ruins.
June
1942
British
and United States navies
halt the Japanese naval advance in the central
Pacific at Midway.
June
28, 1942–September
1942
Germany and her Axis partners
launch a new
offensive in the Soviet Union. German troops fight their way into
Stalingrad on the Volga River by mid-September and penetrate deep into the
Caucasus after securing the Crimean Peninsula.
August–November
1942
United
States troops halt the
Japanese island-hopping advance towards Australia at
Guadalcanal in the Solomon
Islands.
October
23–24,
1942
British troops defeat the Germans and
Italians at El Alamein in Egypt, sending
the Axis forces in chaotic
retreat across Libya to the eastern border of
Tunisia.
November
8, 1942
US and British troops land at several points on the beaches of Algeria
and
Morocco in French North Africa. The failure of the Vichy French
troops to
defend against the invasion enables the Allies to move
swiftly to the western
border of Tunisia, and triggers the German
occupation of southern France on
November 11.
November
23, 1942–February 2,
1943
Soviet troops counterattack
breaking through
the Hungarian and Romanian lines northwest and southwest of
Stalingrad and
trapping the German Sixth Army in the city. Forbidden by Hitler
to retreat
or try to break out of the Soviet ring, the survivors of the Sixth
Army
surrender on January 30 and February 2, 1943.
May
13, 1943
Axis forces in Tunisia surrender to the Allies, ending the North
African
campaign.
July
10, 1943
US and British troops land on Sicily. By mid-August, the Allies control Sicily.
July
5, 1943
The Germans launch a massive tank offensive near Kursk in the Soviet
Union. The
Soviets direct the attack within a week and begin an
offensive initiative of
their own.
July
25, 1943
The Fascist Grand Council deposes Benito Mussolini, enabling Italian
Marshall
Pietro Badoglio to form a new government.
September
8, 1943
The Badoglio government surrenders unconditionally to the Allies. The
Germans
immediately seize control of Rome and northern Italy,
establishing a puppet
Fascist regime under Mussolini, who is freed
from imprisonment by German
commandors on September 12.
September
9, 1943
Allied troops land on the beaches of Salerno near Naples.
November
6, 1943
Soviet troops liberate Kiev.
January
22, 1944
Allied troops land successfully near Anzio, just south of Rome.
March
19, 1944
Fearing Hungary’s intention to desert the Axis partnership, the Germans
occupy
Hungary and compel the regent, Admiral Miklos Horthy, to
appoint a pro German
minister president.
June
4, 1944
Allied troops liberate Rome. Within six weeks, Anglo-American bombers
could hit
targets in eastern Germany for the first time.
June
6, 1944
British and US troops successfully land on the Normandy beaches of
France,
opening a “Second Front” against the Germans.
June
22, 1944
The Soviets launch a massive offensive in eastern Byelorussia-
(Belarus),
destroying the German Army Group Center and driving
westward to the Vistula
River across from Warsaw in central Poland by
August 1.
July
25, 1944
Anglo-American forces break out of the Normandy beachhead and race
eastward
towards Paris.
August
1, 1944–October 5,
1944
The non-communist underground Home
Army rises
up against the Germans in an effort to liberate Warsaw before the
arrival
of Soviet troops. The Soviet advance halts on the east bank of the
Vistula.
On October 5, the Germans accept the surrender of the remnants of the
Home
Army forces fighting in Warsaw.
August
15, 1944
Allied forces land in southern France near Nice and advance rapidly
towards the
Rhine River to the northeast.
August
20–25,
1944
Allied troops reach Paris. On August 25,
and free French forces, supported by
Allied troops, enter the French
capital. By September, the Allies reach the
German border; by
December, virtually all of France, most of Belgium, and part
of the
southern Netherlands are liberated.
August
23, 1944
The appearance of Soviet troops on the Prut River induces the
Romanian
opposition to overthrow the Antonescu regime. The new
government concludes an
armistice and immediately switches sides in
the war. The Romanian turnaround
compels Bulgaria to surrender on
September 8, and the Germans to evacuate
Greece, Albania, and southern
Yugoslavia in October.
