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German troops invade Poland. England and France declare war on Germany. Soviets invade Poland from East.
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U.S. transfers 50 old destroyers to Britain in exchange for use of eight British Atlantic bases.
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Registration of all men between 21 and 35. Limit of 900,000 men in time of peace.
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Joint declaration released by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
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Japanese planes attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory. The bombing killed more than 2,300 Americans. It completely destroyed the American battleship U.S.S.
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FDR signs Delaration of War on Japan entering the United States into World War 2.
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Germany and the Axis Powers declare war on the United States.
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The first bombing in Germany happens bringing the war home for Germans.
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Americans take first island in start of island-hopping strategy.
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Under the leadership of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. troops land in Africa.
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Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin D. Roosevelt meet in Casablanca in North Africa to plan attacks on all fronts, to invade Sicily and Italy, to send forces to the Pacific, and to better aid the Soviet Union.
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Rome falls to Allied forces.
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The first of nearly 3 million Allied soldiers arrive in Normandy, on the northern shores of France.
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German High Command, in the person of General Alfred Jodl, signs the unconditional surrender of all German forces, East and West, at Reims, in northwestern France.
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Georgia.
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Italian insurgents capture Mussolini, murder him, and mutilate his body.
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Adolf Hitler commits suicide by swallowing a cyanide capsule and shooting himself in the head.
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180,000 killed, wounded, or missing after atomic bomb is dropped. Two days later Soviet Union enters war against Japan.
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Second bomb is dropped after Japanese delay surrender. 80,000 killed or missing.
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Japan surrenders with one term: the emperor must retain his throne.