Timeline of World War II

This is the **timeline of World War II**, which shows the event linked to World War II during 1931-1945.

## Before the war

- 1931- September 18: Japan invades the Manchuria region of China, starting Second Sino-Japanese War.
- 1933-
    - January 30: Nazi leader Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany.
    - February 27: The Reichstag is set on fire.
    - March 23: The Reichstag passes Enabling Act, giving Hitler dictatorship power.
    - June 28: Only Nazi Party remains in Germany.
- 1934-
    - January 26: German–Soviet Molotov-Ribbentrop pact.
    - August 2: Hitler becomes German head of state.

- 1935-
    - January 7: The League of Nations allows Germany to add Saarland to its territory.
    - March 16: Hitler orders military buildup in Germany
    - April: France, Britain, and Italy form the "Stresa Front", set up to defend Austrian independence, and will not allow Germany to change the Treaty of Versailles.
    - June 18: The Anglo-German Naval Agreement is signed by Germany and the United Kingdom to allow a larger Kriegsmarine (German Navy).
    - October 2: Italy invades Ethiopia, beginning the Second Italo–Abyssinian War.
- 1936-
    - May 7: Italy add Ethiopia to its territory.
    - July 18: Spanish Civil War begins.
    - October 25: Rome-Berlin Axis is formed.
- 1937- Marco Polo Bridge Incident.  Second Sino-Japanese War.
- 1938- September 30: The Munich agreement is signed.
- 1939-
    - March 15: Germany invades Czechoslovakia. The country is divided and added to many countries.
    - April 1: The Spanish Civil War ends with the nationalist victory. Francisco Franco becomes the head of state.
    - May 22: The Pact of Steel between Germany and Italy is signed.
    - August 23: The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between Germany and the Soviet Union is signed.

### 1939

- September 1: Germany invades Poland, starting World War II in Europe (European War).
- September 3: Britain and France warns Germany to move all soldiers out of Poland or there will be war. Germany does not respond. Britain and France declare war on Germany.
- September 4: Nepal declares war on Germany
- September 6: South Africa declares war on Germany
- September 17: The Soviet Union invades Poland from the east.
- October 5-10: Baltic states sign "assistance pacts" with the Soviet Union, allowing it to have soldiers in these countries.
- October 6: The Polish fight comes to an end.
- October 20: The "Phoney War" begins.
- November 24: Japan announces the capture of Nanjing, the Chinese capital at the time.
- November 30: The Soviet Union invades Finland in the Winter War (not part of WWII).

### 1940

- 9 April: Germany invades Denmark and Norway. Denmark surrenders that same day.
- May 10: Germany invades Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- May 25: The Allies falls back to Dunkirk. Hitler orders to stop attacking the Allies troops by land.
- May 26: The Allies starts moving their soldiers from Dunkirk. By June 4, more than 300,000 Allies troops are transported to Britain.
- June 2: Norway surrenders.
- June 10: Italy declares war on Britain and France.
- June 18: The Soviet Union occupies the Baltic states.
- June 25: France formally surrenders.
- July 10: The Battle of Britain begins.
- September 9: The Italian army in Libya invades Egypt.
- September 27: The Tripartite Pact is signed in Berlin by Germany, Italy, and Japan.
- October 15: Italy invades Greece.
- December 6-9: The Italians are pushed back in Egypt.

### 1941

- 16. January: British forces launch a counter-attack on Italy-controlled Ethiopia.
- 12 February: Erwin Rommel arrives to lead the German Army in Africa
- February:Japan wins the Battle of Singapore assuring control of Southeast Asia
- April 6: Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece.
- April 27: Greece surrenders.
- May 20: German troops [in Crete] were to remain.
- June 22: Germany invades the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa. There are also many European axes. German soldiers are sent to Finland.
- September 8: The siege of Leningrad begins.
- September 19: Arrest [Kiev].
- September 30: Battle of Moscow begins.
- October 16: [Capture of Odessa]
- November 27: The Siege of Tobruk is broken.
- December 5: German invasion of Moscow begins.
- December 7: World War II in the Pacific

### 1942

- April 18: The Doolittle Raid is launched, bombing Tokyo from the United States
- June 4: Americans defeat Japan at Midway Island.
- August 23: The Battle of Stalingrad begins.

### 1943

- February 2: German forces surrender at Stalingrad.
- April 19 to May 16: Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
- July 5 to August 23: Battle of Kursk.
- August 23: Belgorod and Kharkiv are liberated.
- September 3: The allies land in southern Italy.
- September 8: Italy surrenders.
- November 6: Kiev is liberated.
- November 28 to December 1: Tehran conference.

### 1944

- January 24 to February 16: Battle of Korsun–Cherkassy.
- January 27: 900-days lasted Siege of Leningrad is broken.
- April 10: Odessa is liberated.
- May 9: Sevastopol is liberated. All Crimea is without German and Romanian troops.
- June 6: American, British and Canadian soldiers invade Normandy.
- July 27: Lviv is liberated.
- August 25: Paris, France is Liberated.
- October 15: Riga is liberated.
- December 16: German forces attack Americans in Belgium, beginning the Battle of the Bulge.
- United States enters Germany

### 1945

- January 27: Auschwitz camp of death is destroyed.
- April 30: Hitler commits suicide.
- May 7: Germany surrenders.
- May 9: Prague is liberated.
- May 9: The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union is finished.
- May 15: National Liberation War in Yugoslavia is finished.
- August 6: The First Atomic Bomb is dropped on Hiroshima.
- August 9: The Second Atomic Bomb is dropped on Nagasaki.
- September 2: Japan surrenders, ending the war.