1933
January 30 – Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany.
February 27 – The German Reichstag burns.
March 12 – First concentration camp opened at Oranienburg outside Berlin.
March 23 – Enabling Act gives Hitler dictatorial power.
April 1 – Nazi boycott of Jewish owned shops.
May 10 – Nazis burn books in Germany.
In June – Nazis open Dachau concentration camp.
July 14 – Nazi Party declared Germany’s only political party.
October 14 – Germany quits the League of Nations.
1934
June 30 – The Nazi “Night of the Long Knives.”
July 25 – Nazis murder Austrian Chancellor Dollfuss.
August 2 – German President Hindenburg dies.
August 19 – Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany.
1935
March 16 – Hitler violates the Treaty of Versailles by introducing military conscription.
September 15 – German Jews stripped of rights by Nuremberg Race Laws.
1936
March 7 – German troops occupy the Rhineland.
May 9 – Mussolini’s Italian forces take Ethiopia.
July 18 – Civil war erupts in Spain.
August 1 – Olympic games begin in Berlin.
October 1 – Franco declared head of Spanish State.
1937
June 11 – Soviet leader Josef Stalin begins a purge of Red Army generals.
November 5 – Hitler reveals war plans during Hossbach Conference.
1938
March 12/13 – Germany announces ‘Anschluss’ (union) with Austria.
August 12 – German military mobilizes.
September 30 – British Prime Minister Chamberlain appeases Hitler at Munich.
October 15 – German troops occupy the Sudetenland; Czech government resigns.
November 9/10 – Kristallnacht – The Night of Broken Glass.
1939
January 30, 1939 – Hitler threatens Jews during Reichstag speech.
March 15/16 – Nazis take Czechoslovakia.
March 28, 1939 – Spanish Civil war ends.
May 22, 1939 – Nazis sign ‘Pact of Steel’ with Italy.
August 23, 1939 – Nazis and Soviets sign Pact.
August 25, 1939 – Britain and Poland sign a Mutual Assistance Treaty.
August 31, 1939 – British fleet mobilizes; Civilian evacuations begin from London.
September 1, 1939 – Nazis invade Poland.
September 3, 1939 – Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declare war on Germany.
September 4, 1939 – British Royal Air Force attacks the German Navy.
September 5, 1939 – United States proclaims its neutrality; German troops cross the Vistula River in Poland.
September 10, 1939 – Canada declares war on Germany; Battle of the Atlantic begins.
September 17, 1939 – Soviets invade Poland.
September 27, 1939 – Warsaw surrenders to Nazis.
September 29, 1939 – Nazis and Soviets divide up Poland.
November 8, 1939 – Assassination attempt on Hitler fails.
November 30, 1939 – Soviets attack Finland.
December 14, 1939 – Soviet Union expelled from the League of Nations.
1940
January 8, 1940 – Rationing begins in Britain.
March 12, 1940 – Finland signs a peace treaty with Soviets.
March 16, 1940 – Germans bomb Scapa Flow naval base near Scotland.
April 9, 1940 – Nazis invade Denmark and Norway.
May 10, 1940 – Nazis invade France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; Winston Churchill becomes British Prime Minister.
May 15, 1940 – Holland surrenders to the Nazis.
May 26, 1940 – Evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk begins.
May 28, 1940 – Belgium surrenders to the Nazis.
June 3, 1940 – Germans bomb Paris; Dunkirk evacuation ends.
June 10, 1940 – Norway surrenders to the Nazis; Italy declares war on Britain and France.
June 14, 1940 – Germans enter Paris.
June 16, 1940 – Marshal Pétain becomes French Prime Minister.
June 18, 1940 – Hitler and Mussolini meet in Munich; Soviets begin occupation of the Baltic States.
June 22, 1940 – France signs an armistice with Nazi Germany.
June 23, 1940 – Hitler tours Paris.
June 28, 1940 – Britain recognizes General Charles de Gaulle as the Free French leader.
July 1, 1940 – German U-boats attack merchant ships in the Atlantic.
July 5, 1940 – French Vichy government breaks off relations with Britain.
July 10, 1940 – Battle of Britain begins.
