World War 2 TimeLine

1918
11/11/1918	World War One Armistice signed
1919
6/28/1918	Treaty of Versailles signed
1920
1/16/1920	League of Nations meets for the first time
1921
7/29/1921	Adolf Hitler assumes control of National Socialist German Workers (Nazi) Party
1922
10/24/1922	Benito Mussolini calls for fascist "Blackshirts" to March on Rome
10/29/1922	Mussolini appointed Premier by King Victor Emmanuel III
1923
11/8-9/1923	Hitler's Munich Beer Hall Putsch fails
1925
1/3/1925	Mussolini dismisses Italian parliament, begins to assume dictatorial powers
7/18/1925	Hitler's autobiography, Mein Kampf, is published
1929
10/29/1929	Wall Street Stock Market crashes
1931
9/18/1931	Japanese Army invades Manchuria
1932
11/8/1932	Franklin Delano Roosevelt elected President of the United States
1933
1/30/1933	Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany by President Paul von Hindenburg
2/27/1933	German Reichstag burns down; communists blamed, arrested.
3/23/1933	Enabling Act passed by Reichstag; Hitler assumes dictatorial power
7/14/1933	Nazi party declared official party of Germany; all other parties banned
10/14/1933	Germany quits League of Nations
1934
6/30/1934	Hitler orders murder of SA Chief Ernst Roehm in "Night of the Long Knives"
8/2/1934	German President Paul von Hindenburg dies
8/19/1934	Hitler combines the offices of president and chancellor; assumes the title of F�hrer
1935
3/16/1935	Military conscription introduced in Germany in violation of Versailles treaty
9/15/1935	Nuremberg race laws promulgated
10/3/1935	Italian Army invades Ethiopia
1936
3/7/1936	German troops remilitarize the Rhineland in violation of Versailles treaty
5/9/1936	Italian campaign in Ethiopia ends
7/17/1936	Spanish Civil War breaks out; Hitler and Mussolini send aid to Franco
10/1/1936	Franco becomes dictator of Spain
10/25/1936	Rome-Berlin "Axis" alliance formed
1937
1/19/1937	Japan withdraws from Washington Conference Treaty limiting the size of its navy
5/28/1937	Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister of England
6/11/1937	Josef Stalin begins purge of Red Army
7/7/1937	Full-scale war erupts between China and Japan
1938
3/12/1938	Germany invades Austria; Anschluss (union) proclaimed
9/30/1938	Germany invades Austria; Anschluss (union) proclaimed
10/15/1938	Germany invades Austria; Anschluss (union) proclaimed
11/9-10/1938	Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass)
1939
3/15-16/1939	WGerman troops occupy the rest of Czechoslovakia in violation of Munich Agreement
3/28/1939	Spanish Civil War ends
8/23/1939	Nazi-Soviet nonagression pact signed
9/1/1939	German Army invades Poland
9/3/1939	Britain and France declare war on Germany
9/17/1939	Red Army invades Poland in accordance with Nazi-Soviet Pact
9/27/1939	Warsaw falls to the Nazis
11/30/1939	Red Army attacks Finland
9/14/1939	Soviet Union kicked out of League of Nations
1940
3/12/1940	Finland signs peace treaty with Soviet Union
4/9/1940	German Army invades Denmark and Norway
5/10/1940	German Army invades France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; Winston Churchill appointed British Prime Minister
5/15/1940	Holland capitulates to Nazis
5/26/1940	"Miracle at Dunkirk"
5/28/1940	Belgium capitulates to Nazis
6/10/1940	Norway capitulates to Nazis; Italy declares war on Britain and France
6/14/1940	Nazis take Paris
6/22/1940	France capitulates to Nazis
7/10/1940	Battle of Britain begins
7/23/1940	Red Army takes Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia
8/3/1940	Italian Army invades British Somaliland
8/13/1940	Luftwaffe begins raids on British airfields and aircraft factories
