1918
NOV 11 --- World War One Armistice signed at Compeigne, France
1919
JUN 28 --- Treaty of Versailles signed
1920
JAN 16 --- League of Nations meets for the first time
1921
JUL 29 --- Adolf Hitler assumes control of National Socialist German Workers (Nazi) Party
1922
OCT 24 --- Benito Mussolini calls for fascist "Blackshirts" to march on Rome
OCT 29 --- Mussolini appointed Premier by King Victor Emmanuel III
1923
NOV 8-9 --- Hitler's Munich Beer Hall Putsch fails
1925
JAN 3 --- Mussolini dismisses Italian parliament, begins to assume dictatorial powers
JUL 18 --- Hitler's autobiography, Mein Kampf, is published
1929
OCT 29 --- Wall Street Stock Market crashes
1931
SEP 18 --- Japanese Army invades Manchuria
1932
NOV 8 --- Franklin Delano Roosevelt elected United States President
1933
JAN 30 --- Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany by President Paul von Hindenburg
FEB 27 --- German Reichstag burns down; communists blamed, arrested.
MAR 23 --- Enabling Act passed by Reichstag; Hitler assumes dictatorial power
JUL 14 --- Nazi Party declared official party of Germany; all other parties banned
OCT 14 --- Germany quits League of Nations
1934
JUN 30 --- Hitler orders murder of SA Chief Ernst Roehm in "Night of the Long Knives"
AUG 2 --- German President Paul von Hindenburg dies
AUG 19 --- Hitler combines the offices of president and chancellor; assumes the title of Fuhrer
1935
MAR 16 --- Military conscription introduced in Germany in violation of Versailles treaty
SEP 15 --- Nuremburg race laws promulgated
OCT 3 --- Italian Army invades Ethiopia
1936
MAR 7 --- German troops remilitarize the Rhineland in violation of Versailles treaty
MAY 9 --- Italian campaign in Ethiopia ends
JUL 17 --- Spanish Civil War breaks out; Hitler and Mussolini send aid to Franco
OCT 1 --- Franco becomes dictator of Spain
OCT 25 --- Rome-Berlin "Axis" alliance formed
1937
JAN 19 --- Japan withdraws from Washington Conference Treaty limiting the size of its navy
MAY 28 --- Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister of England
JUN 11 --- Josef Stalin begins purge of Red Army
JUL 7 --- Full-scale war erupts between China and Japan
1938
MAR 12 --- Germany invades Austria; Anschluss (union) proclaimed
SEP 30 --- Munich conference held to solve Sudeten question
OCT 15 --- German troops occupy Czech Sudetenland
NOV 9-10 --- Kristallnacht (Night of the Broken Glass)
1939
MAR 15-16 --- German troops occupy the rest of Czechoslovakia in violation of Munich Agreement
MAR 28 --- Spanish Civil War ends
AUG 23 --- Nazi-Soviet nonaggression pact signed
SEP 1 --- German Army invades Poland
SEP 3 --- Britain and France declare war on Germany
SEP 17 --- Red Army invades Poland in accordance with Nazi-Soviet pact
SEP 27 --- Warsaw falls to the Nazis
NOV 30 --- Red Army attacks Finland
DEC 14 --- Soviet Union kicked out of League of Nations
1940
MAR 12 --- Finland signs peace treaty with Soviet Union
APR 9 --- German Army invades Denmark and Norway
MAY 10 --- German Army invades France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; Winston Churchill appointed British Prime Minister
MAY 15 --- Holland capitulates to Nazis
MAY 26 --- "Miracle at Dunkirk"
MAY 28 --- Belgium capitulates to Nazis
JUN 10 --- Norway capitulates to Nazis; Italy declares war on Britain and France
JUN 14 --- Nazis take Paris
JUN 22 --- Frances capitulates to Nazis
JUL 10 --- Battle of Britain begins
JUL 23 --- Red Army takes Baltic States of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia
AUG 3 --- Italian Army invades British Somaliland
AUG 13 --- Luftwaffe begins raids on British airfields and aircraft factories
AUG 23-24 --- Off-course German bombers accidentally bomb London
AUG 25-26 --- Royal Air Force mounts reprisal raid against Berlin
SEP 7 --- German "blitz" on British cities begins in earnest
SEP 13 --- Italian Army attacks Egypt
SEP 16 --- Military conscription introduced in United States
SEP 27 --- Tripartite alliance formed between Germany, Italy, and Japan
OCT 7 --- German troops occupy Romania
OCT 28 --- Italian Army attacks Greece
NOV 5 --- Roosevelt re-elected
NOV 10-11 --- RAF raid cripples Italian fleet at Taranto
NOV 20 --- Romania joins Axis
NOV 9-10 --- British counter-attack begins against Italian Army in North Africa
1941
JAN 22 --- British take Tobruk in North Africa from Nazis
FEB 11 --- British Army attacks Italian Somaliland
FEB 12 --- Erwin Rommel assumes command of German Afrika Corps
MAR 7 --- British Army comes to the aid of Greece
