Key Events and Timeline of World War II

Posted on Feb 21, 2025 in History

Key Events of World War II

  • September 1939: Invasion of Poland (Trigger event)
  • June 1940: Germany invades France and defeats her in six weeks.
  • June – December 1941: Operation Barbarossa – Germany invades Russia. It is the largest military operation in history.
  • December 1941: Pearl Harbor – Japan attacks Pearl Harbor.
  • June 1942: Battle of Midway – The US Navy defeats the Japanese Navy.
  • February 1943: Stalingrad – The German army surrenders at Stalingrad. One of the bloodiest battles; Hitler suffers a major defeat.
  • June 1944: Operation Overlord – The Allies launch the largest assault in history on Normandy.
  • August 1945: Hiroshima and Nagasaki – The USA drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing 200,000. Japan announces its surrender.

The Belligerents

The Axis: Germany (Adolf Hitler), Japan (Hideki Tojo), Italy (Benito Mussolini)

The Allies: USA (Franklin D. Roosevelt), USSR (Joseph Stalin), UK (Winston Churchill), France (Charles de Gaulle)

WWII: The End and its Consequences

  • Peace talks
  • Potsdam
  • Yalta
  • Creation of the United Nations

Consequences and the Start of the Cold War

  1. The USA and the Soviet Union were no longer allies (mutual mistrust and military/nuclear build-up).
  2. The UK & USA were democratic and capitalist vs. the USSR (communist).
  3. The Soviet Union set up communist systems in Eastern European countries.
  4. Two new superpowers (USA & USSR) each wanted to be the world leader.
  5. Decolonization began (Africa and Asia).
  6. The USA feared that the deteriorating economic situation could lead to the spread of communism in Western Europe (no benefits for America).
  7. The Soviet Union was afraid the USA would reinstate the pre-war (1939) borders, and they thought those territories were essential to prevent further attacks.

Nazi Death Camps

  • Adolf Hitler carried out two policies:
    • To create a German empire (more Lebensraum).
    • To persecute groups he considered inferior races (Jews, Romani people, homosexuals, etc.).
  • Jews were isolated in ghettos, and many died from disease and starvation.
  • From 1942, so many Jews were under Nazi control that they decided to carry out the “Final Solution.”

Wxoe5yBsArS4I5-U2QyIWfmIVEdTi4ZRTXwqW-qGX8G4pbvInuUoF1nWs45sSzgVVXO34zDwMCaUMMWRgSKkMh_4K-F3b6bw1bho_Bvj2B-JWrjje6QFgJaZ8whKLK9IcWG_uuK_

Timeline of WWII

Long-term and short-term causes:

  • 1919: The Treaty of Versailles signed.
  • 1924: Hitler writes “Mein Kampf.”
  • October 1929: The Crash of ’29.
  • January 1933: Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany.
  • March 1933: Hitler begins to rebuild his army in secret.
  • October 1935: Abyssinia was invaded.
  • March 1936: Rhineland is re-occupied.
  • November 1936: Rome-Berlin Axis: Hitler-Mussolini Alliance.
  • April 1937: The Spanish Civil War (Germany rehearses arms and aircraft).
  • March 1938: Annexation between Germany and Austria (Anschluss).
  • September 1938: Munich Agreement.
  • March 1939: Nazis invade Czechoslovakia.
  • August 1939: German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact.
  • October 1939: Invasion of Poland (Trigger Event).