Summary Timeline of World War II History

I’ve always wanted to see a summary timeline of the significant events that occurred between 1933 to 1945, related to the great war of the 20th century.  I researched various web sites and put this timeline together where it highlights concurrent events in the European theatre, Pacific theatre, as well as the history happening in the US.  Think of it as a perspective of an American citizen observing what is happening in the world when watching Movietone News reels or reading their local newspaper.

Note: each event has a hyperlink to enable you to quickly and selectively “drill-down” into greater detail.  In addition, I’ve inserted an excellent YouTube video at the end that provides a geographical perspective.

1933

• Jan 30, 1933 – Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany.
• Mar 5, 1933 – Roosevelt declares a Bank Holiday during the depression.
• Apr 3, 1933 – Nazi boycott of Jewish owned shops.
• Oct 17, 1933 – Albert Einstein arrives in the United States
• Dec 5, 1933 – The 21st Amendment is passed in US, ending prohibition.

1934

• Jan 1, 1934 – Nazi Germany passes the Eugenics Law.
• Mar 1, 1934 – Migration of young German Jews to Palestine.
• Jul  25, 1934 – The Nazis assassinate Austrian Chancellor.
• Aug 19, 1934 – Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany.

1935

• Feb 26, 1935 – Adolf Hitler orders the creation of the Luftwaffe.
• Aug 14, 1935 – The Social Security Act is passed by US Congress.
• Aug 31, 1935 – United States passes the first of its Neutrality Acts.
• Sep 15, 1935 – German Jews stripped of rights by Nuremberg Race Laws.

1936

• Apr 15, 1936 – Arab riots in Mandatory Palestine.
• Mar 7, 1936 – German troops occupy the Rhineland.
• May 9, 1936  – Mussolini’s Italian forces take Ethiopia.
• Jun 28, 1936  – A Japanese puppet state is formed in northern China.
• Jul 18, 1936  – Civil war erupts in Spain.
• Aug 1, 1936  – Olympic games begin in Berlin.
• Dec 1, 1936  – Thousands of Jews emigrate to Palestine.

1937

• Mar 18, 1937 – Spanish Civil War Italian forces defeated.
• May 6, 1937 – The German airship Hindenburg bursts into flames.
• Jun 11, 1937 – Soviet leader Stalin begins a purge of Red Army generals.
• Jul 7, 1937 – Second Chinese-Japanese War begins.
• Nov 8, 1937  – The Nazis open exhibition “The Eternal Jew”.

1938

• Mar 12, 1938 – ‘Anschluss:’ Nazi Germany occupies Austria.
• Jun 25, 1938 – The US National Minimum Wage is signed into law.
• Sep 30, 1938  – British Prime Minister Chamberlain appeases Hitler at Munich.
• Oct 15, 1938  – German troops occupy the Czech Sudetenland.
• Nov 9, 1938  – Kristallnacht – The Night of Broken Glass.

1939  

• Mar 15, 1939 – Nazis take Czechoslovakia.
• Apr 1, 1939 – Spanish Civil War ends with sealing the border with France.
• Jun 4, 1939 – The ship carrying Jewish refugees is turned away from US.
• Aug 2, 1939 – Albert Einstein alerts Roosevelt about A-bomb opportunity.
• Aug 23, 1939  – Nazis and Soviets sign Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
• Sep 1, 1939  – Nazis invade Poland.
• Sep 5, 1939 – The United States declares its neutrality.
• Sep 17, 1939  – Soviets invade Poland.
• Nov 30, 1939  – Soviets attack Finland.

1940  

• Apr 1, 1940 – Nazis invade Denmark, Norway, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
• May 26, 1940 – Evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk begins.
• Jun 14, 1940 – Germans enter Paris.
• June 22, 1940 – France signs an armistice with the Nazis.
• July 10, 1940 – Battle of Britain begins.
• Jul 23, 1940 – Soviets take Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
• Sep 7, 1940 – German Blitz against England begins.
• Sept 1, 1940 – Italians invade Egypt and Greece.
• Dec 29, 1940 – Massive German air raid on London.