July 23, 1940 – Soviets take Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
August 3-19 – Italians occupy British Somaliland in East Africa.
August 13, 1940 – German bombing offensive against airfields and factories in England.
August 15, 1940 – Air battles and daylight raids over Britain.
August 17, 1940 – Hitler declares a blockade of the British Isles.
August 23/24 – First German air raids on Central London.
August 25/26 – First British air raid on Berlin.
September 3, 1940 – Hitler plans Operation Sea Lion (the invasion of Britain).
September 7, 1940 – German Blitz against Britain begins.
September 13, 1940 – Italians invade Egypt.
September 15, 1940 – Massive German air raids on London, Southampton, Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool and Manchester.
September 16, 1940 – United States military conscription bill passed.
September 27, 1940 – Tripartite (Axis) Pact signed by Germany, Italy and Japan.
October 7, 1940 – German troops enter Romania.
October 12, 1940 – Germans postpone Operation Sea Lion until Spring of 1941.
October 28, 1940 – Italy invades Greece.
November 5, 1940 – Roosevelt re-elected as U.S. president.
November 10/11 – Torpedo bomber raid cripples the Italian fleet at Taranto, Italy.
November 14/15 – Germans bomb Coventry, England.
November 20, 1940 – Hungary joins the Axis Powers.
November 22, 1940 – Greeks defeat the Italian 9th Army.
November 23, 1940 – Romania joins the Axis Powers.
December 9/10 – British begin a western desert offensive in North Africa against the Italians.
December 29/30 – Massive German air raid on London.
1940
January 8, 1940 – Rationing begins in Britain.
March 12, 1940 – Finland signs a peace treaty with Soviets.
March 16, 1940 – Germans bomb Scapa Flow naval base near Scotland.
April 9, 1940 – Nazis invade Denmark and Norway.
May 10, 1940 – Nazis invade France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; Winston Churchill becomes British Prime Minister.
May 15, 1940 – Holland surrenders to the Nazis.
May 26, 1940 – Evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk begins.
May 28, 1940 – Belgium surrenders to the Nazis.
June 3, 1940 – Germans bomb Paris; Dunkirk evacuation ends.
June 10, 1940 – Norway surrenders to the Nazis; Italy declares war on Britain and France.
June 14, 1940 – Germans enter Paris.
June 16, 1940 – Marshal Pétain becomes French Prime Minister.
June 18, 1940 – Hitler and Mussolini meet in Munich; Soviets begin occupation of the Baltic States.
June 22, 1940 – France signs an armistice with Nazi Germany.
June 23, 1940 – Hitler tours Paris.
June 28, 1940 – Britain recognizes General Charles de Gaulle as the Free French leader.
July 1, 1940 – German U-boats attack merchant ships in the Atlantic.
July 5, 1940 – French Vichy government breaks off relations with Britain.
July 10, 1940 – Battle of Britain begins.
July 23, 1940 – Soviets take Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
August 3-19 – Italians occupy British Somaliland in East Africa.
August 13, 1940 – German bombing offensive against airfields and factories in England.
August 15, 1940 – Air battles and daylight raids over Britain.
August 17, 1940 – Hitler declares a blockade of the British Isles.
August 23/24 – First German air raids on Central London.
August 25/26 – First British air raid on Berlin.
September 3, 1940 – Hitler plans Operation Sea Lion (the invasion of Britain).
September 7, 1940 – German Blitz against Britain begins.
September 13, 1940 – Italians invade Egypt.
September 15, 1940 – Massive German air raids on London, Southampton, Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool and Manchester.
September 16, 1940 – United States military conscription bill passed.
September 27, 1940 – Tripartite (Axis) Pact signed by Germany, Italy and Japan.
October 7, 1940 – German troops enter Romania.
October 12, 1940 – Germans postpone Operation Sea Lion until Spring of 1941.
October 28, 1940 – Italy invades Greece.
November 5, 1940 – Roosevelt re-elected as U.S. president.
November 10/11 – Torpedo bomber raid cripples the Italian fleet at Taranto, Italy.
November 14/15 – Germans bomb Coventry, England.
