Timeline Flashcards
October 25–November 1, 1936
Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy sign a treaty of cooperation on October 25; on November 1, the Rome-Berlin Axis is announced.
September 18, 1931
Japan invades Manchuria.
November 25, 1936
Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact, directed against the Soviet Union and the international Communist movement.
July 7, 1937
Japan invades China, initiating World War II in the Pacific.
March 11–13, 1938
Germany incorporates Austria in the Anschluss.
September 29, 1938
Germany, Italy, Great Britain, and France sign the Munich agreement which forces the Czechoslovak Republic to cede the Sudetenland, including the key Czechoslovak military defense positions, to Nazi Germany.
August 23, 1939
Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sign a nonaggression agreement and a secret codicil dividing eastern Europe into spheres of influence.
September 1, 1939
Germany invades Poland, initiating World War II in Europe.
April 9, 1940–June 9, 1940
Germany invades Denmark and Norway. Denmark surrenders on the day of the attack; Norway holds out until June 9.
July 10, 1940–October 31, 1940
The air war known as the Battle of Britain ends in defeat for Nazi Germany.
December 7, 1941
Japan attacks Pearl Harbor
December 8, 1941
The United States declares war on Japan, entering World War II. Japanese troops land in the Philippines, French Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia), and British Singapore. By April 1942, the Philippines, Indochina, and Singapore are under Japanese occupation.
May 13, 1943
Axis forces in Tunisia surrender to the Allies, ending the North African campaign.
July 10, 1943
US and British troops land on Sicily. By mid-August, the Allies control Sicily.
June 22, 1941–November 1941
Nazi Germany and its Axis partners (except Bulgaria) invade the Soviet Union. Finland, seeking redress for the territorial losses in the armistice concluding the Winter War, joins the Axis just before the invasion. The Germans quickly overrun the Baltic States and, joined by the Finns, lay siege to Leningrad (St. Petersburg) by September. In the center, the Germans capture Smolensk in early August and drive on Moscow by October. In the south, German and Romanian troops capture Kiev (Kyiv) in September and capture Rostov on the Don River in November.
July 25, 1943
The Fascist Grand Council deposes Benito Mussolini, enabling Italian marshall Pietro Badoglio to form a new government.
September 9, 1943
Allied troops land on the beaches of Salerno near Naples.
June 4, 1944
Allied troops liberate Rome. Within six weeks, Anglo-American bombers could hit targets in eastern Germany for the first time.
October 20, 1944
US troops land in the Philippines.
December 16, 1944
The Germans launch a final offensive in the west, known as the Battle of the Bulge, in an attempt to re-conquer Belgium and split the Allied forces along the German border. By January 1, 1945, the Germans are in retreat.
March 7, 1945
US troops cross the Rhine River at Remagen.
April 16, 1945
The Soviets launch their final offensive, encircling Berlin.
April 30, 1945
Hitler commits suicide.
May 7, 1945
Germany surrenders to the western Allies.
May 9, 1945
Germany surrenders to the Soviets.
August 9, 1945
The United States drops an atomic bomb on Nagasaki.
September 2, 1945
Having agreed in principle to unconditional surrender on August 14, 1945, Japan formally surrenders, ending World War II.