August
29, 1944–October 28,
1944
Under the leadership of the Slovak
National
Council, consisting of both Communists and non-Communists, underground
Slovak resistance units rise against the Germans and the original fascist
Slovak
regime. In late October, the Germans capture Banska Bystrica, the
headquarters
of the uprising, and put an end to organized resistance.
September
12, 1944
Finland concludes an armistice with the Soviet Union, leaving the
Axis
partnership.
October
20, 1944
United States troops land in the Philippines.
October
15, 1944
The Hungarian fascist Arrow Cross movement carries out a coup d’état
with
German support to prevent the Hungarian government from pursuing
negotiations
for surrender to the Soviets.
December
16, 1944
The Germans launch a final offensive in the west, known as the Battle of
the
Bulge, in an attempt to re-conquer Belgium and split the Allied
forces along
the German border. By January 1, 1945, the Germans are in
retreat.
January
12, 1945
The Soviets launch a new offensive, liberating Warsaw and Krakow in
January,
capturing Budapest after a two-month siege on February 13,
driving the Germans
and their Hungarian collaborators out of Hungary
in early April, forcing the
surrender of Slovakia with the capture of
Bratislava on April 4, and capturing
Vienna on April 13.
March
7, 1945
United States troops cross at the Rhine River at Remagen.
April
16, 1945
The Soviets launch their final offensive, encircling Berlin.
April
30, 1945
Hitler commits suicide.
May
7, 1945
Germany surrenders to the western Allies.
May
9, 1945
Germany surrenders to the Soviets.
May
1945
Allied
troops conquer Okinawa, the
last island stop before the Japanese islands.
August
6, 1945
The United States drops the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
August
8, 1945
The Soviet Union declares war on Japan and invades Manchuria.
August
9, 1945
The United States drops an atomic bomb on Nagasaki.
September
2, 1945
Having agreed in principle to unconditional surrender on August 14, 1945,
Japan
formally surrenders, ending World War
II.
1931
Japan invades Manchuria.
October
2, 1935–May
1936
Fascist Italy invades, conquers, and
occupies Ethiopia.
October
25–November 1,
1936
Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy
sign a treaty of
cooperation on October 25, 1936. On November 1 the Rome-Berlin
Axis is
announced.
November
25, 1936
Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact, directed
against
the Soviet Union and the international Communist movement.
July
7, 1937
Japan invades China, initiating World War II in the Pacific.
March
11–13,
1938
Germany incorporates Austria in the
Anschluss.
September
29, 1938
Germany, Italy, Great Britain, and France sign the Munich agreement
which
forces the Czechoslovak Republic to surrender the Sudetenland,
including the
key Czechoslovak military defense positions, to Nazi
Germany.
March
14–15,
1939
Under German pressure, the Slovaks
declare their independence and form a Slovak
Republic. The Germans
occupy the remaining Czech lands in violation of the
Munich agreement,
forming a Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
March
31, 1939
France and Great Britain guarantee the integrity of the borders of the
Polish
state.
April
7–15,
1939
Fascist Italy invades and annexes
Albania.
August
23, 1939
Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sign a nonaggression agreement and a
secret
codicil dividing Eastern Europe into spheres of influence.
September
1, 1939
Germany invades Poland, initiating World War II in Europe.
September
3, 1939
Honoring their guarantee of Poland’s borders, Great Britain and France
declare
war on Germany.
September
17, 1939
The Soviet Union invades Poland from the east.
September
27–29,
1939
Warsaw surrenders on September 27. The
Polish government flees into exile via
Romania. Germany and the Soviet
Union divide Poland between them.
November
30, 1939–March 12,
1940
The Soviet Union invades Finland,
initiating the
so-called Winter War. The Finns sue for an armistice and have to
cede the
northern shores of Lake Lagoda and the small Finnish coastline on the
Arctic
Sea to the Soviet Union.
April
9, 1940–June 9,
1940
Germany invades Denmark and
Norway. Denmark
surrenders on the day of the attack; Norway holds out until June
9.
