A darker World War II: Before and Aftermath

== Overview ==
An expanded timeline of Xen's "A darker World War II".
== Timeline ==
=== 1912 ===
British ship Titanic is set for transatlantic voyage. Before that the ship's second officer David Blair was removed from the rooster, but he managed to hand the key to the locker containing a binocular to his replacement. This would help Titanic to avoid icebergs and arrive New York safely.
=== 1917 ===
After being deposed by the Russian revolution, Czar Nicholas II and his family emigrates to the United Kingdom.
=== 1939 ===
23 August: Nazi-Soviet Pact
1 September: Germany invades Poland, beginning of the war in Europe
3 September: The United Kingdom and France declare war on Germany
17 September: Soviet Union invades Poland, Baltic Republics and Finland
27 September: Fall of Warsaw after 20 days of German bombardment
29 September: German-Soviet Partition of Poland
4 November: President Roosevelt signs Neutrality Act of 1939
=== 1940 ===
21 March: Paul Reynaud becomes Prime Minister of France
10 May: War on western front begins with Operation Yellow, the invasion of Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg; Prime Minister Chamberlain resigns, replaced by Winston Churchill
13 May: Germans break through Ardennnes into France
14 May: Dutch government is forced into exile in London
4 June: 338,000 allied troops evacuated from Dunkirk
11 June: French government leaves Paris for Tours
14 June: Germans enter Paris; French government leaves Tours for Bordeaux
21 June: French-German Armistice negotiations begin
25 June: All acts of war between the French and German armed forces officially cease. Primme Minister Churchill says France is not freed of her obligations
27 June: German troops reach the French-Spanish border
11 July: Marshal Petain replaces President Lebrun and proclaims himself ‘Chief of French State’ of the French Republic. Admiral Raeder, C-in-C of the German Navy expresses his reservations about any invasion of Britain
13 July: Hitler issues Directive No. 15 outlining the details of 'Operation Sea Lion', the German invasion of the British Isles. In advance of the landings, the Luftwaffe is to begin operations against British defensive positions, airfields and radar installations along the southern coast of England on the 15th August with 2.600 aircraft having been earmarked for this purpose
16 July: Hitler issues Directive No.16, orders for the planning of 'Operation Sealion', the invasion of Britain. Twenty divisions are earmarked for the invasion, but the Luftwaffe must gain air superiority first. All plans are to be ready by mid-August
29 July: A German memorandum issued by the OKM states that an invasion of Great Britain will not be possible until the second half of September 1940 and that the prospects for such an invasion seem doubtful
31 July: Hitler appraised the Army plan for the invasion of Britain at a conference of his top Military chiefs. The Navy criticize the plan for being on a too broad a front, requiring 2,500 barges in order to transport the invading forces, which cant be concentrated before the 15th of September at the earliest. The Army refute these arguments, saying that too narrow a front would allow the British to concentrate what forces they posses
1 August: Hitler signs Directive No.17, requiring the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine to increase their attacks against Britain and her shipping, in preparation for 'Operation Sealion'
12 October: Hitler postpones invasion of Britain until spring 1941
23 October: Hitler meets with Francisco Franco at Hendaye, encouraging the Spanish leader to join him in the war
28 October: Spain declares war on the United Kingdom; Italy invades Greece
5 November: Franklin D. Roosevelt elected to an unprecedented third term
13 November: The Italian fleet is crippled by a British bomber torpedo raid
8 December: German-Spanish siege begins on Gibraltar
27/31 December: Massive German air raid on London
=== 1941 ===
4 January: Royal Marines occupy the Canary Islands
29 January: Large scale British invasion of Morocco, includes troops from South Africa, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and India
4 February: After holding out for almost two months, Gibraltar falls to the German-Spanish alliance
18 March: Spain invades Portugal
19 April: Greece surrenders
1 June: Pro-Allied government installed in Iraq
7 June: Allies invade Syria and Lebanon
18 June: Germany launches a surprise attack on the Soviet Union
22 June: Germans capture Minsk
9 July: Mutual Assistance agreement between Soviet Union and United Kingdom; Germans cross the Dnieper in the Ukraine where they are greeted as liberators.
15 July: British occupy Syria
31 July: Göring instructs Heydrich to prepare for the Final Solution.
17 August: Leningrad comes under siege
15 September: Kiev occupied by the Germans
23 September: Germans turn attention toward Moscow
15 October: Germans reach Moscow, Stalin assumes control of the cities defenses
21 November: Germans break through Soviet defenses, Stalin is killed attempting to flee the city, Moscow falls into German hands
22 November: Hitler proclaims victory in the East is near; Soviet leadership split between Andrei Zhdanov, Lavrenty Beria, and Vyacheslav Molotov in the town of Kuybyshev.
26 November: The RAF bombs Soviet oil fields in the Caucasus Region to prevent them from falling to the Nazi's
27 November: Outraged by the bombing of the oil fields, Hitler pressures Turkey to allow German troops access through Anatolia and into Iraq.
7 December: The Empire of Japan launches a surprise attack on the United States Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Japan declares war on the US, and British Commonwealth.
