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Adolf Hitler invaded Poland.
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Start to Finish
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Britain and France declared war on Germany.
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Hitler invaded and occupied Denmark and Norway to safeguard supply routes of Swedish ore and also to establish a Norwegian base from which to break the British naval blockade on Germany
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Hitler launched his blitzkrieg (lightning war) against Holland and Belgium.
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The British commander-in-chief, General Gort, had been forced to retreat to the coast at Dunkirk. The troops waited, under merciless fire, to be taken off the beaches. A call went out to all owners of sea-worthy vessels to travel to Dunkirk to take the troops off the beaches of Dunkirk. More than 338,000 men were rescued, among them some 140,000 French who would form the nucleus of the Free French army under a little known general, Charles de Gaulle.
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Four main phases:
1. Luftwaffe bombers attack British ports
2. Bombing continued but concentrated attacks on airfields
3. The Blitz – From September 7th the city of London was heavily bombed. Hitler hoped to destroy the morale of the British people
4. Night Bombing – With the failure of daylight bombing raids Hitler began a series of nightly bombing raids on London and other important industrial cities. -
Italy entered the war on the side of the Axis powers. Italy’s motive for entering the war was the hope of rich pickings from the spoils of war.
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The French, Marshall Petain, signed an armistice with Germany taking France, which had been devastated, out of the war and into German occupation.
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This pact of mutual alliance was signed by Germany, Italy and Japan.
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German and Italian troops attacked Yugoslavia, Greece and the island of Crete.
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Hitler sent 3 million soldiers and 3,500 tanks into Russia. The Russians were taken by surprise as they had signed a treaty with Germany in 1939.
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The Japanese, who were already waging war against the Chinese, attacked the US pacific fleet at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, as a preliminary to taking British, French and Dutch colonies in South East Asia.
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Britain and the United States declared war on Japan.
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The Japanese captured Singapore from the British, taking some 60,000 prisoners.
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The USA defeated the Japanese navy at the Battle of Midway. Following this victory, the US navy was able to push the Japanese back.
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British and American forces under the command of General Dwight Eisenhower landed in the NW of Africa and assumed control of French Morocco and Algeria. They gradually closed in on the Germans.
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The Russians won their first victory against Germany at the Battle of Stalingrad.
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The British and American forces managed to defeat the Axis forces in North Africa
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July-British and US forces invaded Sicily.
August-The allied troops had won the island of Sicily. -
Mussolini had been thrown out of office and the new government of Italy surrendered to the British and the USA.
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Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill met to co-ordinate plans for a simultaneous squeeze on Germany.
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The siege of Leningrad was lifted by the Soviet army.
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The allies launched an attack on Germany’s forces in Normandy, Western France.
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The French capital of Paris was liberated from the Germans.
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Germany launched its final defensive through the Ardennes region of Belgium. However, they were beaten back by the allies.
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President Roosevelt died. He was succeeded by President Truman.
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The Russians reached Berlin shortly before the US forces.
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Italian partisans captured Mussolini and executed him.
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The German leader, Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his bombproof shelter together with his mistress.
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May 2-German forces in Italy surrendered to the Allies.
May 7-Hitler’s successor, Admiral Donitz, offerred an unconditional surrender to the allies. -
Victory in Europe was celebrated
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The Japanese generals refused to surrender. The US dropped an atomic bomb on the island of Hiroshima.
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Russia declared war on Japan and invaded Japanese-ruled Manchuria
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The US dropped an atomic bomb on the island of Nagasaki as the Japanese had not surrendered following Hiroshima.
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The Japanese unconditionally surrendered to the allies ending the second world war.
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US General, Douglas MacArthur, accepted Japan’s surrender thus formally ending the second world war.