November 20, 1940 – Hungary joins the Axis Powers.
November 22, 1940 – Greeks defeat the Italian 9th Army.
November 23, 1940 – Romania joins the Axis Powers.
December 9/10 – British begin a western desert offensive in North Africa against the Italians.
December 29/30 – Massive German air raid on London.
1941
January 22, 1941 – Tobruk in North Africa falls to the British and Australians.
February 11, 1941 – British forces advance into Italian Somaliland in East Africa.
February 12, 1941 – German General Erwin Rommel arrives in Tripoli, North Africa.
February 14, 1941 – First units of German ‘Afrika Korps’ arrive in North Africa.
March 7, 1941 – British forces arrive in Greece.
March 11, 1941 – President Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act.
March 27, 1941 – A coup in Yugoslavia overthrows the pro-Axis government.
April 3, 1941 – Pro-Axis regime set up in Iraq.
April 6, 1941 – Nazis invade Greece and Yugoslavia.
April 14, 1941 – Rommel attacks Tobruk.
April 17, 1941 – Yugoslavia surrenders to the Nazis.
April 27, 1941 – Greece surrenders to the Nazis.
May 1, 1941 – German attack on Tobruk is repulsed.
May 10, 1941 – Deputy Führer Rudolph Hess flies to Scotland.
May 10/11 – Heavy German bombing of London; British bomb Hamburg.
May 15, 1941 – Operation Brevity begins (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 invade Syria and Lebanon.
June 14, 1941 – United States freezes German and Italian assets in America.
June 22, 1941 – Germany attacks Soviet Union as Operation Barbarossa begins.
June 28, 1941 – Germans capture Minsk.
July 3, 1941 – Stalin calls for a scorched earth policy.
July 10, 1941 – Germans cross the River Dnieper in the Ukraine.
July 12, 1941 – Mutual Assistance agreement between British and Soviets.
July 14, 1941 – British occupy Syria.
July 26, 1941 – Roosevelt freezes Japanese assets in United States and suspends relations.
July 31, 1941 – Göring instructs Heydrich to prepare for the Final Solution.
August 1, 1941 – United States announces an oil embargo against aggressor states.
August 14, 1941 – Roosevelt and Churchill announce the Atlantic Charter.
August 20, 1941 – Nazi siege of Leningrad begins.
September 1, 1941 – Nazis order Jews to wear yellow stars.
September 3, 1941 – First experimental use of gas chambers at Auschwitz.
September 19, 1941 – Nazis take Kiev.
September 29, 1941 – Nazis murder 33,771 Jews at Kiev.
October 2, 1941 – Operation Typhoon begins (German advance on Moscow).
October 16, 1941 – Germans take Odessa.
October 24, 1941 – Germans take Kharkov.
October 30, 1941 – Germans reach Sevastopol.
November 13, 1941 – British aircraft carrier Ark Royal is sunk off Gibraltar by a U-boat.
November 20, 1941 – Germans take Rostov.
November 27, 1941 – Soviet troops retake Rostov.
December 5, 1941 – German attack on Moscow is abandoned.
December 6, 1941 – Soviet Army launches a major counter-offensive around Moscow.
December 7, 1941 – Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor; Hitler issues the Night and Fog decree.
December 8, 1941 – United States and Britain declare war on Japan.
December 11, 1941 – Hitler declares war on the United States.
December 16, 1941 – Rommel begins a retreat to El Agheila in North Africa.
December 19, 1941 – Hitler takes complete control of the German Army.
1942
January 1, 1942 – Declaration of the United Nations signed by 26 Allied nations.
January 13, 1942 – Germans begin a U-boat offensive along east coast of USA.
January 20, 1942 – SS Leader Heydrich holds the Wannsee Conference to coordinate the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question.”
January 21, 1942 – Rommel’s counter-offensive from El Agheila begins.
January 26, 1942 – First American forces arrive in Great Britain.
April 23, 1942 – German air raids begin against cathedral cities in Britain.
May 8, 1942 – German summer offensive begins in the Crimea.
May 26, 1942 – Rommel begins an offensive against the Gazala Line.
