Social Science Timeline Flashcards
Mukden Incident between Nationalist Chinese and Imperial Japanese, leads to invasion of Manchuria by Japan
September 18, 1931
Italy invades Ethiopia, lasts until May 1936
October 3, 1935
Hitler remilitarizes the Rhineland
March 7, 1936
Outbreak of Spanish Civil War
July 18, 1936
Rome-Berlin Axis announced
November 1, 1936
Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan sign Anti-Comintern Pact
November 25, 1936
Japan invades China, starts Sino-Japanese War
July 7, 1937
Nazi Germany carries out Anschluss with Austria
March 11-13, 1938
Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Great Britain, France sign Munich Agreement, ceding Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia to Germany
September 29, 1938
Germany absorbs remainder of Czechoslovakia in violation of Munich Agreement
March 15, 1939
Spanish Civil War ends
April 1, 1939
Italy annexes Albania
April 12, 1939
Germany and Soviet Union sign Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, includes secret protocol for division of Poland
August 23, 1939
Hitler signs ordering for invasion of Poland.
August 31, 1939
Germany invades Poland, starting WWII in Europe
September 1, 1939
Great Britain and France declare war on Germany
September 3, 1939
Soviet Union invades Poland
September 17, 1939
Surrender of Warsaw and partition of Poland between Germany and Soviet Union
September 27, 1939
Soviet Union invades Finland, starting Winter War that lasts until March 12, 1940
November 30, 1939
Germany invades Denmark and Norway, Denmark surrenders immediately, Norway holds out until June 9
April 9, 1940
Germany begins invasion of Low Countries (Netherlands, Belgium) and France
May 10, 1940
Evacuation of British forces from Dunkirk begins
May 26, 1940
Italy declares war on France.
June 10, 1940
France signs armistice with Germany, leaves Great Britain as only major European power opposed to Hitler
June 22, 1940
Battle of Britain begins, lasts until October 31
July 10, 1940
Italy invades British-controlled Egypt
September 13, 1940
Japanese troops occupy French Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia)
September 22, 1940
Germany, Italy, Japan sign Tripartite Agreement
September 27, 1940
Italy invades Greece
October 28, 1940
Lend-Lease Bill introduced in US Congress
January 10, 1941
Hitler dispatches Afrika Korps to North African to aid Italy
February 6, 1941
Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece
April 6, 1941
Germany launches Operation Barbarossa, invasion of Soviet Union
June 22, 1941
Japanese surprise attack of US Pacific Fleet base at Pearl Harbor
December 7, 1941
US declares war on Japan, Japan invade Philippines and Singapore
December 8, 1941
Germany and Italy declare war on US
December 11, 1941
Wannsee Conference, lays groundwork for Final Solution
January 20, 1942
Battle of the Java Sea
February 27, 1942
Last American forces in Bataan Peninsula surrender
April 9, 1942
Doolittle Raid on Tokyo
April 18, 1942
American forces on island of Corregidor in Manila Bay surrender
May 6, 1942
Battle of the Coral Sea halts Japanese attempt to seize Port Moresby
May 7-8, 1942
Battle of Midway turns tide of war in Pacific in favor of US
June 4-7, 1942
US Marines land on island of Guadalcanal, starting American offensive in Pacific
August 7, 1942
Battle of Stalingrad begins
August 23, 1942
British Eighth Army in Egypt scores key victory over Rommel at Second Battle of El Alamein
October 23-24, 1942
American and British troops invade Vichy French-controlled North African in Operation Torch
November 8, 1942
Soviets launch major counter-offensive in Stalingrad
November 19, 1942
Casablanca Conference
January 14-24, 1943
German Sixth Army surrenders at Stalingrad
January 31, 1943
Battle of Kasserine Pass
February 14, 1943
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins
April 19, 1943
Axis forces in Tunisia surrender to Allies
May 12, 1943
Battle of Kursk
July 5, 1943
Americans and British begin invasion of Sicily in preparation for invasion of Italy
July 10, 1943
Mussolini ousted as prime minister, replaced by Pietro Badoglio
July 25, 1943
Allied troops land in Italy
September 3, 1943
Italy surrenders to Allies, leading to German seizure of key installations and sites around the country
September 8, 1943
American troops come ashore at Salerno, Italy
September 9, 1943
Americans attack island of Tarawa in Pacific
November 20-23, 1943
Cairo Conference
November 22-26, 1943
Allies land at Anzio, Italy, aim to break stalemate along Gustav Line anchored on Monte Cassino
January 22, 1944
Allied bombing of abbey at Monte Cassino
February 15, 1944
Allies break through Gustav Line in central Italy
May 11, 1944
Allies carry out Operation Overlord, invasion of France (D-Day)
June 6, 1944
Americans invade island of Saipan in Pacific
June 17, 1944
“The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot,” aka Battle of the Philippines Sea
June 19, 1944
Operation Bagration launched by Red Army on Eastern Front
June 22, 1944
US secures Saipan
July 10, 1944
Failed assassination attempt against Hitler by members of German Army
July 20, 1944
Liberation of Majdanek
July 24, 1944
Operation Cobra allows Allies to break out of Normandy beachheads
July 25, 1944
Warsaw Uprising begins, as Polish Home Army tries to wrest control of Warsaw from Nazis; continues until early October when Germans succeed in stopping it
August 1, 1944
Americans and French carry out Operation Dragoon, invasion of southern France
August 15, 1944
Paris liberated by Free French forces
August 25, 1944
Americans land on island of Peleliu in Pacific
September 15, 1944
Operation Market-Garden begins
September 17, 1944
Americans land on Leyte, beginning American liberation of the Philippines
October 20, 1944
systematic bombing of Japan by US begins
November 1944
German offensive in the Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge) starts
December 16, 1944
German advance in Battle of the Bulge halted 30 miles west of Bastogne (Belgium)
December 25, 1944
German siege of Bastogne lifted by American armor units
December 26, 1944
Soviets launch major offensive along Eastern Front, will lead to capture of Warsaw and Krakow
January 12, 1945
Liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau
January 27, 1945
Yalta Conference
February 4-11, 1945
Dresden bombing carried out by British and US
February 13-15, 1945
US Marines land on island of Iwo Jima in Pacific
February 19, 1945
Americans cross into Germany at Remagen
March 7, 1945
Firebombing of Tokyo
March 9, 1945
American invasion of island of Okinawa begins
April 1, 1945
Liberation of Buchenwald
April 11, 1945
FDR dies, Harry S. Truman becomes president
April 12, 1945
Liberation of Bergen-Belsen
April 15, 1945
Soviets launch final offensive against Berlin
April 16, 1945
Liberation of Dachau
April 29, 1945
Hitler commits suicide in underground bunker as Soviets close in on central Berlin
April 30, 1945
Germany surrenders to Allies
May 7, 1945
Trinity Test, first successful detonation of atomic weapon, conducted at Alamogordo, NM
July 16, 1945
Potsdam Conference
July 17-August 2, 1945
First atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
August 6, 1945
Soviet Union declares war on Japan and invades Manchuria
August 8, 1945
Second atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
August 9, 1945
Japan accepts unconditional surrender terms
August 10, 1945
Japan signs surrender agreement in Tokyo Harbor, ending WWII
September 2, 1945
Nuremberg War Crimes Trials begin
November 20, 1945
Tokyo War Crimes Trials begin
May 3, 1946
