1939:
August 23: Germany and the Soviet Union sign the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact.
September 1: Germany invades Poland, starting World War II.
September 3: Britain and France declare war on Germany.
September: Battle of the Atlantic begins.
1940:
May: Auschwitz is established.
May 10: Germany invades France, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
May 26: Evacuation begins of Allied troops from Dunkirk, France.
June 10: Italy declares war on France and Great Britain.
June 22: France surrenders to Germany.
July 10: Battle of Britain begins.
September 16: The United States begins its first peacetime draft.
1945: February 4: Yalta Conference begins.
February 13: Allies begin bombing Dresden.
February 19: Battle of Iwo Jima begins.
April 1: Battle of Okinawa.
April 12: Franklin D. Roosevelt dies.
April 16: Battle of Berlin begins.
April 28: Mussolini is hanged by Italian partisans.
April 30: Adolf Hitler commits suicide.
May 7: Germany signs an unconditional surrender.
July 17: Potsdam Conference begins.
August 6: The United States drops the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.
August 9: The United States drops a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan.