May 27, 1942 – SS Leader Heydrich attacked in Prague.
May 30, 1942 – First thousand-bomber British air raid (against Cologne).
June 5, 1942 – Germans besiege Sevastopol.
June 10, 1942 – Nazis liquidate Lidice in reprisal for Heydrich’s assassination.
June 21, 1942 – Rommel captures Tobruk.
June 25, 1942 – General Dwight D. Eisenhower arrives in London.
June 30, 1942 – Rommel reaches El Alamein near Cairo, Egypt.
July 1-30 – First Battle of El Alamein.
July 3, 1942 – Germans take Sevastopol.
July 5, 1942 – Soviet resistance in the Crimea ends.
July 9, 1942 – Germans begin a drive toward Stalingrad in the USSR.
July 22, 1942 – First deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto to concentration camps; Treblinka extermination camp opened.
August 7, 1942 – British General Bernard Montgomery takes command of Eighth Army in North Africa.
August 12, 1942 – Stalin and Churchill meet in Moscow.
August 17, 1942 – First all-American air attack in Europe.
August 23, 1942 – Massive German air raid on Stalingrad.
September 2, 1942 – Rommel driven back by Montgomery in the Battle of Alam Halfa.
September 13, 1942 – Battle of Stalingrad begins.
October 5, 1942 – A German eyewitness observes SS mass murder.
October 18, 1942 – Hitler orders the execution of all captured British commandos.
November 1, 1942 – Operation Supercharge (Allies break Axis lines at El Alamein).
November 8, 1942 – Operation Torch begins (U.S. invasion of North Africa).
November 11, 1942 – Germans and Italians invade unoccupied Vichy France.
November 19, 1942 – Soviet counter-offensive at Stalingrad begins.
December 2, 1942 – Professor Enrico Fermi sets up an atomic reactor in Chicago.
December 13, 1942 – Rommel withdraws from El Agheila.
December 16, 1942 – Soviets defeat Italian troops on the River Don in the USSR.
December 17, 1942 – British Foreign Secretary Eden tells the British House of Commons of mass executions of Jews by Nazis; U.S. declares those crimes will be avenged.
December 31, 1942 – Battle of the Barents Sea between German and British ships.
1943
January 2/3 – Germans begin a withdrawal from the Caucasus.
January 10, 1943 – Soviets begin an offensive against the Germans in Stalingrad.
January 14-24 – Casablanca conference between Churchill and Roosevelt. During the conference, Roosevelt announces the war can end only with “unconditional German surrender.”
January 23, 1943 – Montgomery’s Eighth Army takes Tripoli.
January 27, 1943 – First bombing raid by Americans on Germany (at Wilhelmshaven).
February 2, 1943 – Germans surrender at Stalingrad in the first big defeat of Hitler’s armies.
February 8, 1943 – Soviet troops take Kursk.
February 14-25 – Battle of Kasserine Pass between the U.S. 1st Armored Division and German Panzers in North Africa.
February 16, 1943 – Soviets re-take Kharkov.
February 18, 1943 – Nazis arrest White Rose resistance leaders in Munich.
March 2, 1943 – Germans begin a withdrawal from Tunisia, Africa.
March 15, 1943 – Germans re-capture Kharkov.
March 16-20 – Battle of Atlantic climaxes with 27 merchant ships sunk by German U-boats.
March 20-28 – Montgomery’s Eighth Army breaks through the Mareth Line in Tunisia.
April 6/7 – Axis forces in Tunisia begin a withdrawal toward Enfidaville as American and British forces link.
April 19, 1943 – Waffen-SS attacks Jewish resistance in the Warsaw ghetto.
May 7, 1943 – Allies take Tunisia.
May 13, 1943 – German and Italian troops surrender in North Africa.
May 16, 1943 – Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto ends.
May 16/17 – British air raid on the Ruhr.
May 22, 1943 – Dönitz suspends U-boat operations in the North Atlantic.
June 10, 1943 – ‘Pointblank’ directive to improve Allied bombing strategy issued.
June 11, 1943 – Himmler orders the liquidation of all Jewish ghettos in Poland.
