1939:
September 1: Germany invades Poland using Blitzkrieg (lightning war) tactics. This is the official start of the Second World War in Europe (Beevor, 2012).
September 3: Britain and France, honoring their commitment to Poland, declare war on Germany (Gilbert, 1989).
September 17: The Soviet Union invades Poland from the east, as per the secret protocols to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (Weinberg, 2005).
1940:
May 10: Germany launches an attack on France and the Low Countries, which comprise Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. This is the end of the “Phoney War” (Beevor, 2012).
June 22: France signs an armistice with Germany. France is now divided into occupied zones and the Vichy regime (Gilbert, 1989).
July 10 – October 31: The Battle of Britain occurs. The Royal Air Force (RAF) battles the Luftwaffe, the air force of Germany, to prevent an invasion of Britain (Weinberg, 2005).
1941:
June 22: Germany launches Operation Barbarossa, an attack on the Soviet Union. It is the biggest military operation in history to date December 7: Japan launches a surprise air raid on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The US declares war on Japan the next day (Gilbert, 1989).
December 11: Germany and Italy declare war on the US, officially involving it in the war in Europe (Weinberg, 2005).
1942:
August 23: The Battle of Stalingrad begins. This was one of the bloodiest battles in history and marked a turning point in World War II against Nazi Germany (Beevor, 2012).
October 23-November 11: The Second Battle of El Alamein. The British defeat the Axis armies in Egypt, preventing them from capturing the Suez Canal (Gilbert, 1989).
1943: Allied Advances
February 2: The German 6th Army surrenders at Stalingrad. This marked the end of Germany’s advance in the East (Weinberg, 2005).
July 10: The Allies invade Sicily, followed by the invasion of mainland Italy in September, which led to the fall of Mussolini’s fascist government (Beevor, 2012).
1943:
February 2: The German 6th Army surrenders at Stalingrad. This marks the end of Germany’s eastern expansion (Weinberg, 2005).
July 10: The Allies invade Sicily, followed by the invasion of mainland Italy in September, resulting in the fall of Mussolini’s fascist regime (Beevor, 2012).
1944:
June 6: D-Day (Operation Overlord). Allied forces land on the beaches of Normandy, France, marking the long-awaited “Second Front” against Germany in Europe (Gilbert, 1989).
August 25: Paris is liberated by the French 2nd Armored Division and US forces (Weinberg, 2005).
December 16: The Battle of the Bulge. Germany makes its final major effort on the Western Front, which ultimately fails (Beevor, 2012).
1945:
February 4-11: The Yalta Conference. Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin meet to discuss the post-war reorganization of Europe (Imperial War Museums, 2023).
April 30: Adolf Hitler commits suicide in his bunker in Berlin as Soviet troops close in (Gilbert, 1989).
May 8: Victory in Europe (VE) Day. Germany unconditionally surrenders to the Allies (Weinberg, 2005).
August 6 & 9: The United States drops atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Beevor, 2012).
September 2: Victory over Japan (VJ) Day. Japan formally surrenders aboard the USS Missouri, Ending World War 2.
Beevor, Antony. The Second World War. London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 5 June 2012.
Gilbert, Martin. The Second World War : A Complete History. Rosettabooks Uuuu-Uuuu, 2014.
Weinberg, Gerhard L. A World at Arms : A Global History of World War II. Cambridge ; New York, Cambridge University Press, 2005.