8 December: The United States declares war on the Empire of Japan
12 December: Germany, Italy and Spain declare war on the United States
19 December: Hitler takes complete control of the German military
=== 1942 ===
26 January: First American forces arrive in the United Kingdom
April: Japanese-Americans sent to relocation centers
26 May: Rommel begins offensive against the Gazala Line
June: Mass murder of the Jews begin in Auschwitz
3 June: Japan invades northern Sakhalin island
7 June: Japan lays seige to Vladivostok
11 June: Vladivostok falls to Japanese occupation
12 June: The United States Marines occupies the Soviet Far East
14 June: Japanese troops easily conquers Mongolia, establishing a puppet Khanate
18 June: Rommel captures Tobruk
25 June: German advance to Baghdad stopped by allies at Samarra
1 July: Rommel reaches El Alamein near Cairo, Egypt, Battle of El Alamein begins
2 July: Germans take Leningrad and Sevastopol
6 July: Germans begin drive toward Stalingrad
24 July: Battle of El Alamein ends with German victory
31 July: Germans take control of the Nile River
5 August: General Montgomery takes command of Eight Army in North Africa
9 August: Germany offers Turkey an ultimatum for allowing Germany to pass through its territory
10 August: Turkey rejects the German ultimatum, Germany responds with a declaration of war
14 August: German air raids on Stalingrad begins
15 August: Civilians from Istanbul begin fleeing to Anatolia
17 August: First all-American Air Attack in Europe
19 August: Germany invades Turkey, Edirne falls with in the first two hours
22 August: Istanbul comes within site of the Wermacht, several small skirmishes between the Germans and Turks result in a high loss of life for the Turks
24 August: Following France's lead, the Republic of Turkey declares Istanbul an open city
25 August: German troops enter Istanbul
9 September: Battle of Stalingrad begins, Soviet remnant appeals to the western allies to open a new front in Europe.
12 September: German troops invade the Levant and Mesopotamia.
18 September: Omar Bradley arrives in Iraq to take command of the Allied Forces
29 November: US forces are defeated by Rommel at the Battle of the Nile; US General Fredendall is replaced by Patton
17 December: British Foreign Secretary Eden tells the British House of Commons of mass executions of Jews by Nazis; U.S. declares those crimes will be avenged
24 December: 250,000 strong Red Army leads a surprise attack on Stalingrad
26 December: Caught off-guard the 75,000 German defenders are defeated with 40k being taken prisoner, the others KIA or wounded
27 December: Patton flanks Rommel, surrounding the German Army
28 December: Hitler calls for an additional 500,000 men to occupy the Soviet Union
30 December: Battle of Barents Sea beween German and British Navy
=== 1943 ===
9 January 1943: Rommel surrenders his army and is taken captive
19 January: Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill hold a war conference at Havanna
27 January: Montgomery leads his Army to victory at Tripoli
4 February: Free French forces, armed with American equipment and supported by the US Army and Royal Navy launch Operation Guillotine, the invasion of Algeria. Vichy French forces at first resisted, later joined the allied cause
March: The war in the Middle East and North Africa ends
April: Germans launch a major assault on the Soviet Union
14 April: The Germans attack Zhukov's forces at Stalingrad
19 April: Germany assaults the de facto Soviet capital of Kuibyshev; the Soviet leadership abandons the city and flees to Omsk in Siberia
23 April: The 85,000 Allied troops launch an invasion of the Iberian Peninsula at Alemia beach
29 April: Germans forced to divert troops intended for the Soviet offensive to Iberia
1 May: Soviet-Japanese Treaty ends hostilities between the Empire of Japan and Soviet Union, the USSR surrenders the Far East and Sakhalin Island
2 May: Gibraltar liberated by US Army
May-June: Major Allied Air raids on Spain from Morocco and Algeria
30 June: The Canadian Army liberates Lisbon
9 July: US Army captures Madrid
24 July: Portugal completly liberated by the Allies, Portuguese Provisional Government sides with the allies giving what ever assistance it can.
=== 1945 ===
Nukes were dropped in Japan and Germany, ending the war.
=== 1957 ===
USSR launched Sputnik 1 into space, which is the first artificial satellite, afterwards USA launched Vanguard 1 into space.
=== 1958 ===
NASA is formed, their spacecraft "Pioneer 1" is the first to escape the Earth-Moon system.
=== 1961 ===
NASA astronaut Alan Shepard is the first man in space, with a suborbital flight of the Freedom 7 space capsule. Afterwards USSR's Yuri Gagarin became the first man to go into orbit.
=== 1962 ===
U.S. spacecraft Mariner 1 is launched as the first American mission to flyby a planet. It will return first images of the planet Venus.
=== 1966 ===
NASA's Lunar Orbiter 1 became the first artificial object to orbit another body.
=== 1968 ===
NASA's Surveyor lunar rover is the first roving vehicle on another celestial body.
=== 1969 ===
NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong is the first human to land on the Moon.
=== Post-1991 ===
1991: The Soviet Union and most of the Communist World collapses.
1995: NASA's Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby mission is launched to Comet Kopff. Its penetrator/lander is the first to land on a comet.
1996: NASA Mars probe Sojourner is launched.
2003: Europa Orbiter is sent to the namesake Jovian moon with the aid of a Space Shuttle. Concurrently NASA launched Deep Space 4 to comet Tempel 1. Unfortunately the Columbia space shuttle tragedy happened as in OTL.
December 2004: Pluto Kuiper Express is launched to Pluto, with an arrival in around 8 years later.
2010: In this TL NASA's Constellation program is not canceled by the USA. Japanese spacecraft IKAROS became the world's first interplanetary solar sail spacecraft.