WWII Timeline by Eva Espinoza

1931

7955601 — 2018-04-24 21:44:25 UTC

Japan invades Manchuria Manchuria was rich in iron & coal, which made it a desirable target for attack by the Japanese. After seizing it, Japan's army set up a puppet government. The attack was the first direct challenge to the League of Nations, an organization responsible for keeping peace & preventing another World War.

March 1935

7955601 — 2018-04-24 21:44:49 UTC

Nazis rebuild army
Hitler announced Germany would not obey the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles and he would expand his military forces. The League of Nations issued a mild condemnation but took no action to stop him, which ultimately encouraged Hitler to continue with even more aggressive behavior.

October 1935

7955601 — 2018-04-24 21:46:15 UTC

Italy invades Ethiopia
Though they had successfully resisted Italian attempt at conquest during the 1890s, their weaponry had become obsolete and could not defend them from the tanks and guns Italy had. Once again, the League of Nations did nothing to stop this, and Italy took over Ethiopia and was allowed passage through the Suez Canal.

March 1936

7955601 — 2018-04-24 21:46:51 UTC

Germany invades Rhineland
Though forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles, Hitler reoccupied the Rhineland. Still hesitant to engage in war, France and Britain chose to adopt a policy of appeasement, in which they would give in to Hitler's demands in order to avoid further conflict.

July 1936

7955601 — 2018-04-24 21:47:21 UTC

Axis powers aid Spanish Civil War Army leader, favoring a Facist-style government, joined General Francisco Franco in a revolt that begun a civil war that dragged on for 3 years. Hitler & Mussolini sent troops, tanks, & airplanes to help Franco's forces, which were called the Nationalists. Armed forces of the Republicans received little help abroad. Thus, Franco winning & becoming Spain's Fascist dictator.

1937

7955601 — 2018-04-24 21:47:52 UTC

Japan invades China
After a border incident, Japan invaded China and captured Beijing, the capital, Nanjing, and other northern cities. After the initial invasion, guerilla warfare continued in the conquered areas, with Mao Zedong leading the Chinese guerilla soldiers.

7955601 — 2018-04-24 22:05:20 UTC

Asian/Pacific theatre

7955601 — 2018-04-24 22:05:48 UTC

European theatre

Francisco Franco

7955601 — 2018-04-24 22:09:59 UTC

Franco favored a Fascist-style government. His forces were called the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War & he was aided by Hitler & Mussolini. Early 1939, resistance from Franco's opposition collapsed - Franco became Spain's Fascist dictator.

Benito Mussolini

7955601 — 2018-04-24 22:12:49 UTC

Mussolini vowed to give Italy strong leadership. He founded the Fascist Party in 1919. When he became the leader, he abolished democracy & outlawed all political parties except the Fascists. Mussolini led Italy in conquering Ethiopia. In the early stages of WWII, Mussolini allied himself with Hitler, relying on the German dictator to prop up his leadership during World War II.

September 1, 1939

796088 — 2018-04-25 07:45:09 UTC

Germany invades Poland
After signing the nonaggression pact with Stalin, Hitler went on to conquer Poland, using his new blitzkrieg (lightning war) strategy. It worked - he succeeded in overwhelming his enemies and he was able to annex the western half of Poland.

September 3, 1939

796088 — 2018-04-25 07:51:51 UTC

France and Britain declare war
In response to Hitler's attack on Poland, France and Britain finally got involved and formally declared war on Germany, after a long period of desperately avoiding conflict.

May 1940

796088 — 2018-04-25 07:56:14 UTC

Dunkirk
After sweeping through the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, Hitler sent his forces into France through the Ardennes forest, squeezing through the Maginot Line. Upon reaching France's coast, German forces completely outnumbered the French, and they were forced to retreat to Dunkirk. The Allies were trapped, but the British sent ships across the English Channel to rescue the cornered Allied forces from the German attacks.

June 1940

796088 — 2018-04-25 08:01:38 UTC

France surrenders
Shortly after Dunkirk, the French surrendered and Germany took control of northern France. With a new puppet government in place in Paris, Charles de Gaulle led a government-in-exile in London where he kept the efforts to free France alive until liberation in 1944.

