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In order to unite all German speaking countries, Adolf Hitler annexed the country of Austria into Germany, joining the two countries under his rule.
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A timeline showing and describing important dates within World War 2.
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In order to attempt to satiate Germany before it went to war, a settlement was reached between Germany, Italy, France, and Great Britain that allowed the annexation of Sudetenland into Germany.
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Britain began to re-arm itself in face of the conflict with Germany. It also created an official government plan to establish a chain of early-warning radar stations along the east coast of Britain.
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Under the ruse of helping uprisings of the Slovak in Czechoslovakia, Hitler marched his armies into the country and began to occupy it, against the terms of the Munich Treaty.
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A neutrality pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed in 1939. Hitler wanted this in order to invade Poland without having to deal with the Soviet Union.
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Under the claim of a defensive action, Hitler invaded and attacked Poland, bombing its airfields, and attacking its navel forces.
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Due to the invasion of Poland, Both France and Germany declare war on Germany. This was announced by Neville Chamberlain.
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A period of time after the declaration of war on Germany where nothing of note happened.
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Both to intervene in the planned French and British occupation of Norway, and to secure ore and other supplies and routes, Hitler attacks and takes over Both Denmark and Norway.
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A quick and concentrated military technique that was earlier tested in the invasion of Poland, The Blitzkrieg was then used by Germany in order to dominate Holland and Belgium.
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Through his mostly appeasing stance towards the threat of Hitler, Neville Chamberlain lost most of his political support and resigned his position. His position was taken over by Winston Churchill
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Through the use of naval vessels and civilian boats,British and Allied forces in Europe were forced to evacuate the Dunkirk in order to escape the advancing German army.
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After attacks on British radar stations and airfields, Germany attempted to destroy the British Royal Air Force. Ultimately, Hitler's attack was defeated due to Britain's air superiority.
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Spurred by the fall of Germany's success in the war and the possible spoils it might receive, Italy joins the Germany in the Axis Powers and enters World War 2.
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After Germany devastated regions of France, Marshall Petain signed an armistice with Germany and exited the war under Germany's power.
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The Axis Powers united under the signing of this pact in Berlin. This sealed Germany's alliance with Japan and Italy.
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Under the command of General Wavell, British forces pushed back against Italian invasion in a takeover of Northern Africa.
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Hitler ordered for German and Italian Forces to invade and capture Yugoslavia in order to secure a flank to attack the Soviet Union.
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In order to further his campaign, such as with attacks against communism and capturing of land and resources, Hitler directs his attacks towards Russia. The Russia was surprised by the attack, but entered into a treaty with Britain, and fought back on the eastern front.
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Japan attacked a U.S. naval base located around Hawaii in order to cripple the U.S. Pacific Fleet. This caused thousands of American casualties and destroyed the Battleship U.S.S.
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Because of the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces, The U.S joins World War 2 on Britain's side.
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Japan invaded and captured the British Stronghold of Singapore. This was one of the worst British defeats and resulted in tens of thousands of British troops being captured.
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The United States defended against a Japanese attack on Midway Atoll. The U.S. was able to destroy multiple Japanese aircraft carriers and begin to push back against Japan's Pacific advance.
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Winston Churchill gave General Alexander the orders to destroy the German and Italian armies. In order to accomplish this, he built up supplies in Egypt an Libya. Alexander then transferred the campaign to General Montgomery.
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A battle fought between commanders Montgomery and Rommel lead to allied victory in favor of Montgomery. This prompted both a retreat of the retreat of the Afrika Korps and The German surrender in North Africa.
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The U.S. and Britain decided to fully wipe the German forces from North Africa. Under the lead of General Dwight Eisenhower the Allies took Algeria and Morocco back, and started heavily pressuring German forces.
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In a battle for the Soviet city of Stalingrad, German forces attacked the city in order to secure oil fields. However, the Soviet Union successfully defended the city. This ended the German offense and marked the point in the war when the Allies gained the advantage.
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After the defeat and surrender of the 1st Italian army, the rest of the Italian armies were swiftly defeated. This eliminated the Axis presence in Africa and released over 275,000 prisoners of war.
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Code named operation Husky, the Allies began to invade Sicily in order to secure a stepping stone into conquering Italy.
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After days of fighting, and with the help of an elaborate distraction called Operation Mincemeat which helped re-direct German troops, the Allies finally completely took Sicily.