8/23-24/1940	Off-course German bombers accidentally bomb London
8/25-26/1940	Royal Air Force mounts reprisal raid against Berlin
9/7/1940	German "blitz" on British cities begins in earnest
9/13/1940	Italian Army attacks Egypt
9/16/1940	Military conscription introduced in United States
9/27/1940	Tripartite alliance formed between Germany, Italy and Japan
10/7/1940	German troops occupy Romania
10/28/1940	Italian Army attacks Greece
11/5/1940	Roosevelt re-elected
11/10-11/1940	RAF raid cripples Italian fleet at Taranto
11/20/1940	Romania joins Axis
12/9-10/1940	British counter-attack begins against Italian Army in North Africa
1941
1/22/1941	British take Tobruk in North Africa from Nazis
2/11/1941	British Army attacks Italian Somaliland
2/12/1941	Erwin Rommel assumes command of German Afrika Korps
3/7/1941	British Army comes to the aid of Greece
3/11/1941	Lend-Lease Act signed by Roosevelt
4/6/1941	German Army hastily invades Yugoslavia and Greece
4/17/1941	Yugoslavia capitulates to Nazis
4/27/1941	Greece capitulates to Nazis
5/10/1941	Rudolf Hess flies to Scotland on "peace mission"
5/15/1941	British counter-attack in Egypt
5/24/1941	German battleship Bismarck sinks Hood, pride of the Royal Navy
5/27/1941	Royal Navy sinks Bismarck
6/8/1941	British Army invades Lebanon and Syria
6/22/1941	Hitler launches operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union
6/28/1941	Germans capture Soviet city of Minsk
7/3/1941	Stalin launches "scorched earth" policy
7/31/1941	Planning begins for "Final Solution," the systematic destruction of the Jews
8/12/1941	Atlantic Charter signed by Roosevelt and Churchil
8/20/1941	German siege of Soviet city of Leningrad begins
9/1/1941	Jews order to wear yellow Star of David
9/19/1941	Germans capture Soviet city of Kiev
9/29/1941	German SS mass murders Russian Jews at Kiev
10/16/1941	Germans capture Soviet city of Odessa
10/17/1941	Hideki Tojo becomes Prime Minister of Japan
10/24/1941	Germans capture Soviet city of Kharkov
10/30/1941	German Army occupies the Crimea
11/20/1941	Germans capture the Soviet city of Rostov
11/27/1941	Red Army retakes Rostov
12/6/1941	Red Army launches major counter-offensive
12/7/1941	Japanese attack naval base at Pearl Harbor
12/8/1941	Roosevelt gives "Day of Infamy" speech; United States and Britain declare war on Japan
12/11/1941	Germany declares war on the United States
12/16/1941	Rommel's Afrika Korps forced to retreat in North Africa
12/19/1941	Hitler assumes post of Commander in Chief of German Army
1942
1/1/1942	Mass gassing of Jews begins at Auschwitz
1/1/1942	Allies forge Declaration of the United Nations
1/13/1942	German U-boats begin sinking ships off American coast in "Operation Drumbeat
1/20/1942	Nazis coordinate "Final Solution" efforts at Wannsee Conference
1/21/1942	Rommel counter-attacks in North Africa
4/1/1942	American citizens of Japanese descent forced into "relocation centers"
5/8/1942	Germans launch summer offensive in the Crimea
5/30/1942	Royal Air Force launches first 1,000 bomber raid on Cologne, German
6/4/1942	Japanese Navy resoundingly defeated at Battle of Midway--war reaches its turning point in the Pacific; S.S. Leader Rheinhardt Heydrich dies of wounds sustained in partisan attack at Prague
6/5/1942	German siege of Sevastopol begins
6/10/1942	Nazis annihilate Czech town of Lidice in retaliation for Heydrich's assassination
6/21/1942	German Afrika Korps recaptures Tobruk
7/3/1942	Sevastopol falls to German Army
7/5/1942	Nazi conquest of Crimea achieved
7/9/1942	German Army begins push towards Stalingrad
8/7/1942	General Bernard Montgomery assumes command of British Eighth Army in North Africa
