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World War II Chronology: 1931-1941
WWII causes/build up
treatment of Jews/Holocaust
U.S. involvement
Sept 1931-1932 - Japan invaded Manchuria, China leading to war. attacked Shanghai
1933 opponents to Stalin’s totalitarian government were sent to soviet labor camps
Jan 30 - Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany.
March 23 - Enabling Act gave Hitler dictatorial power.
April 1 - Nazi boycott of Jewish owned shops.
May 10 - Nazis burned books in Germany.
June - Nazis opened Dachau concentration camp.
July 14 - Nazi party declared only party in Germany, mandatory military service, banned strikes, Germany
rearms
Oct 14 - Germany quit the League of Nations.
Nov. - U.S./U.S.S.R. diplomatic relations established
1934 June 30 - The "Night of the Long Knives."
July 25 - Nazis murder Austrian Chancellor Dollfuss.
Aug 2 - German President Hindenburg dies.
Aug 19 - Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany.
1935 March 16 - Hitler violated the Treaty of Versailles by introducing military conscription.
Sept 15 - German Jews stripped of rights by Nuremberg Race Laws. Some Jews flee—strict immigration
policies in U.S. and elsewhere limited immigration
1935-39 – U.S. Neutrality laws in effect
1936 Feb 10 - The German Gestapo was placed above the law.
March 7 - German troops occupied the Rhineland.
May 9 - Mussolini's Italian forces took Ethiopia. U.S. declared neutrality. Germany and U.S. oil companies
supported Italy…lack of support for Ethiopians showed that the action would go unpunished
July 18 - Civil war erupted in Spain. Opinion poll-2/3 Americans had no opinion about Spanish Civil War
Aug 1 - Olympic games began in Berlin. Jesse Owens won 4 gold metals.
Oct 1 - Franco declared head of Spanish State.
Nov - Roosevelt elected to 2nd term
1937 recession in U.S.
June 11 - Soviet leader Stalin begins a purge of Red Army generals, est. 30 million died
Oct 5 - Roosevelt speech warned Americans about the growing danger of war
Nov 5 - Hitler revealed war plans during Hossbach Conference.
Dec - Japan attacked U.S. gunboat
1938 March 12/13 - Germany marched into Austria and announced 'Anschluss' (union) with Austria.
Aug 12 - German military mobilized.
Sept 30 - British Prime Minister Chamberlain appeased Hitler at Munich.
Oct 15 - German troops occupied the Sudetenland; Czech government resigned.
Nov 9/10 - Kristallnacht - The Night of Broken Glass. burned down and destroyed synagogues and businesses
1939 Jan 30, 1939 - Hitler threatened Jews during Reichstag speech.
March 15/16 - Nazis took Czechoslovakia.
March 28, 1939 - Spanish Civil war ended.
April 1939- Hitler issued threats to Poland
May 22, 1939 - Nazis signed 'Pact of Steel' with Italy.
Aug 23, 1939 - Nazis and Soviets signed non-aggression Pact.
Aug 25, 1939 - Britain and Poland signed a Mutual Assistance Treaty.
Aug 31, 1939 - British fleet mobilized; Civilian evacuations began from London.
*Sept 1, 1939 - Nazis invaded Poland.
Sept 3, 1939 - Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declare war on Germany. Roosevelt pledged U.S.
peace
Sept 4, 1939 - British Royal Air Force attacked the German Navy.
Sept 5, 1939 - United States proclaimed neutrality; German troops crossed the Vistula River in Poland.
Sept 10, 1939 - Canada declared war on Germany; Battle of the Atlantic began.
Sept 17, 1939 - Soviets invaded Poland.
Sept 27, 1939 - Warsaw surrendered to Nazis
Sept 29, 1939 - Nazis and Soviets divided up Poland.
Oct - Nazis began euthanasia on sick and disabled in Germany.
Nov 8, 1939 - Assassination attempt on Hitler fails.
Nov 30, 1939 - Soviets attacked Finland, after they refused to have Soviet military bases. Soviet troops also had
invaded Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
Dec 14, 1939 - Soviet Union expelled from the League of Nations.
1940 Jan 8, 1940 - Rationing began in Britain.
March 12, 1940 - Finland signed a peace treaty with Soviets.
March 16, 1940 - Germans bombed Scapa Flow naval base near Scotland.
April 9, 1940 - Nazis invaded Denmark and Norway.
May 10, 1940 - Nazis invaded France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; Winston Churchill becomes
British Prime Minister.
May 15, 1940 - Holland surrendered to the Nazis.
May 26, 1940 - Evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk began.
May 28, 1940 - Belgium surrendered to the Nazis.
June 3, 1940 - Germans bombed Paris; Dunkirk evacuation ended.
June 10, 1940 - Norway surrendered to the Nazis; Italy declared war on Britain and France.
June 14, 1940 - Germans entered Paris.
June 16, 1940 - Marshal Pétain became French Prime Minister.
June 18, 1940 - Hitler and Mussolini met in Munich; Soviets began occupation of the Baltic States.
June 22, 1940 - France signed an armistice with the Nazis.
June 23, 1940 - Hitler toured Paris.
June 28, 1940 - Britain recognized Gen. Charles de Gaulle as the Free French leader.
July 1, 1940 - German U-boats attacked merchant ships in the Atlantic.
July 5, 1940 - French Vichy government broke off relations with Britain.
July 10, 1940 - Battle of Britain began.
July 23, 1940 - Soviets took Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
Aug 3-19 - Italians occupied British Somaliland in East Africa.
Aug 13, 1940 - German bombing offensive against airfields and factories in England.
Aug 15, 1940 - Air battles and daylight raids over Britain.
Aug 17, 1940 - Hitler declared a blockade of the British Isles.
Aug 23/24 - First German air raids on Central London.
Aug 25/26 - First British air raid on Berlin.
Sept 3, 1940 - Hitler planned Operation Sea lion (the invasion of Britain).
Sept 7, 1940 - German Blitz against England began.
Sept 13, 1940 - Italians invaded Egypt.
Sept 15, 1940 - Massive German air raids on London, Southampton, Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool and Manchester.
Sept 16, 1940 - United States military conscription bill passed.
Sept 27, 1940 - Tripartite (Axis) Pact signed by Germany, Italy and Japan.
Oct 7, 1940 - German troops enter Romania.
Oct 12, 1940 - Germans postponed Operation Sea lion until Spring of 1941.
Oct 28, 1940 - Italy invaded Greece.
Nov 5, 1940 - Roosevelt re-elected as U.S. president for an unprecedented 3rd term
Nov 10/11 - A torpedo bomber raid crippled the Italian fleet at Taranto, Italy.
Nov 14/15 - Germans bombed Coventry, England.
Nov 20, 1940 - Hungary joined the Axis Powers.
Nov 22, 1940 - Greeks defeated the Italian 9th Army.
Nov 23, 1940 - Romania joined the Axis Powers.
Dec 9/10 - British began a western desert offensive in North Africa against the Italians.
Dec 29/30 - Massive German air raid on London.
1941 Jan 22, 1941 - Tobruk in North Africa fell to the British and Australians.
Feb 11, 1941 - British forces advanced into Italian Somaliland in East Africa.
Feb 12, 1941 - German General Erwin Rommel arrived in Tripoli, North Africa.
Feb 14, 1941 - First units of German 'Afrika Korps' arrived in North Africa.
March 7, 1941 - British forces arrive in Greece.
March 11, 1941 - President Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease Act.
March 27, 1941 - A coup in Yugoslavia overthrew the pro-Axis government.
April 3, 1941 - Pro-Axis regime was set up in Iraq.
April 6, 1941 - Nazis invaded Greece and Yugoslavia.
April 14, 1941 - Rommel attacked Tobruk.
April 17, 1941 - Yugoslavia surrendered to the Nazis.
April 27, 1941 - Greece surrendered to the Nazis.
May 1, 1941 - German attacked on Tobruk is repulsed.
May 10, 1941 - Deputy Führer Rudolph Hess flew to Scotland.
May 10/11 - Heavy German bombing of London; British bombed Hamburg.
May 15, 1941 - Operation Brevity began (the British counter-attack in Egypt).
May 24, 1941 - Sinking of the British ship Hood by the Bismarck.
May 27, 1941 - Sinking of the Bismarck by the British Navy.
June 4, 1941 - Pro-Allied government installed in Iraq.
June 8, 1941 - Allies invaded Syria and Lebanon.
June 14, 1941 - United States froze German and Italian assets in America.
June 22, 1941 - Germany attacked Soviet Union as Operation Barbarossa began.
In June - Nazi SS Einsatzgruppen began mass murder.
June 28, 1941 - Germans captured Minsk.
July 3, 1941 - Stalin called for a scorched earth policy.
July 10, 1941 - Germans crossed the River Dnieper in the Ukraine.
July 12, 1941 - Mutual Assistance agreement between British and Soviets.
July 14, 1941 - British occupied Syria.
