WW2 Timeline

1. January 30, 1933: Hitler is appointed German chancellor on behalf of the Nazi party
by General von Hindenburg. Hitler’s rise to chancellorship laid the foundation for his
eventual, almost absolute seizure of power and establishment of Germany as a
totalitarian state that would in turn lead to the outbreak of WW2.
2. October 2, 1936: Fascist Italy begins their second invasion and annexation of
Ethiopia, at the time one of the only independent African nations. The outbreak of
the Italo-Ethiopian War may largely be attributed to international tensions between
Ethiopia and the neighbouring Italian Somaliland. This war served to demonstrate
the ineffectuality of the League of Nations and to heighten European Tensions.
3. November 25, 1936: Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact.
This Pact entailed Germany and Japan’s strict opposition to Bolshevism and
Communism in light of The Soviet Union’s support of Japan’s adversary, China.
4. July 7, 1937: The Second Sino Japanese War commences, in which China poses vast
opposition to Japanese expansion into Chinese territory. This battle lasted until the
conclusion of WW2 and was undeclared until 1941.
5. March 13, 1938: The Anschluss transpires, that is, Germany annexes Austria. This
represented the unification of Germany and Austria, an idea that had been largely
polarised for some time.
6. September 29, 1938: The Munich agreement was signed by Germany, Great Britain,
France and Italy – permitting Germany’s annexation of the largely German-inhabited
Czechoslovakian Sudetenland. This agreement was signed by the allies as an attempt
to avoid large-scale conflict with Germany.
7. March 15, 1938: Hitler occupies annexes Czechoslovakia in violation of the Munich
Agreement. This annexation served to greatly heighten tensions in Europe and laid
the foundations for the outbreak of WW2.
8. September 1, 1939: Germany invades Poland in violation of their non-aggression
pact with Poland. This invasion was justified with Germany’s fabricated claims that
Poland had been oppressing ethnic Germans and with Germany’s staging their being
attacked by Poland, on the premise of which Poland was promptly invaded and
Warsaw encircled. This signified the outbreak of WW2.
9. September 3, 1939: Britain and France declare war on Germany after having invaded
Poland. Britain and France had guaranteed Poland the safety of their border, and in
Germany’s invasion, declared war on Nazi Germany.
10. September 17, 1939: The Soviet Union invades Poland from the east on the premise
that in doing so The Soviet Union would be liberating eastern Europeans from Polish
authority. Ten days later, Warsaw surrendered to their invaders and was partitioned
by Germany and The Soviet Union, who had at the time been bound by a non-
aggression pact.
11. November 30, 1939: The Soviet Union invades Finland and begins the three month
‘Winter War’ which saw The Soviet Union’s invasion of Finland after the latter
refused to forfeit territory to The Soviet Union. Finland was attacked on numerous
fronts, and after having held The Soviet Union at a stalemate for some time, had
 their defensive line broken and were forced to surrender to The Soviet Union, ceding
a portion of Finland’s western territory.
12. April 9, 1940: Germany invades begins their decisive invasion of Norway with the
objective of occupying Norway’s major ports that provided the German navy broad
access to the north Atlantic Ocean. Following this, Germany swiftly annexed
Denmark with the objective of safeguarding their communications with Norway.
13. May 10, 1940: Germany begins its invasion of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg
and France. Germany’s strategic and military superiority over France was
instrumental to Germany’s invasion of France; and was demonstrated in Germany’s
decisive annexation of the Low Countries to bypass the Maginot Line. In addition, on
this day, Winston Churchill was named Prime Minister of Great Britain in place of
Neville Chamberlain.
14. May 26, 1940: Just shy of 200 000 BEF soldiers, in addition to thousands of other
allied soldiers were evacuated from Dunkirk in the face of the German offensive’s
rapid advancement throughout Northern France. This evacuation involved domestic
and military boats transporting stranded allied soldiers at Dunkirk through the
English channel to safety, and was instrumental to the Allies’ victory in the war.
15. June 22, 1940: France signs armistice with Germany in face of Germany’s invasion of
France, in which France effectively surrenders to Germany and cedes much of their
northern territory to Germany.