9/13/1942	German attack on Stalingrad begins
11/3/1942	Afrika Korps decisively defeated by British at El Alamein
11/8/1942	Allied invasion of North Africa begins in "Operation Torch"
11/11/1942	Axis forces occupy Vichy France
11/19/1942	Soviet forces encircle German Sixth Army at Stalingrad
12/31/1942	German and British ships engage in the Battle of the Barents Sea
1943
1/2-3/1943	German Army retreats from Caucasus
1/10/1943	Red Army begins siege of German-occupied Stalingrad
1/14-23/1943	Roosevelt and Churchill meet at Casablanca, issue unconditional surrender demand
1/23/1943	British forces take Tripoli
1/27/1943	U.S. Air Force opens daylight bombing campaign with attack on Wilhelmshaven, Germany
2/2/1943	German Sixth Army at Stalingrad surrenders to the Russians; war in Europe reaches its turning point
2/8/1943	Red Army takes Kursk
2/14-25/1943	Battle of Kasserine Pass fought in North Africa between German and U.S. forces
2/16/1943	Red Army retakes Kharkov
3/2/1943	Afrika Korps withdraws from Tunisia
3/15/1943	Germany Army recaptures Kharkov
3/16-20/1943	German submarines achieve their largest tonnage total of the war
4/19/1943	S.S. begins "liquidation" of the Warsaw ghetto
5/7/1943	Allies capture Tunisia
5/13/1943	remaining Axis troops in North Africa surrender to Allies
5/16-17/1943	RAF targets German industry in the Ruhr
5/22/1943	U-boat operations suspended in the North Atlantic due to steep losses
6/11/1943	Nazis order destruction of Polish ghettos
7/5/1943	Largest tank battle in history begins at Kursk
7/9-10/1943	Allied forces land on Sicily
7/22/1943	American forces take Palermo, Sicily
7/25-26/1943	Mussolini and the Fascists overthrown
7/27-28/1943	Allied bombing raid creates firestorm in Hamburg, Germany
8/12-17/1943	Axis forces withdraw from Sicily
8/17/1943	USAF suffers steep losses in bombing run on ball-bearing plants at Regensburg and Schweinfurt, Germany
8/23/1943	Red Army retakes Karkhov
9/8/1943	New Italian government announces Italy's surrender
9/9/1943	Allied forces land in Salerno and Taranto, Italy
9/11/1943	German Army occupies Italy
9/12/1943	Nazi commandos rescue Mussolini
9/23/1943	Fascist government re-established in Italy
10/1/1943	Allies take Naples
11/6/1943	Red Army recaptures Kiev
11/28/1943	"Big Three" of Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill meet at Tehran
12/24-26/1943	Soviets begin large offensive in Ukraine
1944
1/6/1944	Red Army advances into Poland
1/22/1944	Allied forces land at Anzio, Italy
1/27/1944	Red Army breaks 900-day siege of Leningrad
1/31/1944	American forces invade Kwajalein
2/16/1944	German 14th Army counter-attacks at Anzio
2/18-22/1944	American forces take Eniwetok
4/8/1944	Red Army begins offensive in the Crimea
5/9/1944	Soviet troops recapture Sevastopol
5/12/1944	German forces in the Crimea surrender
6/5/1944	Allied forces enter Rome
6/6/1944	D-Day: invasion of Europe begins with Allied landings at Normandy
6/9/1944	Red Army advances into Finland
6/13/1944	Germans begin launching V-1 rockets against London
6/15/1944	American marines invade Saipan
6/19-20/1944	"Marianas Turkey Shoot" results in destruction of over 200 Japanese aircraft
6/22/1944	Red Army begins massive summer offensive
6/27/1944	American forces liberate Cherbourg
7/3/1944	Soviet forces recapture Minsk
7/9/1944	Allied troops liberate Caen
7/18/1944	American troops liberate St L�
7/20/1944	Hitler survives assassination attempt
7/24/1944	Soviet forces liberate concentration camp at Majdanek
7/25-30/1944	Allied forces break-out of Normandy encirclement in "Operation Cobra"
7/28/1944	Red Army recaptures Brest-Litovsk
8/1/1944	Polish Home Army begins revolt against Nazis in Warsaw