A commonly recognized emblem of the Free French:

The Battle of Britain: 1940-1941

796088 — 2018-04-25 08:06:52 UTC

With the exception of the USSR, Britain was now Hitler's sole target. Hitler sent the Luftwaffe, Germany's air force, to bomb Britain's aircraft factories as well as big cities. His intent was to damage British morale, but he was not successful. The Royal Air Force (RAF) hit back, and, with the help of the radar (a tracking device used to detect incoming planes) and the Enigma (a code-breaking device), Britain held its own until 1941, when Hitler eventually gave up and turned his attention to Eastern Europe. This lengthy battle showed the Allies that it was possible to effectively deter Hitler's attacks.

1941

7955841 — 2018-04-25 16:03:07 UTC

Germany invades Soviet Union
- Hitler regarded the Soviet Union non aggression act. Because of this, Hitler decided to attack the Soviet Union. He launched tanks which the Soviet Union was not prepared for. The Soviet Union had a strong and large army but were not well equipped or trained. Germany put Leningrad under siege. Hitler forced a surrender when he starved the citizens which resulted in about one million people dead in Leningrad.

1941

7955841 — 2018-04-25 16:08:06 UTC

Pearl Harbor
Japan's naval strategist, Isoroku Yamamoto, saw Hawaii as a threat to Japan and suggested an attack. In an attempt to catch the Allies by surprise, the Japanese bombed Hawaii's Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941. The attack damaged a number of American ships and killed 2300 Americans. This shocking turn of events prompted the US to declare war on Japan.

1944

7955841 — 2018-04-25 16:14:56 UTC

Normandy Invasion (D-Day)
Under the command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Allied forces took down that Axis powers in the largest land and sea invasion in history: Operation Overlord. On June 6, Britain, American, French and Canadian soldiers invaded the beaches of Normandy, France. Within the first hours of battle, the Allies lost thousands of men, but within a month they were able to recover and liberate France, Belgium, and Luxembourg before turning to Germany.

1945

7955841 — 2018-04-25 16:29:19 UTC

Germany Surrenders
By March 1945, Hitler was cornered: 3 million Allied troops approached from the southwest, while 6 million Soviet troops advanced from the east. Too stubborn to face defeat, Hitler and his wife Eva Braun killed themselves while Berlin was being pummeled by artillery fire. A few months later, the Nazis surrendered unconditionally, marking the end of the end of war in Europe (known as V-E Day).

1937-1938

796088 — 2018-04-25 20:51:39 UTC

Anschluss and the Munich Conference
Hitler planned to annex Austria and Czechoslovakia in order to expand his empire (the Third Reich), despite the fact that the Treaty of Versailles prohibited Anschluss, or the union between Austria and Germany. The Czechs refused to give up their land to Hitler, so France and Britain met with Italy and Germany at the Munich Conference (September 1938. There, Neville Chamberlain, Britain's prime minister, decided that appeasement was the best solution to avoid war. The Sudetenland was given to Hitler in exchange for a promise that he respect Czechoslovakia's borders and expand no further.

Eisenhower

7955841 — 2018-04-25 20:52:01 UTC

General Dwight D. Eisenhower served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces and led them in carrying out Operation Overlord. In addition to the famous Normandy invasion, Eisenhower had also previously served as a military general in other parts of the war. Years later, Eisenhower would go on to become the 34th President of the United States.

Winston Churchill

796088 — 2018-04-25 21:03:49 UTC

Though Chamberlain decided to give in to Hitler's demand for the Sudetenland, Winston Churchill disagreed. At the time, Churchill was a member of Parliament (he would go on to become prime minister upon Chamberlain's resignation in 1940), and he felt that it was wrong for Britain to give in to defeat without any protest. He warned that this one incident would not be the end of it, and that to appease someone like Hitler would ultimately encourage further acts of aggression.

Below is a link to Churchill's famous "We shall fight on the beaches" speech in which he insists that Britain will do whatever it takes to survive a war, but they will not surrender.

1943

7955841 — 2018-04-25 21:05:06 UTC

Germany attacks Moscow
Hitler grew impatient of the stalemate in Leningrad, and went on to attack Moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union. Soviet General, George Zhukov, counterattacked, and Hitler's troops began to retreat, for winter was coming. However, Hitler stubbornly continued to fight despite the weather conditions, and 500,000 German lives were lost that winter.
German summer uniforms vs. Russian military uniforms:

1939

796088 — 2018-04-25 21:10:35 UTC

Nazi-Soviet nonaggression pact
On August 23, 1939, Hitler and Stalin signed a pledge never to attack one another. Part of this pact was an agreement that they would split Poland between them.