May
10, 1940–June 22,
1940
Germany attacks Western
Europe—France and the
neutral Low Countries. Luxembourg is occupied on May 10;
the Netherlands
surrenders on May 14; and Belgium surrenders on May 28. On June
22, France
signs an armistice agreement by which the Germans occupy the northern
half
of the country and the entire Atlantic coastline. In southern France, a
collaborationist regime with its capital in Vichy is established.
June
10, 1940
Italy enters the war. Italy invades southern France on June 21.
June
28, 1940
The Soviet Union forces Romania to cede the eastern province of
Bessarabia and
the northern half of Bukovina to the Soviet Ukraine.
June
14, 1940–August 6,
1940
The Soviet Union occupies the
Baltic States on
June 14–18, engineering Communist coup d’états in each of them
on July
14–15, and then annexing them as Soviet Republics on August 3–6.
July
10, 1940–October 31,
1940
The air war known as the Battle of
Britain ends
in defeat for Nazi Germany.
August
30, 1940
Second Vienna Award: Germany and Italy arbitrate a decision on the
division of
the disputed province of Transylvania between Romania and
Hungary. The loss of
northern Transylvania forces Romanian King Carol
to abdicate in favor of his
son, Michael, and brings to power a
dictatorship under General Ion Antonescu.
September
13, 1940
The Italians invade British-controlled Egypt from Italian-controlled
Libya.
September
27, 1940
Germany, Italy, and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact.
October
1940
Italy
invades Greece from Albania
on October 28.
November
1940
Slovakia
(November 23), Hungary
(November 20), and Romania (November 22) join the
Axis.
February
1941
The
Germans send the Afrika Korps
to North Africa to reinforce the faltering
Italians.
March
1, 1941
Bulgaria joins the Axis.
April
6, 1941–June
1941
Germany, Italy, Hungary, and
Bulgaria invade and
dismember Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia surrenders on April 17.
Germany and
Bulgaria invade Greece in support of the Italians. Resistance in
Greece
ceases in early June 1941.
April
10, 1941
The leaders of the terrorist Ustasa movement proclaim the so-called Independent
State of Croatia. Recognized immediately by Germany and
Italy, the new state
includes the province of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Croatia joins the Axis powers
formally on June 15, 1941.
June
22, 1941–November
1941
Nazi Germany and its Axis partners
invade the
Soviet Union. Finland, seeking redress for the territorial losses in
the
armistice concluding the Winter War, joins the Axis just before the
invasion. The Germans quickly overrun the Baltic States and, joined by the
Finns, lay siege to Leningrad (St. Petersburg) by September. In the center, the
Germans capture Smolensk in early August and drive on Moscow by October. In
the
south, German and Romanian troops capture Kiev (Kyiv) in September and
capture
Rostov on the Don River in November.
December
6, 1941
A Soviet counteroffensive drives the Germans from the Moscow suburbs in
chaotic
retreat.
December
7, 1941
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor.
December
8, 1941
The United States declares war on Japan, entering World War II. Japanese
troops
land in the Philippines, French Indochina, Vietnam, Laos,
Cambodia, and British
Singapore. By April 1942, the Philippines,
Indochina, and Singapore are under
Japanese occupation.
December
11–13,
1941
Nazi Germany and its Axis partners
declare war on the United States.
May
30, 1942–May
1945
The British bomb Koln, bringing
the war home to
Germany for the first time. Over the next three years
Anglo-American bombing
reduces urban Germany to ruins.
June
1942
British
and United States navies
halt the Japanese naval advance in the central
Pacific at Midway.
June
28, 1942–September
1942
Germany and her Axis partners
launch a new
offensive in the Soviet Union. German troops fight their way into
Stalingrad
on the Volga River by mid-September and penetrate deep into the
Caucasus
after securing the Crimean Peninsula.
August–November
1942
United
States troops halt the
Japanese island-hopping advance towards Australia at
Guadalcanal in the Solomon
Islands.
October
23–24,
1942
British troops defeat the Germans and
Italians at El Alamein in Egypt, sending
the Axis forces in chaotic
retreat across Libya to the eastern border of
Tunisia.
November
8, 1942
US and British troops land at several points on the beaches of Algeria
and
Morocco in French North Africa. The failure of the Vichy French
troops to
defend against the invasion enables the Allies to move
swiftly to the western
border of Tunisia, and triggers the German
occupation of southern France on
November 11.
