WORLD WAR II – ABBREVIATED TIMELINE
ALLIED POWERS
AXIS POWERS
GREAT BRITAIN
GERMANY
FRANCE
ITALY
UNITED STATES
JAPAN
SOVIET UNION
and others…..
1922
Benito Mussolini, leader of the Fascist Party, becomes the leader of Italy.
1926
Joseph Stalin becomes the leader of the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics). This is a communist country, also known as the Soviet Union.
1931
Japan invades Manchuria, China in search of natural resources.
1934
Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazi Party (National Socialist German Workers’
Party) becomes the president of Germany.
1938
Germany announces the unification, Anschluss, of Germany and Austria as
Hitler tries to unify all German speaking people.
1938
At the Munich Conference, Great Britain and France agree to Hitler’s demands for the Sudetenland, a German-speaking
area of Czechoslovakia. This policy of giving into Hitler’s demands to avoid another war becomes known as appeasement.
1939
Germany and the USSR sign a non-aggression pact. Germany didn’t want to have to worry about fighting a two front war
again, the Soviet Union wanted to avoid the horrors of World War I again. The two also agreed to divide Poland.
1939
Germany invades Poland on September 1 and uses Blitzkrieg strategies to conquer Poland in a matter of weeks. Great
Britain and France declare war on Germany on September 3. World War II has begun.
1940
Germany invades France after going through the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. The French surrender to
Germany and the Germans set up a puppet government, based in Vichy, to govern much of France.
1940
After narrowly escaping at Dunkirk, the British are basically the only thing standing between Germany and victory in Europe.
Winston Churchill, the leader of Great Britain, vowes to fight. The British Royal Air Force fought the German Luftwaffe in an
aerial battle known as the Battle of Britain. The British held off the Germans and late in 1940 Hitler called off the German plan
for an invasion of Britain.
1941
Hitler invades the Soviet Union, in violation of the Nazi-Soviet Pact. Germany now has to fight a two-front war.
1941
On December 7, Japan carries out a surprise attack on the U.S. Naval Bases located in Hawaii. On December 8, FDR asks
Congress for a declaration of war against Germany. The United States has now officially entered the war. Germany declares war
on the U.S. soon after.
BATTELS FROM 1942-1945
See your “Battles Timeline”
1943
Churchill and FDR meet in Casablanca, Morocco. They agree to increase the bombing of Germany and to attack the Axis Powers
on the Italian island of Sicily. Churchill hopes that invading Italy will convince the Italians to surrender.
1943
Stalin, Churchill, and FDR meet in Tehran, Iran. They agree to many things, including a Soviet offensive against Germany in 1944
and to divide Germany after the war so it wouldn’t pose a global threat again. Stalin also agrees to help the U.S. against Japan
once Germany is defeated.
MAY 7, 1945
Germany agrees to surrender. The next day, May 8 is declared Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day).
AUGUST,1945
The United States drops atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan agrees to surrender on August
15, which becomes known was Victory in Japan Day (V-J Day). World War 2 is over.