July 5, 1943 – Germans begin their last offensive against Kursk.
July 9/10 – Allies land in Sicily.
July 19, 1943 – Allies bomb Rome.
July 22, 1943 – Americans capture Palermo, Sicily.
July 24, 1943 – British bombing raid on Hamburg.
July 25/26 – Mussolini arrested and the Italian Fascist government falls; Marshal Pietro Badoglio takes over and negotiates with Allies.
July 27/28 – Allied air raid causes a firestorm in Hamburg.
August 12-17 – Germans evacuate Sicily.
August 17, 1943 – American daylight air raids on Regensburg and Schweinfurt in Germany; Allies reach Messina, Sicily.
August 23, 1943 – Soviet troops recapture Kharkov.
September 8, 1943 – Italian surrender to Allies is announced.
September 9, 1943 – Allied landings at Salerno and Taranto.
September 11, 1943 – Germans occupy Rome.
September 12, 1943 – Germans rescue Mussolini.
September 23, 1943 – Mussolini re-establishes a Fascist government.
October 1, 1943 – Allies enter Naples, Italy.
October 13, 1943 – Italy declares war on Germany; Second American air raid on Schweinfurt.
November 6, 1943 – Russians recapture Kiev in the Ukraine.
November 18, 1943 – Large British air raid on Berlin.
November 28, 1943 – Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin meet at Teheran.
December 24-26 – Soviets launch offensives on the Ukrainian front.
1944
January 6, 1944 – Soviet troops advance into Poland.
January 17, 1944 – First attack toward Cassino, Italy.
January 22, 1944 – Allies land at Anzio in Italy.
January 27, 1944 – Leningrad relieved after a 900-day siege.
February 15-18 – Allies bomb the monastery at Monte Cassino.
February 16, 1944 – Germans counter-attack against the Anzio beachhead.
March 4, 1944 – Soviet troops begin an offensive on the Belorussian front; First major daylight bombing raid on Berlin by the Allies.
March 15, 1944 – Second Allied attempt to capture Monte Cassino begins.
March 18, 1944 – British drop 3000 tons of bombs during an air raid on Hamburg, Germany.
April 8, 1944 – Soviet troops begin an offensive to liberate Crimea.
May 9, 1944 – Soviet troops recapture Sevastopol.
May 11, 1944 – Allies attack the Gustav Line south of Rome.
May 12, 1944 – Germans surrender in the Crimea.
May 15, 1944 – Germans withdraw to the Adolf Hitler Line.
May 25, 1944 – Germans retreat from Anzio.
June 5, 1944 – Allies enter Rome.
June 6, 1944 – D-Day landings on the northern coast of France.
June 9, 1944 – Soviet offensive against the Finnish front begins.
June 10, 1944 – Nazis liquidate the town of Oradour-sur-Glane in France.
June 13, 1944 – First German V-1 rocket attack on Britain.
June 22, 1944 – Operation Bagration begins (the Soviet summer offensive).
June 27, 1944 – U.S. troops liberate Cherbourg, France.
July 3, 1944 – ‘Battle of the Hedgerows’ in Normandy; Soviets capture Minsk.
July 9, 1944 – British and Canadian troops capture Caen, France.
July 18, 1944 – U.S. troops reach St. Lô, France.
July 20, 1944 – Assassination attempt by German Army officers against Hitler fails.
July 24, 1944 – Soviet troops liberate first concentration camp at Majdanek.
July 25-30 – Operation Cobra (U.S. troops break out west of St. Lô).
July 28, 1944 – Soviet troops take Brest-Litovsk. U.S. troops take Coutances.
August 1, 1944 – Polish Home Army uprising against Nazis in Warsaw begins; U.S. troops reach Avranches.
August 4, 1944 – Anne Frank and family arrested by the Gestapo in Amsterdam, Holland.
August 7, 1944 – Germans begin a major counter-attack toward Avranches.
August 15, 1944 – Operation Dragoon begins (the Allied invasion of Southern France).
August 19, 1944 – Resistance uprising in Paris.
August 19/20 – Soviet offensive in the Balkans begins with an attack on Romania.