November
23, 1942–February 2,
1943
Soviet troops counterattack
breaking through
the Hungarian and Romanian lines northwest and southwest of
Stalingrad and
trapping the German Sixth Army in the city. Forbidden by Hitler
to retreat
or try to break out of the Soviet ring, the survivors of the Sixth
Army
surrender on January 30 and February 2, 1943.
May
13, 1943
Axis forces in Tunisia surrender to the Allies, ending the North
African
campaign.
July
10, 1943
US and British troops land on Sicily. By mid-August, the Allies control Sicily.
July
5, 1943
The Germans launch a massive tank offensive near Kursk in the Soviet
Union. The
Soviets direct the attack within a week and begin an
offensive initiative of
their own.
July
25, 1943
The Fascist Grand Council deposes Benito Mussolini, enabling Italian
Marshall
Pietro Badoglio to form a new government.
September
8, 1943
The Badoglio government surrenders unconditionally to the Allies. The
Germans
immediately seize control of Rome and northern Italy,
establishing a puppet
Fascist regime under Mussolini, who is freed
from imprisonment by German
commandors on September 12.
September
9, 1943
Allied troops land on the beaches of Salerno near Naples.
November
6, 1943
Soviet troops liberate Kiev.
January
22, 1944
Allied troops land successfully near Anzio, just south of Rome.
March
19, 1944
Fearing Hungary’s intention to desert the Axis partnership, the Germans
occupy
Hungary and compel the regent, Admiral Miklos Horthy, to
appoint a pro German
minister president.
June
4, 1944
Allied troops liberate Rome. Within six weeks, Anglo-American bombers
could hit
targets in eastern Germany for the first time.
June
6, 1944
British and US troops successfully land on the Normandy beaches of
France,
opening a “Second Front” against the Germans.
June
22, 1944
The Soviets launch a massive offensive in eastern Byelorussia-
(Belarus),
destroying the German Army Group Center and driving
westward to the Vistula
River across from Warsaw in central Poland by August
1.
July
25, 1944
Anglo-American forces break out of the Normandy beachhead and race
eastward
towards Paris.
August
1, 1944–October 5,
1944
The non-communist underground Home
Army rises up
against the Germans in an effort to liberate Warsaw before the
arrival of
Soviet troops. The Soviet advance halts on the east bank of the
Vistula. On
October 5, the Germans accept the surrender of the remnants of the
Home Army
forces fighting in Warsaw.
August
15, 1944
Allied forces land in southern France near Nice and advance rapidly
towards the
Rhine River to the northeast.
August
20–25,
1944
Allied troops reach Paris. On August 25,
and free French forces, supported by
Allied troops, enter the French
capital. By September, the Allies reach the
German border; by
December, virtually all of France, most of Belgium, and part
of the
southern Netherlands are liberated.
August
23, 1944
The appearance of Soviet troops on the Prut River induces the
Romanian
opposition to overthrow the Antonescu regime. The new
government concludes an
armistice and immediately switches sides in
the war. The Romanian turnaround
compels Bulgaria to surrender on
September 8, and the Germans to evacuate
Greece, Albania, and southern
Yugoslavia in October.
August
29, 1944–October 28,
1944
Under the leadership of the Slovak
National
Council, consisting of both Communists and non-Communists, underground
Slovak resistance units rise against the Germans and the original fascist Slovak
regime. In late October, the Germans capture Banska Bystrica, the
headquarters
of the uprising, and put an end to organized resistance.
September
12, 1944
Finland concludes an armistice with the Soviet Union, leaving the
Axis
partnership.
October
20, 1944
United States troops land in the Philippines.
October
15, 1944
The Hungarian fascist Arrow Cross movement carries out a coup d’état
with
German support to prevent the Hungarian government from pursuing
negotiations
for surrender to the Soviets.
December
16, 1944
The Germans launch a final offensive in the west, known as the Battle of
the
Bulge, in an attempt to re-conquer Belgium and split the Allied
forces along
the German border. By January 1, 1945, the Germans are in
retreat.
