Timeline of World War Two

Date Summary Detailed Information

1938 German Anschluss with Hitler went ahead with his plans to unify all German-speaking people. He annexed Austria then
Austria? demanded the liberation of German people in the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia. Neville
Chamberlain flew to Germany to attempt a settlement before war broke out.
30 Sept 1938 Treaty of Munich Hitler, Chamberlain, Daladier of France and Mussolini of Italy met in Munich and agreed that Hitler
should have the Sudetanland of Czechoslovakia. The Czechs were not represented at the
meeting and realizing that no country would come to their aid were forced to surrender the
Sudetenland to Germany. Hitler assured those at the meeting that this was the extent of his
ambitions for expansion. Chamberlain returned to England with a piece of paper signed by Hitler,
proclaiming 'peace in our time.'?
March 1939 Hitler invades Despite the assurances given by Hitler in the Treaty of Munich (Sept 1938), he marched into
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia and occupied the country.
March /April Britain rearms and Britain had begun re-arming and a highly secret radar early warning system was installed along
1939 reassures Poland the east coast. Conscription was introduced and assurances were given to Poland, who was
being threatened by the Fuhrer.
late Aug 1939 Russia and Germany sign Hitler and Stalin signed a non-aggression pact which included secret clauses for the division of
pact? Poland.
1 Sept 1939 Hitler invades Poland Adolf Hitler invaded Poland.
3 Sept 1939 Britain and France declare Britain and France declared war on Germany. Neville Chamberlain broadcast the announcement
war on that the country was at war.
Sept 1939- 'Phoney War' The months following Britain's declaration of war are referred to as the 'phoney war' because
May 1940 Britain saw no military action.
April/May Hitler invades Denmark Hitler invaded and occupied Denmark and Norway to safeguard supply routes of Swedish ore and
1940 and Norway also to establish a Norwegian base from which to break the British naval blockade on Germany.
10 May 1940 Blitzkrieg Hitler launched his blitzkrieg (lightning war) against Holland and Belgium. Rotterdam was bombed
almost to extinction. Both countries were occupied.
13 May 1940 Chamberlain resigns Neville Chamberlain resigned after pressure from Labour members for a more active prosecution
of the war and Winston Churchill became the new head of the wartime coalition government.
Chamberlain gave Churchill his unreserved support. Ernest Bevin was made minister of labour
and recruited workers for the factories and stepped up coal production. Lord Beaverbrook,
minister of Aircraft Production increased production of fighter aircraft.
26 May 1940 Dunkirk (Operation The British commander-in-chief, General Gort, had been forced to retreat to the coast at Dunkirk.
Dynamo) 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.
11 June 1940 Italy enter war on side of Italy entered the war on the side of the Axis powers. Italy's motive for entering the war was the
Axis powers hope of rich pickings from the spoils of war.?
22 June 1940 France signs armistice The French, Marshall Petain, signed an armistice with Germany taking France, which had been
with Germany devastated, out of the war and into German occupation?
10 July - 31 Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain comprised four phases: 
October 1940 1. During July Hitler sent his Luftwaffe bombers to attack British ports. His aim was also to assess
the speed and quality of response by the RAF? 
2. During August the attacks on shipping continued but bombing raids were concentrated on RAF
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. 
The RAF defended the skies and by October 31 the raids had ceased.
22 Sept 1940 Tripartite Pact This pact of mutual alliance was signed by Germany, Italy and Japan.
December British rout Italians in N. Italian forces in North Africa were routed by the British led by General Wavell.
1940 Africa
early 1941 Italy and Germany attack German and Italian troops attacked Yugoslavia, Greece and the island of Crete. German field
Yugoslavia Marshall Erwin Rommel led the axis powers back to North Africa.
22 June 1941 Hitler attacks Russia - Hitler sent 3 million soldiers and 3,500 tanks into Russia. The Russians were taken by surprise as
Operation Barbarossa they had signed a treaty with Germany in 1939. Stalin immediately signed a mutual assistance
treaty with Britain and launched an Eastern front battle that would claim 20 million casualties. The
USA, which had been supplying arms to Britain under a 'Lend-Lease' agreement, offered similar
aid to USSR.
7 Dec 1941 Pearl Harbor 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.
8 Dec 1941 Britain and US declare war Britain and the United States declared war on Japan.
on Japan
Feb 1942 Japanese take Singapore The Japanese captured Singapore from the British, taking some 60,000 prisoners.
June 1942 Battle of Midway The USA defeated the Japanese navy at the Battle of Midway. Following this victory, the US navy
was able to push the Japanese back.
Aug 1942 Allies in N. Africa General Alexander was given a hand-written directive from Churchill ordering that his main
directive was to be the destruction of the German-Italian army commanded by Field-Marshall
Rommell together with all its supplies and establishments in Egypt and Libya. As soon as
 sufficient material had been built up, Alexander handed the campaign over to General
Montgomery.
23 Oct 1942 Battle of El Alamein Montgomery attacked the German-Italian army in North Africa with a massive bombardment
followed by an armoured attack. He then proceeded to chase the routed enemy some 1500 miles
across the desert.
Nov 1942 Battle of Stalingrad The Russians won their first victory against Germany at the Battle of Stalingrad.
Nov 1942 Allies push into N. Africa 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.