1941 

• Feb 14, 1941 – First units of German ‘Afrika Korps’ arrive in North Africa.
• Mar 11, 1941 – The US Lend-Lease Act is approved.
• Apr 6, 1941 – Nazis invade Greece and Yugoslavia.
• Jun 22, 1941 – Germany attacks Soviet Union as Operation Barbarossa begins.
• Sep 3, 1941 – First experimental use of gas chambers at Auschwitz.
• Sep 28, 1941 – Ted Williams ends the season with a 400 batting average.
• Nov 28, 1941 – Grand Mufti of Jerusalem starts collaboration with Hitler.
• Dec 6, 1941 – Soviet Army launches a major counter-offensive around Moscow.
• Dec 7, 1941 – Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor.
• Dec 10, 1941 – Japanese invade the Philippines, Guam, Borneo, Burma, Hong Kong.

1942  

• Jan 26, 1942 – First American forces arrive in Great Britain.
• Feb 19, 1942 – Roosevelt issues order confining 110,000 Japanese Americans
• Mar 11, 1942 – Gen. MacArthur leaves Corregidor and is flown to Australia.
• Apr 10, 1942 – Bataan Death March begins.
• Apr 18, 1942 – Surprise U.S. ‘Doolittle’ B-25 air raid against Tokyo.
• May 8, 1942 – Battle of the Coral Sea defeats Japanese.
• Jun 1, 1942  – Mass murder of Jews by gassing begins at Auschwitz.
• Jun 5, 1942 – Decisive victory for the U.S. in the Battle of Midway.
• Aug 12, 1942 – Stalin and Churchill meet in Moscow.
• Nov 8, 1942 – Operation Torch begins (U.S. invasion of North Africa).
• Dec 2, 1942 – Professor Enrico Fermi sets up an atomic reactor in Chicago.
• Dec 31, 1942 – Japanese withdraw from Guadalcanal.

1943  

• Jan 10, 1943 – Soviets begin an offensive against the Germans in Stalingrad.
• Mar 4, 1943 – U.S. victory over Japanese in the Battle of Bismarck Sea.
• Apr 19, 1943 – Waffen SS attacks Jewish resistance in the Warsaw ghetto.
• Jun 11, 1943 – Himmler orders the liquidation of all Jewish ghettos in Poland.
• Jun 21, 1943 – Race riots in Detroit and Harlem.
• Jul 9, 1943 – Allies land in Sicily.
• Nov 18, 1943 – Large British air raid on Berlin.
• Nov 28, 1943 – Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin meet at Teheran.

1944  

• Jan 22, 1944 – Allies land at Anzio.
• Jun 6, 1944 – D-Day landings.
• Jun 13, 1944 – First German V-1 rocket attack on Britain.
• Jun 15, 1944 – Major US bombing raid on Japan by 47 B-29s.
• Jul 20, 1944 – German assassination attempt on Hitler fails.
• Jul 24, 1944 – Soviet troops liberate first concentration camp at Majdanek.
• Aug 4, 1944 – Anne Frank and family arrested.
• Aug 25, 1944 – Liberation of Paris.
• Sept 17, 1944 – Operation Market Garden begins.
• Oct 11, 1944 – U.S. Air raids against Okinawa.
• Oct 26, 1944 – Battle of Leyte Gulf results in a decisive U.S. Naval victory.
• Dec 27, 1944 – Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes.

1945  

• Jan 26, 1945 – Soviet troops liberate Auschwitz.
• Feb 4, 1945 – Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin meet at Yalta.
• Feb 19, 1945 – U.S. Marines invade Iwo Jima.
• Apr 12, 1945 – President Roosevelt dies. Truman becomes President.
• Apr 28, 1945 – Mussolini is captured and hanged.
• Apr 29, 1945 – U.S. 7th Army liberates Dachau.
• Apr 30, 1945 – Adolf Hitler commits suicide.
• May 7, 1945 – Unconditional surrender of all German forces to Allies.
• Jun 22, 1945 – Japanese resistance ends on Okinawa.
• Jul 10, 1945 – 1,000 bomber raids against Japan begin.
• Aug 6, 1945 – First atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.
• Aug 8, 1945 – Soviets declare war on Japan then invades Manchuria.
• Aug 14, 1945 – Japanese agree to unconditional surrender.
• Oct 24, 1945 – United Nations is born.
• Nov 20, 1945 – Nuremberg war crimes trials begin.