January
12, 1945
The Soviets launch a new offensive, liberating Warsaw and Krakow in
January,
capturing Budapest after a two-month siege on February 13,
driving the Germans
and their Hungarian collaborators out of Hungary
in early April, forcing the
surrender of Slovakia with the capture of
Bratislava on April 4, and capturing
Vienna on April 13.
March
7, 1945
United States troops cross at the Rhine River at Remagen.
April
16, 1945
The Soviets launch their final offensive, encircling Berlin.
April
30, 1945
Hitler commits suicide.
May
7, 1945
Germany surrenders to the western Allies.
May
9, 1945
Germany surrenders to the Soviets.
May
1945
Allied
troops conquer Okinawa, the
last island stop before the Japanese islands.
August
6, 1945
The United States drops the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
August
8, 1945
The Soviet Union declares war on Japan and invades Manchuria.
August
9, 1945
The United States drops an atomic bomb on Nagasaki.
September
2, 1945
Having agreed in principle to unconditional surrender on August 14, 1945,
Japan
formally surrenders, ending World War
II.
September 18, 1931
Japan invades Manchuria.
October 2, 1935–May 1936
Fascist Italy invades, conquers, and occupies Ethiopia.
October 25–November 1, 1936
Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy sign a treaty of cooperation on October 25, 1936. On November 1 the Rome-Berlin
Axis is announced.
November 25, 1936
Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact, directed against
the Soviet Union and the international Communist movement.
July 7, 1937
Japan invades China, initiating World War II in the Pacific.
March 11–13, 1938
Germany incorporates Austria in the Anschluss.
September 29, 1938
Germany, Italy, Great Britain, and France sign the Munich agreement
which forces the Czechoslovak Republic to surrender the Sudetenland, including the
key Czechoslovak military defense positions, to Nazi Germany.
March 14–15, 1939
Under German pressure, the Slovaks declare their independence and form a Slovak
Republic. The Germans occupy the remaining Czech lands in violation of the Munich agreement,
forming a Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
March 31, 1939
France and Great Britain guarantee the integrity of the borders of the Polish state.
April 7–15, 1939
Fascist Italy invades and annexes Albania.
August 23, 1939
Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sign a nonaggression agreement and a secret
codicil dividing Eastern Europe into spheres of influence.
September 1, 1939
Germany invades Poland, initiating World War II in Europe.
September 3, 1939
Honoring their guarantee of Poland’s borders, Great Britain and France declare
war on Germany.
September 17, 1939
The Soviet Union invades Poland from the east.
September 27–29, 1939
Warsaw surrenders on September 27. The Polish government flees into exile via Romania.
Germany and the Soviet Union divide Poland between them.
November 30, 1939–March 12, 1940
The Soviet Union invades Finland, initiating the so-called Winter War. The Finns sue for an armistice and have to cede
the northern shores of Lake Lagoda and the small Finnish coastline on the Arctic Sea to the Soviet Union.
April 9, 1940–June 9, 1940
Germany invades Denmark and Norway. Denmark surrenders on the day of the attack;
Norway holds out until June 9.
May 10, 1940–June 22, 1940
Germany attacks Western Europe—France and the neutral Low Countries. Luxembourg is occupied on May 10;
the Netherlands surrenders on May 14; and Belgium surrenders on May 28. On June 22, France
signs an armistice agreement by which the Germans occupy the northern half
of the country and the entire Atlantic coastline. In southern France, a collaborationist regime
with its capital in Vichy is established.
June 10, 1940
Italy enters the war. Italy invades southern France on June 21.
June 28, 1940
The Soviet Union forces Romania to cede the eastern province of Bessarabia and
the northern half of Bukovina to the Soviet Ukraine.
June 14, 1940–August 6, 1940
The Soviet Union occupies the Baltic States on June 14–18, engineering Communist coup
d’états in each of them on July 14–15, and then annexing them as Soviet Republics on August 3–6.
July 10, 1940–October 31, 1940
The air war known as the Battle of Britain ends in defeat for Nazi Germany.
August 30, 1940
Second Vienna Award: Germany and Italy arbitrate a decision on the division of the disputed province
of Transylvania between Romania and Hungary. The loss of northern Transylvania forces Romanian King Carol
to abdicate in favor of his son, Michael, and brings to power a dictatorship under General Ion Antonescu.