MAR 11 --- Lend-Lease Act signed by Roosevelt
APR 6 --- German Army hastily invades Yugoslavia and Greece
APR 17 --- Yugoslavia capitulates to Nazis
APR 27 --- Greece capitulates to Nazis
MAY 10 --- Rudolf Hess flies to Scotland on "peace mission"
MAY 15 --- British counter-attack in Egypt
MAY 24 --- German battleship Bismarck sinks Hood, pride of the Royal Navy
MAY 27 --- Royal Navy sinks Bismarck
JUN 8 --- British Army invades Lebanon and Syria
JUN 22 --- Hitler launches operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union
JUN 28 --- Germans capture Soviet city of Minsk
JUL 3 --- Stalin launches "scorched earth" policy
JUL 31 --- Planning begins for "Final Solution," the systematic destruction of the Jews
AUG 12 --- Atlantic Charter signed by Roosevelt and Churchill
AUG 20 --- German siege of Soviet city of Leningrad begins
SEP 1 --- Jews ordered to wear yellow Star of David
SEP 19 --- Germans capture Soviet city of Kiev
SEP 29 --- German SS mass murders Russian Jews at Kiev
OCT 16 --- Germans capture Soviet city of Odessa
OCT 17 --- Hideki Tojo becomes Prime Minister of Japan
OCT 24 --- Germans capture Soviet city of Kharkov
OCT 30 --- German Army occupies the Crimea
NOV 20 --- Germans capture the Soviet city of Rostov
NOV 27 --- Red Army retakes Rostov
DEC 6 --- Red Army launches major counter-offensive
DEC 7 --- Japanese attack naval base at Pearl Harbor
DEC 8 --- Roosevelt gives "Day of Infamy" speech; United States and Britain declare war on Japan
DEC 11 --- Germany declares war on the United States
DEC 16 --- Rommel's Afrika Corps forced to retreat in North Africa
DEC 19 --- Hitler assumes post of Commander in Chief of the German Army
1942
JAN --- Mass gassing of Jews begins at Auschwitz
JAN 1 --- Allies forge Declaration of the United Nations
JAN 13 --- German U-boats begin sinking ships off American coast in "Operation Drumbeat"
JAN 20 --- Nazis coordinate "Final Solution" efforts at Wannsee Conference
JAN 21 --- Rommel counter-attacks in North Africa
APR --- American citizens of Japanese descent forced into "relocation centers"
MAY 8 --- Germans launch summer offensive in the Crimea
MAY 30 --- Royal Air Forces launches first 1,000 bomber raid on Cologne, Germany
JUN 4 --- Japanese Navy resoundingly defeated at Battle of Midway -- war reaches its turning point in the Pacific; S.S. Leader Rheinhardt Heydrich dies of wounds sustained in partisan attack at Prague
JUN 5 --- German siege of Sevastopol begins
JUN 10 --- Nazis annihilate Czech town of Lidice in retaliation for Heydrich's assassination
JUN 21 --- German Afrika Korps recaptures Tobruk
JUL 3 --- Sevastopol falls to German Army
JUL 5 --- Nazi conquest of Crimea achieved
JUL 9 --- German Army begins push towards Stalingrad
AUG 7 --- General Bernard Montgomery assumes command of British Eighth Army in North Africa
SEP 13 --- German attack on Stalingrad begins
OCT 23 - NOV 3 --- Afrika Korps decisively defeated by British at El Alamein
NOV 8 --- Allied invasion of North Africa begins in "Operation Torch"
NOV 11 --- Axis forces occupy Vichy France
NOV 19 --- Soviet forces encircle German Sixth Army at Stalingrad
DEC 31 --- German and British ships engage in the Battle of the Barents Sea
1943
JAN 2-3 --- German Army retreats from Caucasus
JAN 10 --- Red Army begins siege of German-occupied Stalingrad
JAN 14-23 --- Roosevelt and Churchill meet at Casablanca, issue unconditional surrender demand
JAN 23 --- British forces take Tripoli
JAN 27 --- U.S. Air Force opens daylight bombing campaign with attack on Wilhelmshaven, Germany
FEB 2 --- German Sixth Army at Stalingrad surrenders to the Russians; war in Europe reaches its turning point
FEB 8 --- Red Army takes Kursk
FEB 14-25 --- Battle of Kasserine Pass fought in North Africa between German and U.S. forces
FEB 16 --- Red Army retakes Kharkov
MAR 2 --- Afrika Korps withdraws from Tunisia
MAR 15 --- German Army recaptures Kharkov
MAR 16-20 --- German submarines achieve their largest tonnage total of the war
APR 19 --- S.S. begins "liquidation" of the Warsaw ghetto
MAY 7 --- Allies capture Tunisia
MAY 13 --- Remaining Axis troops in North Africa surrender to Allies
MAY 16-17 --- RAF targets German industry in the Ruhr
MAY 22 --- U-boat operations suspended in the North Atlantic due to steep losses
JUN 11 --- Nazis order destruction of Polish ghettos
JUL 5 --- Largest tank battle in history begins at Kursk
JUL 9-10 --- Allied forces land on Sicily
JUL 22 --- Allied forces take Palermo, Sicily
JUL 25-26 --- Mussolini and the Fascists overthrown
JUL 27-28 --- