1933 U



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|November 1942 |North Africa |Huge Allied landing forces Germany to retreat to Tunisia, where they are surrounded by |

|Africa | | |British and American forces. |

|Guadalcanal |February 1943 |Solomon Islands, South |Americans take first island in start of island-hopping strategy. |

| | |Pacific | |

|Germans surrender at |February 1943 |Central Russia |Germans surrender after fierce hand-to-hand fighting and huge casualties for each side.|

|Stalingrad | | | |

|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 France|Allies use 4600 ships to invade German-held France. Suffering heavy casualties, the |

| | | |Allies were able to retake Paris in August. |

|Battle of Leyte Gulf |October 1944 |Pacific east of |60 Japanese ships in largest naval battle in history. |

| | |Philippines | |

|Battle of the Bulge |December 1944 |French-German-Belgian |German counteroffensive almost succeeds in retaking Belgium but is crushed with Allied |

| | |border |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 Japan |Fighting from caves and bunkers, Japanese inflict 80,000 losses on Americans. Over 30 |

| |1945 | |American ships are sunk by Japanese suicide missions. |

|Gen. MacArthur retakes |July 1945 |Philippine Islands |After Manila's fall to Americans in May, Japanese surrender here after inflicting |

|Philippines | | |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, 1945|Tokyo Bay |Japan surrenders with one term: the emperor must retain his throne. |

Feldmeth, Greg D. "U.S. History Resources" (31 March 1998).

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