September 13, 1940
The Italians invade British-controlled Egypt from Italian-controlled Libya.
September 27, 1940
Germany, Italy, and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact.
October 1940
Italy invades Greece from Albania on October 28.
November 1940
Slovakia on November 23,Hungary, November 20, and Romania on November 22 join the Axis.
February 1941
The Germans send the Afrika Korps to North Africa to reinforce the faltering Italians.
March 1, 1941
Bulgaria joins the Axis.
April 6, 1941–June 1941
Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Bulgaria invade and dismember Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia surrenders on April 17.
Germany and Bulgaria invade Greece in support of the Italians. Resistance in Greece ceases in early June 1941.
April 10, 1941
The leaders of the terrorist Ustasa movement proclaim the so-called Independent State of Croatia.
Recognized immediately by Germany and Italy, the new state includes the province of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Croatia joins the Axis powers formally on June 15, 1941.
June
22, 1941–November
1941
Nazi Germany and its Axis partners
invade the
Soviet Union. Finland, seeking redress for the territorial losses in
the
armistice concluding the Winter War, joins the Axis just before the
invasion. The Germans quickly overrun the Baltic States and, joined by the
Finns, lay siege to Leningrad (St. Petersburg) by September. In the center, the
Germans capture Smolensk in early August and drive on Moscow by October. In
the
south, German and Romanian troops capture Kiev (Kyiv) in September and
capture
Rostov on the Don River in November.
December
6, 1941
A Soviet counteroffensive drives the Germans from the Moscow suburbs in
chaotic
retreat.
December
7, 1941
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor.
December
8, 1941
The United States declares war on Japan, entering World War II. Japanese
troops
land in the Philippines, French Indochina, Vietnam, Laos,
Cambodia, and British
Singapore. By April 1942, the Philippines,
Indochina, and Singapore are under
Japanese occupation.
December
11–13,
1941
Nazi Germany and its Axis partners
declare war on the United States.
May
30, 1942–May
1945
The British bomb Koln, bringing
the war home
to Germany for the first time. Over the next three years
Anglo-American
bombing reduces urban Germany to ruins.
June
1942
British
and United States navies
halt the Japanese naval advance in the central
Pacific at Midway.
June
28, 1942–September
1942
Germany and her Axis partners
launch a new
offensive in the Soviet Union. German troops fight their way into
Stalingrad on the Volga River by mid-September and penetrate deep into the
Caucasus after securing the Crimean Peninsula.
August–November
1942
United
States troops halt the
Japanese island-hopping advance towards Australia at
Guadalcanal in the Solomon
Islands.
October
23–24,
1942
British troops defeat the Germans and
Italians at El Alamein in Egypt, sending
the Axis forces in chaotic
retreat across Libya to the eastern border of
Tunisia.
November
8, 1942
US and British troops land at several points on the beaches of Algeria
and
Morocco in French North Africa. The failure of the Vichy French
troops to
defend against the invasion enables the Allies to move
swiftly to the western
border of Tunisia, and triggers the German
occupation of southern France on
November 11.
November
23, 1942–February 2,
1943
Soviet troops counterattack
breaking through
the Hungarian and Romanian lines northwest and southwest of
Stalingrad and
trapping the German Sixth Army in the city. Forbidden by Hitler
to retreat
or try to break out of the Soviet ring, the survivors of the Sixth
Army
surrender on January 30 and February 2, 1943.
May
13, 1943
Axis forces in Tunisia surrender to the Allies, ending the North
African
campaign.
July
10, 1943
US and British troops land on Sicily. By mid-August, the Allies control Sicily.
July
5, 1943
The Germans launch a massive tank offensive near Kursk in the Soviet
Union. The
Soviets direct the attack within a week and begin an
offensive initiative of
their own.
July
25, 1943
The Fascist Grand Council deposes Benito Mussolini, enabling Italian
Marshall
Pietro Badoglio to form a new government.