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Mussolini, the leader of Italy was replaced with General Pietro Badoglio. Italy's surrender to the Allied forces was signed in secret by a representative of Badoglio. However, Hitler launched his operation Axis, in which he occupied Italy and reinstated Mussolini as the head of the puppet government set up in Italy. This blocked further allied advance into Italy and caused Italian surrender to German forces.
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In the first large meeting of the Allied leaders held in Tehran Iran, the allies came together in order to discuss the war and Germany.
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In order to lift a German siege on the city of Leningrad the Soviet Union repelled German forces from the outskirts of the city. This also left Germany open for Russia to begin advancing from the west.
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Rome was the first major city to be taken back from Germany by the Allied forces. American Soldiers, especially members of the 5th army, successfully captured the city after months of combat.
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This day marks when the combined allied Forces of Britain, America, and others all attacked the beaches of Normandy. In one of the largest military assaults in history, more than 150,000 allied soldiers took the Normandy region. This marked the turning point of the war and the beginning of the end of the war in Europe.
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Early in the war, Burma had been overtaken by Japanese force. But, British forces, along with the help of Chinese soldiers, reclaimed the city and ended its Japanese occupation.
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Because of the French 2nd Armored Division and the U.S. 4th Infantry Division the four years of German occupation of Paris came to an end. The Allied troops easily took the city without much resistance. Hitler ordered a German commander to blow up famous monuments, but the commander refused and signed a formal surrender.
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This was the world's first long-range guided ballistic missile. It was developed by Germany as a vengeance weapon in order to retaliate for allied bombings. The first bombs was launched at London and killed 3 people.
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The last major German offensive of the war. German forces selected a weak spot in the advancing line of American forces. This cost Germany crippling losses of men and equipment.
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The allied forces were forced to cross the Rhine as a large assault on Oppenhiem. They were able to surprise German troops as they did not prepare artillery beforehand. The allies were able to encircle the area due to troops crossing the Rhine at different areas.
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After his health substantially declined in the years of war, President Franklin Roosevelt died of Intracerebral hemorrhage. President Harry Truman took over after Roosevelt's death and found out about a secret bomb program that Roosevelt was working on.
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Due to Germany's looming defeat, Russia began to forward its advances into the west. After a race to the city between two Soviet marshals, the Russian forces captured the city with some difficulty.
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The fascist leader of Italy, Mussolini, was captured with his wife by Italian partisans due to him propping up his rule though Hitler's power. He was executed though firing squad after trying to flee the country.
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Possibly due to the losing of the war and the incoming pressure of the allied forces, Hitler and his wife choose to commit suicide. They consumed cyanide capsules and Hitler shot himself in the head.
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Many German forces begin to surrender to allied forces due to greater and greater chances of defeat at allied hands. The suicide of Hitler was the tipping point at which many German forces began to stop fighting.
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In Italy, German forces completely surrendered. An agreement of peace with western troops was attempted to be made in order to keep fighting Russian forces, however, this German offer was denied.
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Due to looming defeat at the hand of the allies, General Alfred Jodl, who was representing German high command, signed and issued the complete surrender of all German forces.
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This commemorates the victory of the allies over Germany and celebrates the end of the war. Many German soldiers halted in a cease fire, and those that sought to escape were captured. Over 2 million soldiers were captured.
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Winston Churchill was forced to step down as prime minister of the United Kingdom as his party lost the vote to Clement Atlee's labour party. It was found that many disliked him due to how much focus he put on winning the war over other tasks.
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Due to the refusal of Japanese officers to surrender, President Truman found a way to bring a quick end to the war. In order to spare American casualties, he utilized the atomic bomb that was being developed and dropped it onto the city of Hiroshima.
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The soviet Union declared war on Japan in order to put an end to its threat. It began to march 1 million troops toward the city of Manchuria which was under occupation by Japanese troops. This surprised Japan and ended it horrible casualties.
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Due to the lax stance Japan's war council took on the first bombing, The U.S. decided to push further and release another bomb on the city of Nagasaki. This pushed the emperor of Japan to go to the war council and push for a surrender personally.
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Most likely due to the bombing and the emperor's insistence of surrender, Japan finally formally surrendered to the Allies. This was officially announced over Japanese radio that day.
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Appointed by President Truman, U.S. General Douglas MacArthur oversaw Japans official surrender. This was the point that all the major parties of the Axis had surrendered and officially marked the end to World War 2.