The Holocaust

796088 — 2018-04-26 07:32:38 UTC

The Holocaust was a program of genocide orchestrated by Hitler which was meant to eventually kill off all Jews, leaving behind only the "pure" and "superior" Aryan race. While Hitler had been slowly and systematically stripping Jews of their rights for years, the event that is often recognized as the beginning of the violent persecution of Jews is Kristallnacht, Night of Broken Glass. On that night, Nazis brutally attacked Jewish homes, synagogues, and businesses, leaving everything in their path destroyed. After that night, Hitler continued isolating and persecuting Jews in Germany, eventually moving into other countries and forcing Jews into concentration camps.

An excerpt from the diary of a young Jew living in a ghetto:
"It is hard to get bread; Jews are driven away from all the “queues.” They are
seized, hauled off to labor, and beaten to a pulp. Hell has caught fire. Gangs
of hooligans pounce on Jewish shops; looters plunder with impunity. Fewer
Jews are visible in the streets; my father and brothers never venture out.
Every knock on the door is terrifying; the slightest noise freezes the blood in
our veins. Violent feelings rage within me... What more will this day bring?
Shrieks, terror, blows, abductions, imprisonment, messengers, humiliation and
disgrace, posters with laws - a sea of posters, white, green, red, yellow, new
ones each day, but always with the same message: Jews are forbidden... to
buy, sell, study, pray, gather, eat, etc., a string of prohibitions with no end!
Would that the night would never end, that we could have some peace, some
balm for the tumult in our hearts..."

Adolf Hitler

796088 — 2018-04-26 07:42:40 UTC

Adolf Hitler led a fascist dictatorship in Germany up until his death at the end of WWII. He came to power legally in 1933, having promised to make Germany strong after the humiliation they faced as a result of WWI. He wrote a memoir by the name of Mein Kampf, in which he bashed the Treaty of Versailles and vowed to overcome it. Additionally, he also set forth for the first time his belief in a superior Aryan race, and that belief would eventually develop into the infamous movement known as the Holocaust.

An Interactive Overview of the Second World War

796088 — 2018-04-27 04:34:16 UTC

By:
Eva Espinoza - research, editing
Larissa McCord - research and visuals
Kyla Orthbandt - research and visuals
Adam Cross - research and visuals

The Eastern Front

796088 — 2018-04-27 04:44:35 UTC

Beginning in 1940, the Axis powers expanded their conquests into North Africa and the Balkans. Encouraged by Hitler's conquest of France, Mussolini moved from France into North Africa. He fought against the British with the help of Erwin Rommel, the leader of Germany's tank force, the Afrika Korps. At the same time, Hitler persuaded Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary to join him, and he eventually conquered Greece and Yugoslavia as well.

Life on the Home Front

796088 — 2018-04-27 05:21:16 UTC

Despite their long period of isolation, America eventually joined the effort to defeat the Axis powers and engaged in a total war. In the US, factories went into wartime production and the entire country worked to manufacture weapons, clothing, and all manner of other items to contribute to the war effort. Despite the increase in productivity, there was a severe shortage of consumer goods, and scarce items like rubber, meat, sugar, and nylon stockings were rationed.
On another note, the bombing of Pearl Harbor coupled with anti-Japan propaganda fueled prejudice against Japanese Americans. It escalated to the point that President Roosevelt relocated Japanese people to camps off the coast, because Japanese people were supposedly a threat to the country.

Below is a chart that shows how US productivity increased as the war carried on:

796088 — 2018-04-27 05:43:21 UTC

1945 - The Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

796088 — 2018-04-27 06:32:15 UTC

Though the war was now over in Europe, the fighting continued in the pacific theatre. US President Harry Truman issued a warning to Japan, threatening them with an atomic bomb if they refused to surrender. They refused, and the US dropped an atomic bomb on the city of HIroshima, causing up to 80,000 deaths upon impact. Days later, another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, and Japan was finally persuaded to surrender, finally ending the war.

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2026-05-05 17:11:14 UTC

something incredible

HITLERRRRRR

2026-05-11 14:49:13 UTC

okay Hitler

2026-05-12 16:58:51 UTC

no he came back to life run

oop

2026-05-13 16:08:47 UTC

2026-05-13 16:09:57 UTC

umm?