July 26, 1941 - Roosevelt froze Japanese assets in United States and suspended relations.
July 31, 1941 - Göring instructed Heydrich to prepare for the Final Solution.
Aug 1, 1941 - United States announced an oil embargo against aggressor states.
Aug 14, 1941 - Roosevelt and Churchill announced the Atlantic Charter.
Aug 20, 1941 - Nazi siege of Leningrad began.
Sept 1, 1941 - Nazis ordered Jews to wear yellow stars.
Sept 3, 1941 - First experimental use of gas chambers at Auschwitz.
Sept 19, 1941 - Nazis took Kiev.
Sept 29, 1941 - Nazis murdered 33,771 Jews at Kiev.
Oct 2, 1941 - Operation Typhoon began (German advance on Moscow).
Oct 16, 1941 - Germans took Odessa.
Oct 24, 1941 - Germans took Kharkov.
Oct 30, 1941 - Germans reached Sevastopol.
Nov 13, 1941 - British aircraft carrier Ark Royal was sunk off Gibraltar by a U-boat.
Nov 20, 1941 - Germans took Rostov.
Nov 27, 1941 - Soviet troops retook Rostov.
Dec 5, 1941 - German attacked on Moscow is abandoned.
Dec 6, 1941 - Soviet Army launched a major counter-offensive around Moscow.
Dec 7, 1941 - Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor; Hitler issues the Night and Fog decree.
Dec 8, 1941 - United States and Britain declared war on Japan.
Dec 11, 1941 - Germany declared war on the United States.
Copyright © 1996 The History Place™ All Rights Reserved (Adapted)
Event/Battle
Date
Location
Significance
Battle of Coral Sea
May 1942
South Pacific
Carrier-based U.S. planes halt Japanese advance on Australia.
Midway
June 1942
Central Pacific
Threat on Hawaii ended as four Japanese aircraft carriers are sunk.
Allies attack Germans
in North Africa
November
1942
North Africa
Huge Allied landing forces Germany to retreat to Tunisia, where they
are surrounded by British and American forces.
Guadalcanal
February
1943
Solomon Islands,
South Pacific
Americans take first island in start of island-hopping strategy.
Germans surrender at
Stalingrad
February
1943
Central Russia
Germans surrender after fierce hand-to-hand fighting and huge
casualties for each side.
Germans surrender at
Tunisia
May 1943
Tunisia, North
Africa
Over 250,000 German and Italian troops are captured and Allies prepare
to invade Sicily and Italy.
Allies invade Sicily
July 1943
Sicily
In largest amphibious invasion in history, over 250,000 American and
British troops land. Germans and Italians escape to mainland of Italy.
Italy surrenders
September
1943
Italy
Although Italian troops quit fighting Allies, Germans continue in fierce
fighting. Rome finally surrenders on June 4, 1944.
D-Day Invasion
June 6, 1944
Normandy coast of Allies use 4600 ships to invade German-held France. Suffering heavy
France
casualties, the Allies were able to retake Paris in August.
Battle of Leyte Gulf
October 1944
Pacific east of
Philippines
60 Japanese ships in largest naval battle in history.
Battle of the Bulge
December
1944
French-GermanBelgian border
German counteroffensive almost succeeds in retaking Belgium but is
crushed with Allied reinforcements.
Tokyo Bombing Raids
March 1945
Tokyo, Japan
American bombers destroy 250,000 buildings and kill 83,000 in massive
fire-bombing.
Russians take Berlin
April 1945
Berlin, Germany
Russians take German capital after house-to-house fighting. Hitler
commits suicide.
V-E Day
May 7, 1945
Europe
German government issues unconditional surrender to Allied forces.
Okinawa
April to June Southern tip of
1945
Japan
Gen. MacArthur retakes
July 1945
Philippines
Fighting from caves and bunkers, Japanese inflict 80,000 losses on
Americans. Over 30 American ships are sunk by Japanese suicide
missions.
Philippine Islands
After Manila's fall to Americans in May, Japanese surrender here after
inflicting 60,000 American casualties.
Hiroshima
August 6,
1945
Japan
180,000 killed, wounded, or missing after atomic bomb is dropped. Two
days later Soviet Union enters war against Japan.
Nagasaki
August 9,
1945
Japan
Second bomb is dropped after Japanese delay surrender. 80,000 killed
or missing.
V-J Day
September 2,
Tokyo Bay
1945
Japan surrenders with one term: the emperor must retain his throne.
Feldmeth, Greg D. "U.S. History Resources" http://home.earthlink.net/~gfeldmeth/USHistory.html (31 March 1998).