World War II Remembered

World War II Timeline

xiii World War II Timeline Pre-War 1918 November 11. World War I ends, leaving Germany in a disastrous economic situation. 1933 Adolf Hitler takes power and sets out to establish a German empire in Europe. Persecution of Jews begins. 1937 Japan invades China. 1938 September. Germany seizes part of Czechoslovakia. Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of England, appeases Hitler at Munich. Nazi persecution of Jews intensifies. War 1939 September 1. Germany invades Poland from the west. September 3. Great Britain and France declare war on Germany, followed by Australia, Canada, and most of the British Commonwealth countries. September 17. Soviet Union, under Joseph Stalin, invades Poland from the east. 1939–40 Germany conducts a series of Blitzkriegs (lightning wars) and overcomes Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Holland, and Norway. 1940 Britain, led by Prime Minister Winston Churchill, stands alone and undergoes bombing of both industrial and civilian targets. 1941 June 22. Germany breaks her nonaggression pact and attacks the Soviet Union. December 7. Japanese attack Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and destroy much of the United States Pacific fleet. December 8. The United States, led by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, declares war on Japan. December 11. The United States declares war on Germany, Italy, and other Axis countries. xiv World War II Remembered 1942 The United States converts factories to produce planes and ships; conscripts young men into the armed forces; organizes auxiliary services for women. Early. Japanese attack islands in Pacific and U.S. ships. March. United States begins interning Japanese Americans. June 4–5. The United States defeats Japanese navy at Midway. August 7. The United States Marines attack Guadalcanal. Summer. British and American victories in North Africa. The Soviet Union mounts heroic defense of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) and Stalingrad. Nazis begin systematic extermination of Jews at death camps. The United States attacks Japanese-occupied territory in China from India by flying over the Himalayas. 1943 July-September. British, Canadian, and American troops invade Sicily, then southern Italy; Italy surrenders, but fighting continues as Allies battle north. 1944 June 6. D-Day. The Allies launch a major invasion of Normandy in France. Summer. The United States invades Guam (July 19) and Leyte, Philippines (October 20). August 25. Paris is liberated by the Allies. December 16. The Germans launch a major counteroffensive (“The Battle of the Bulge”) in the Ardennes Forest near the German-Belgian border. 1945 February. U.S. forces invade Iwo Jima; then, in April, Okinawa. April 12. Roosevelt dies. Vice-President Harry Truman becomes President. April 30. Hitler commits suicide. May 8. V-E Day. The War in Europe ends with Germany’s unconditional surrender. August. The United States drops nuclear bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima (Aug. 6) and Nagasaki (Aug. 9). August 15. V-J Day. Japan surrenders, ending the deadliest conflict in human history, with well over 50 million fatalities. ...