August 20, 1944 – Allies encircle Germans in the Falaise Pocket.
August 25, 1944 – Liberation of Paris.
August 29, 1944 – Slovak uprising begins.
August 31, 1944 – Soviet troops take Bucharest.
September 1-4 – Verdun, Dieppe, Artois, Rouen, Abbeville, Antwerp and Brussels liberated by Allies.
September 4, 1944 – Finland and the Soviet Union agree to a cease-fire.
September 13, 1944 – U.S. troops reach the Siegfried Line in western Germany.
September 17, 1944 – Operation Market Garden begins (Allied airborne assault on Holland).
September 26, 1944 – Soviet troops occupy Estonia.
October 2, 1944 – Warsaw Uprising ends as the Polish Home Army surrenders to the Germans.
October 10-29 – Soviet troops capture Riga.
October 14, 1944 – Allies liberate Athens; Rommel commits suicide.
October 21, 1944 – Massive German surrender at Aachen, Germany.
October 30, 1944 – Last use of gas chambers at Auschwitz.
November 20, 1944 – French troops drive through the ‘Beffort Gap’ to reach the Rhine.
November 24, 1944 – French capture Strasbourg.
December 4, 1944 – Civil War in Greece; Athens placed under martial law.
December 16-27 – Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes.
December 17, 1944 – Waffen-SS murder 81 U.S. POWs at Malmedy.
December 26, 1944 – Patton relieves Bastogne.
December 27, 1944 – Soviet troops besiege Budapest.
1945
January 1-17 – Germans withdraw from the Ardennes.
January 16, 1945 – U.S. 1st and 3rd Armies link up after a month long separation during the Battle of the Bulge.
January 17, 1945 – Soviet troops capture Warsaw, Poland.
January 26, 1945 – Soviet troops liberate Auschwitz.
February 4-11 – Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin meet at Yalta.
February 13/14 – Dresden is destroyed by a firestorm after Allied bombing raids.
March 6, 1945 – Last German offensive of the war begins to defend oil fields in Hungary.
March 7, 1945 – Allies take Cologne and establish a bridge across the Rhine at Remagen.
March 30, 1945 – Soviet troops capture Danzig.
In April – Allies discover stolen Nazi art and wealth hidden in German salt mines.
April 1, 1945 – U.S. troops encircle Germans in the Ruhr; Allied offensive in northern Italy.
April 12, 1945 – Allies liberate Buchenwald and Belsen concentration camps; President Roosevelt dies. Harry Truman becomes President.
April 16, 1945 – Soviet troops begin their final attack on Berlin; Americans enter Nuremberg.
April 18, 1945 – German forces in the Ruhr surrender.
April 21, 1945 – Soviets reach Berlin.
April 28, 1945 – Mussolini is captured and hanged by Italian partisans; Allies take Venice.
April 29, 1945 – U.S. 7th Army liberates Dachau.
April 30, 1945 – Adolf Hitler commits suicide.
May 2, 1945 – German troops in Italy surrender.
May 7, 1945 – Unconditional surrender of all German forces to Allies.
May 8, 1945 – V-E (Victory in Europe) Day.
May 9, 1945 – Hermann Göring is captured by members of the U.S. 7th Army.
May 23, 1945 – SS-Reichsführer Himmler commits suicide; German High Command and Provisional Government imprisoned.
June 5, 1945 – Allies divide up Germany and Berlin and take over the government.
June 26, 1945 – United Nations Charter is signed in San Francisco.
July 1, 1945 – American, British, and French troops move into Berlin.
July 16, 1945 – First U.S. atomic bomb test; Potsdam Conference begins.
July 26, 1945 – Atlee succeeds Churchill as British Prime Minister.
August 6, 1945 – First atomic bomb dropped, on Hiroshima, Japan.
August 8, 1945 – Soviets declares war on Japan and invade Manchuria.
August 9, 1945 – Second atomic bomb dropped, on Nagasaki, Japan.
August 14, 1945 – Japanese agree to unconditional surrender.
September 2, 1945 – Japanese sign the surrender agreement; V-J (Victory over Japan) Day.
October 24, 1945 – United Nations is born.