8/15/1944	Allies invade Southern France
8/19-20/1944	Soviet forces invade Romania
8/23/1944	Rumania capitulates to Soviets
8/25/1944	Paris liberated
8/31/1944	Red Army takes Bucharest
9/3/1944	Brussels liberated
9/4/1944	Antwerp liberated
9/8/1944	Soviets and Finns sign peace treaty
9/13/1944	American troops reach the Siegfried Line in western Germany
9/26/1944	Red Army occupies Estonia
10/2/1944	Nazis brutally crush revolt in Warsaw; Allies advance into Germany
10/5/1944	British invade Greece
10/14/1944	British liberate Athens; Rommel forced to commit suicide for alleged involvement in July assassination plot against Hitler
10/20/1944	Belgrade, Yugoslavia falls to Soviet forces
10/23-26/1944	U.S. naval forces destroy remnants of Japanese Navy at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval engagement in history
11/7/1944	Roosevelt elected to fourth term
12/3/1944	Civil war erupts in Greece; Japanese retreat in Burma
12/15/1944	American forces invade Phillipine island of Mindoro
12/16/1944	German Army launches "Battle of the Bulge" offensive on the Western Front
12/17/1944	Waffen SS executes 81 American prisoners of war in "Malmedy Massacre"
1945
1/9/1945	American forces invade Phillipine island of Luzon
1/16/1945	Battle of the Bulge ends in German defeat
1/17/1945	Red Army liberates Warsaw
1/19/1945	German lines on Eastern Front collapse; full retreat begins
1/20/1945	Hungary signs armistice with Allies
1/26/1945	Soviets liberate Auschwitz
1/27/1945	Red Army occupies Lithuania
2/4-11/1945	Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin meet at Yalta Conference
2/13-14/1945	Allied incendiary raid creates firestorm in Dresden
2/19/1945	American forces land on Iwo Jima
3/3/1945	American forces liberate Manila in the Phillipines; Finland declares war on Germany
3/7/1945	Allies capture Cologne; Ludendorff Rail Bridge on Rhine River captured intact at Ramagen
3/9/1945	Tokyo firebombed
3/16/1945	Japanese resistance on Iwo Jima ends
3/21/1945	Allies take Mandalay, Burma
3/30/1945	Red Army liberates Danzig
4/1/1945	American troops encircle German forces in the Ruhr
4/12/1945	Franklin Delano Roosevelt dies of stroke; Harry Truman becomes President; Allies liberate Belsen and Buchenwald concentration camps
4/16/1945	Red Army launches Berlin offensive; Allies take Nuremberg
4/18/1945	German forces in the Ruhr capitulate
4/28/1945	Mussolini hanged by Italian partisans; Venice falls to Allied forces
4/29/1945	Dachau concentration camp liberated
4/30/1945	Adolf Hitler and wife Eva Braun commit suicide in Chancellery bunker
5/2/1945	All German forces in Italy surrender
5/7/1945	Unconditional surrender of all German forces
5/8/1945	Victory in Europe (VE) Day
5/23/1945	SS Reichf�hrer Heinrich Himmler commits suicide
6/5/1945	Allies divide Germany into occupation zones
6/26/1945	United Nations World Charter signed in San Francisco
7/16/1945	First U.S. atomic bomb tested at Los Alamos, New Mexico; Potsdam Conference begins
7/26/1945	Clement Attlee becomes British Prime Minister
8/6/1945	First atomic bomb dropped Hiroshima
8/8/1945	Soviet Union declares war on Japan; Soviet forces invade Manchuria
8/9/1945	Second atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
8/14/1945	Unconditional surrender of Japanese forces
8/15/1945	Victory over Japan (VJ) Day
9/2/1945	Japanese delegation signs instrument of surrender aboard battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay
11/20/1945	Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal begins
1946
1/7/1946	United Nations meets for first time in London
10/16/1946	Hermann G�ring commits suicide; 11 other war criminals hanged