Events preceding World War II in Europe

Soon after, the Memel territory which had been separated from Germany in 1920 and annexed by Lithuania was returned to Germany ("heim ins Reich").

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References

v • d • e

World War II

Western Europe · Eastern Europe · Africa · Mediterranean · Asia and the Pacific · Atlantic

Major participants

Timeline

Aspects

To 1945 unless otherwise indicated.
Principal co-belligerents in italics.

Prelude
• Causes
• in Asia
• in Europe

1939
• Invasion of Poland
• Phoney War
• Winter War
• Battle of the Atlantic⁵

1940
• Denmark and Norway
• Battle of France
• Battle of Britain
• Libya and Egypt
• British Somaliland
• Baltic Occupation
• Bessarabia and Bukovina
• Invasion of Indochina
• Invasion of Greece

1941
• East Africa Campaign
• Invasion of Yugoslavia
• Invasion of the USSR
• Middle East campaign
• Siege of Leningrad
• Battle of Moscow
• Attack on Pearl Harbor

1942
• Battle of Midway
• Battle of Stalingrad
• 2nd Battle of El Alamein
• Operation Torch
• Guadalcanal Campaign

1943
• End in Africa
• Battle of Kursk
• Solomon Islands
• Invasion of Sicily
• Invasion of Italy⁵
• Gilbert and Marshall Islands

1944
• Cassino and Anzio
• Invasion of Normandy
• Mariana and Palau Islands
• Operation Bagration
• Battle of the Dnieper
• Warsaw Uprising
• Iassy-Kishinev Operation
• Liberation of Paris
• Operation Market Garden
• Operation Crossbow
• Operation Pointblank
• Battle of Leyte Gulf

1945
• Battle of Iwo Jima
• Battle of Okinawa
• Battle of Berlin
• Germany surrenders
• Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• Japan surrenders

• List of military engagements

• Attacks on North America
• Blitzkrieg
• Comparative military ranks
• Cryptography
• Home front
• Military awards
• Military equipment
• Military production
• Nazi plunder
• Resistance
• Technology
• Total war

Aftermath /consequences
• Effects/Casualties
• Expulsion of Germans
• Operation Paperclip
• Occupation of Germany
• Morgenthau plan
• Territorial changes
• Occupation of Japan
• Franco-Vietnamese War
• Cold War
• in contemporary culture

Civilian impact / atrocities
• Allied war crimes
• German war crimes
• Italian war crimes
• Japanese war crimes
• Soviet war crimes
• The Holocaust
• Bombing of civilians

Allies

Axis

at war from 1937
China

entered 1939
Czechoslovakia
Poland
UK
India
France
Australia
New Zealand
South Africa
Canada

entered 1940
Norway
Belgium
Netherlands
Greece

entered 1941
Yugoslavia
USSR
USA

entered 1942
Mexico
Brazil

entered 1943
Italy

entered 1944
Romania
Bulgaria
Finland

• others

at war from 1937
Japan

entered 1939
Germany
Slovakia

entered 1940
Italy to 1943

entered 1941
Bulgaria to 1944
Croatia
Finland to 1944
Hungary
Iraq to 1941
Romania to 1944

entered 1942
Thailand

entered 1943
RSI

• others

• Allied Leaders
• Axis Leaders
• Commanders

Resistance movements

Austria · Baltic¹ · Czech lands · Denmark · Ethiopia
France · Germany² · Greece · Italy
Jewish² · Korea · Netherlands · Moldavia²
Norway · Poland · Thailand · Soviet Union
Slovakia⁴ · Ukraine³ · Vietnam
Yugoslavia · others

Lists

Category · Topics
Conferences

¹ Anti-Soviet.
² Anti-Soviet and anti-Nazi.
³ Anti-Nazi, anti-Polish, and anti-Soviet.
⁴ Anti-Magyar, anti-Nazi, and anti-Soviet.
⁵ Lasted to May 1945.

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