Pedro Lilienfeld

This timeline is presented to help in setting the stage for the events discussed in subsequent essays.

• September 1, 1939: Germany invades Poland
• September 3, 1939: Britain and France declare war on Germany
• September 17, 1939: Soviet Union invades Poland from the east
• September 27-29, 1939: Poland surrenders.
• November 30, 1939: Soviet Union invades Finland 
• April10-June 22, 1940: Germany occupies Denmark and Norway
• May 10-June 22, 1940: Germany launches blitzkrieg against Holland, Belgium and France
• June 10, 1940: Italy enters war 
• June 21, 1940: Italy invades southern France
• June 28, 1940: Soviet Union takes Bessarabia and northern half of Bukovina
• June 14-August 6, 1940: Soviet Union occupies the Baltic States
• June 14, 1940: Paris occupied by German troops
• June 22, 1940: France surrenders to Germany
• July 10-October 31, 1940: Battle of Britain air war
• September 13, 1940: Italy invades British-controlled Egypt
• September 27, 1940: Germany, Italy and Japan sign Tripartite Pact
• October, 1940: Italy invades Greece
• November, 1940: Slovakia, Hungary and Romania join the Axis
• February, 1941: Germany sends Africa Corps to North Africa to reinforce faltering Italians
• March 1, 1941: Bulgaria joins the Axis
• April 6, 1941: Germany, Italy, Hungary and Bulgaria invade Yugoslavia.
• June 22, 1941: Germany and Axis partners invade Soviet Union
• December 6, 1941: Soviet counteroffensive drives Germans from Moscow suburbs
• December 7, 1941: Japan bombs Pearl Harbor
• December 8, 1941: United States declares war on Japan, entering World War II. 
• December 11-13, 1941: Germany and Axis partners declare war on United States
• October 23-24, 1942: British troops defeat Germans and Italians at El Alamein in Egypt.
• November 11, 1942: Germany occupies southern (Vichy) France
• November 23, 1942-February 2, 1943: Soviet counterattack in Stalingrad and German 6th Army surrender.
• July 10, 1943: US and British troops land in Sicily
• July 25, 1943: Fascist Grand Council deposes Mussolini. Marshall Badoglio forms new Italian government
• September 8, 1943: Germany sizes control of Rome and northern Italy and restores Mussolini’s regime
• September 9, 1943: Allied troops land in Salerno near Naples
• November 6, 1943: Soviet troops liberate Kiev
• January 22, 1944: Allied troops land just south of Rome
• March 19, 1944: Germany occupies Hungary
• June 4, 1944: Allied troops liberate Rome
• June 6, 1944: British and US troops successfully land on Normandy beaches of France, opening a second front against Germany
• August 15-Sept.14,1944: Allied forces land in southern France near Nice
• August 25, 1944: French forces supported by Allied troops enter Paris liberating the city
• September 12, 1944: Finland concludes armistice with Soviet Union and leaves Axis partnership
• October 20, 1944: US troops land in Philippines
• December 16, 1944: Germany launches final offensive in the west, the Battle of the Bulge, but by January 1, 1945 the Germans are in retreat
• January 12, 1945: Soviets liberate Warsaw and Krakow
• February 19-March 26, 1945: Battle of Iwo Jima and capture of the island by US forces
• March7, 1945: US troops cross the Rhine river 
• April 12, 1945: Franklin D. Roosevelt dies and Harry Truman sworn in
• April 16, 1945: Soviets launch final offensive and encircle Berlin
• April 30, 1945: Hitler commits suicide
• May 7, 1945: Germany surrenders
• August 6, 1945: The US drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima
• August 8, 1945: Soviet Union declares war on Japan
• August 9, 1945: The US drops atomic bomb on Nagasaki.
• September 2, 1945: Japan surrenders, ending World War II