16. September 27, 1940: Germany, Italy and Japan sign the Tripartite pact. This pact
ensured that its constituents would aid any nation at war with another nation
excluded from the pact that had, at that time, not been involved in WW2.
17. October 31, 1940: the British Royal Air Force, among other divisions, successfully
defend Great Britain from an onslaught of destructive air raids, and in doing so win
the Battle of Britain. This battle served to demonstrate the might of the British Royal
Air Force and was pivotal to Great Britain’s survival throughout the war, as
Germany’s defeat of the RAF may have proven detrimental to Great Britain.
18. April 6, 1941: Axis powers invade Yugoslavia on account of Yugoslavia’s indecision as
to whether or not they would join the Axis Powers and permit transit through their
territory. This in turn provoked the anger of German forces and eventuated in
Yugoslavia’s swift annexation and partitioning by the Axis Powers.
19. June 22-November 1941: Germany and its allies, except Bulgaria and including
Finland, invade The Soviet Union. Codenamed Operation Barbarossa by the
Germans, this invasion entailed a colossal onslaught of German soldiers over a broad
front, that had initially made much progress, though, had been impeded by Russian
forces upon having reached Leningrad, where unequipped German soldiers were
counterattacked by Soviet forces and eventuated in the failure of operation
Barbarossa.
20. December 8, 1941: The USA declares war on Japan and joins the war after the
American, Pearl Harbour naval base was decimated by Japanese attacks. In declaring
war on Japan, the United States had war declared upon them by fascist Italy and Nazi
Germany.
21. July 25, 1943: Benito Mussolini is deposed from leader of fascist Italy and
imprisoned, resulting in Pietro Bagdolio’s seizure of power of Italy, the likes of whom
subsequently, promptly surrendered unconditionally to the allies. However,
Germany intervenes by annexing Northern Italy and establishing a puppet regime led
by Mussolini.
22. June 4, 1944: allied troops liberate Rome from Mussolini’s authority after having
fought from Sicily upwards throughout Italy, signifying Italy’s absolute withdrawal
from WW2.
23. June 6, 1944: Allied troops land at Normandy, opening a second front for the Allied
forces in Western Europe and allowing them to gain an instrumental foothold in the
European mainland. The Normandy Invasion was the largest naval landing in WW2,
and allowed the Allied forces to, by the end of August, entirely liberate Northern
France, namely Paris (25th of August) and much of the Low Countries.
24. January 12, 1945: Soviet forces liberate Krakow and Warsaw from German control.
Before the Soviet Union’s liberation of Warsaw, an insurgence known as the Warsaw
Uprising was staged by which the Home Army unsuccessfully attempted to
overthrow the German authority in Poland.
25. April 16, 1945: Soviet forces encircle Berlin to the east and south, greatly pressuring
German forces. This encirclement marked one of the final offensives of conflict in the
European theatre of WW2.
26. April 30, 1945: Hitler and a handful of his fellow officers commit suicide with news of
their imminent defeat. In the following few days, Soviet forces take Germany, in
what is known as the fall of Berlin.
27. May 8, 1945: Germany unconditionally surrenders to the allied forces, signifying the
end of the war in Europe.
28. August 6, 1945: The United States bombs Hiroshima with the first atomic bomb to be
used in armed conflict upon Japan’s refusal to accept the United States’ ultimatum
of absolute surrender or decimation. Hiroshima was chosen as the site of detonation
as it provided the US an effective means of demonstrating the might of the nuclear
bomb and instilling a sense of fear in the people of Japan. Furthermore, three days
later, Nagasaki was bombed with another atomic bomb of a different design to the
former on account of the fact that Nagasaki was densely populated and of economic
significance to Japan.
29. September 2, 1945: Japan surrenders to the Untied States given a number of factors,
though notably the facts that the Soviet Union was likely to attack Japan, the fact
that the Imperial Japanese Navy had been severely hindered, and the fact that the
atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had pressured Japan into surrendering.
Japan’s surrender aboard the USS Missouri signified the conclusion of WW2.