September
8, 1943
The Badoglio government surrenders unconditionally to the Allies. The
Germans
immediately seize control of Rome and northern Italy,
establishing a puppet
Fascist regime under Mussolini, who is freed
from imprisonment by German
commandors on September 12.
September
9, 1943
Allied troops land on the beaches of Salerno near Naples.
November
6, 1943
Soviet troops liberate Kiev.
January
22, 1944
Allied troops land successfully near Anzio, just south of Rome.
March
19, 1944
Fearing Hungary’s intention to desert the Axis partnership, the Germans
occupy
Hungary and compel the regent, Admiral Miklos Horthy, to
appoint a pro German
minister president.
June
4, 1944
Allied troops liberate Rome. Within six weeks, Anglo-American bombers
could hit
targets in eastern Germany for the first time.
June
6, 1944
British and US troops successfully land on the Normandy beaches of
France,
opening a “Second Front” against the Germans.
June
22, 1944
The Soviets launch a massive offensive in eastern Byelorussia-
(Belarus),
destroying the German Army Group Center and driving
westward to the Vistula
River across from Warsaw in central Poland by
August 1.
July
25, 1944
Anglo-American forces break out of the Normandy beachhead and race
eastward
towards Paris.
August
1, 1944–October 5,
1944
The non-communist underground Home
Army rises
up against the Germans in an effort to liberate Warsaw before the
arrival
of Soviet troops. The Soviet advance halts on the east bank of the
Vistula.
On October 5, the Germans accept the surrender of the remnants of the
Home
Army forces fighting in Warsaw.
August
15, 1944
Allied forces land in southern France near Nice and advance rapidly
towards the
Rhine River to the northeast.
August
20–25,
1944
Allied troops reach Paris. On August 25,
and free French forces, supported by
Allied troops, enter the French
capital. By September, the Allies reach the
German border; by
December, virtually all of France, most of Belgium, and part
of the
southern Netherlands are liberated.
August
23, 1944
The appearance of Soviet troops on the Prut River induces the
Romanian
opposition to overthrow the Antonescu regime. The new
government concludes an
armistice and immediately switches sides in
the war. The Romanian turnaround
compels Bulgaria to surrender on
September 8, and the Germans to evacuate
Greece, Albania, and southern
Yugoslavia in October.
August
29, 1944–October 28,
1944
Under the leadership of the Slovak
National
Council, consisting of both Communists and non-Communists, underground
Slovak resistance units rise against the Germans and the original fascist
Slovak
regime. In late October, the Germans capture Banska Bystrica, the
headquarters
of the uprising, and put an end to organized resistance.
September
12, 1944
Finland concludes an armistice with the Soviet Union, leaving the
Axis
partnership.
October
20, 1944
United States troops land in the Philippines.
October
15, 1944
The Hungarian fascist Arrow Cross movement carries out a coup d’état
with
German support to prevent the Hungarian government from pursuing
negotiations
for surrender to the Soviets.
December
16, 1944
The Germans launch a final offensive in the west, known as the Battle of
the
Bulge, in an attempt to re-conquer Belgium and split the Allied
forces along
the German border. By January 1, 1945, the Germans are in
retreat.
January
12, 1945
The Soviets launch a new offensive, liberating Warsaw and Krakow in
January,
capturing Budapest after a two-month siege on February 13,
driving the Germans
and their Hungarian collaborators out of Hungary
in early April, forcing the
surrender of Slovakia with the capture of
Bratislava on April 4, and capturing
Vienna on April 13.
March
7, 1945
United States troops cross at the Rhine River at Remagen.
April
16, 1945
The Soviets launch their final offensive, encircling Berlin.
April
30, 1945
Hitler commits suicide.
May
7, 1945
Germany surrenders to the western Allies.
May
9, 1945
Germany surrenders to the Soviets.
May
1945
Allied
troops conquer Okinawa, the
last island stop before the Japanese islands.
August
6, 1945
The United States drops the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
August
8, 1945
The Soviet Union declares war on Japan and invades Manchuria.
August
9, 1945
The United States drops an atomic bomb on Nagasaki.
September
2, 1945
Having agreed in principle to unconditional surrender on August 14, 1945,
Japan
formally surrenders, ending World War
II.