May 12 1943 Axis surrender N Africa The British and American forces managed to defeat the Axis forces in North Africa
July 1943 Allies invade Sicily British and US forces invaded Sicily.
Aug 1943 Allies take Sicily The allied troops had won the island of Sicily.
3 Sept 1943 Italy surrenders Mussolini had been thrown out of office and the new government of Italy surrendered to the British
and the USA. They then agreed to join the allies. The Germans took control of the Italian army,
freed Mussolini from imprisonment and set him up as head of a puppet government in Northern
Italy. This blocked any further allied advance through Italy.
Nov 1943 Allies meet at Tehran Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill met to co-ordinate plans for a simultaneous squeeze on Germany.
They also discussed post war settlements. Churchill mistrusted Stalin; Roosevelt anxious to show
that the West would not stand against Russia, went along with Stalin's wishes for a second front in
France and no diversions further east. Churchill was over-ruled and the fate of post-war Eastern
Europe was thus decided.
Jan 1944 Leningrad relieved The siege of Leningrad was lifted by the Soviet army.
June 1944 Rome liberated Although Italy had surrendered in September, it was only now that the allies were able to liberate
Rome from the Germans.
6 June 1944 D-Day The allies launched an attack on Germany's forces in Normandy, Western France. Thousands of
transports carried an invasion army under the supreme command of general Eisenhower to the
Normandy beaches. The Germans who had been fed false information about a landing near
Calais, rushed troops to the area but were unable to prevent the allies from forming a solid
bridgehead. For the allies it was essential to first capture a port.
July 1944 Japanese evicted from British forces under General Slim, with help from guerrilla-fighting Chindits led by Orde Wingate,
Burma evicted the Japanese from Burma.
25 Aug 1944 Paris liberated The French capital of Paris was liberated from the Germans.
8 Sept 1944 V2 Flying Bombs The first V2 flying bombs killed three people in London.
Dec 1944 Battle of the Bulge Germany launched its final defensive through the Ardennes region of Belgium. However, they
were beaten back by the allies.
March 1945 Allies cross the Rhine The Allies crossed the Rhine while Soviet forces were approaching Berlin from the East.
April 1945 Death of Roosevelt President Roosevelt died. He was succeeded by President Truman.
 April 1945 Russians reach Berlin The Russians reached Berlin shortly before the US forces.
28 April 1945 Mussolini captured and Italian partisans captured Mussolini and executed him.
executed
30 April 1945 Hitler commits suicide The German leader, Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his bombproof shelter together with his
mistress, Eva Braun, who he had, at the last minute, made his wife.
2 May 1945 German forces surrender German forces in Italy surrendered to the Allies.
4 May 1945 German forces surrender German forces in north west Germany, Holland and Denmark surrendered to Montgomery on
Luneburg Heath. Admiral Donitz, whom Hitler had nominated as his successor, tried to reach
agreement to surrender to the Western allies but to continue to fight the Russians. His request
was refused.
7 May 1945 Donitz offers unconditional Hitler's successor, Admiral Donitz, offered an unconditional surrender to the allies.
surrender
8 May 1945 V.E. day Victory in Europe was celebrated.
5 July 1945 Churchill loses election Winston Churchill lost the election to Clement Atlee's Labour Party. The Labour party promised
sweeping social reforms including nationalization of the coal and railway industries and the
creation of a welfare state. The Labour party gained 393 seats to the Conservatives 213. It was
generally accepted that the landslide victory for Labour was due to the men and women of the
armed services who did not want to resume civilian life under the conditions that they had before
they entered service.?
6 Aug 1945 Atomic bomb dropped on The Japanese generals refused to surrender. The US dropped an atomic bomb on the island of
Hiroshima Hiroshima.
8 Aug 1945 Russia declares war on Russia declared war on Japan and invaded Japanese-ruled Manchuria.
Japan
9 Aug 1945 Atomic bomb dropped on The US dropped an atomic bomb on the island of Nagasaki as the Japanese had not surrendered
Nagasaki following Hiroshima.
14 Aug 1945 Japanese surrender The Japanese unconditionally surrendered to the allies ending the second world war.

2 Sept 1945 MacArthur accepts US General, Douglas MacArthur, accepted Japan's surrender thus formally ending the second
Japan's surrender world war.

The subsequent Japanese bombing of the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in December 1941 brought the U.S. into World War II. Japan’s imperial
pursuits culminated with the cessation of the world war and the U.S. bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Hiroshima Building was the only structure to withstand the nuclear attack in 1945. Japan narrowly averted a
nuclear accident in 2011 when a tsunami hit a nuclear power plant in Fukushima.

Ultimately, Japan’s absolute monarchy system was replaced by a liberal democratic set-up and the country transitioned to a constitutional
monarchy with a parliamentary form of government. The Emperor of Japan today is a symbolic head of state with limited powers restricted to
diplomatic occasions. Power is primarily held by the prime minister and other elected members. Emperor Akihito is the reigning emperor of
Japan, and Prime Minister Naoto Kan is the current head of the government. Kan took over as the Prime Minister after Yukio Hatoyama was
forced to resign. Kan, Japan’s fifth prime minister in four years, is the head of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). The DPJ came to power in
2009, overthrowing the Liberal Democratic Party, which had reigned virtually uninterrupted in the seat of power since World War II.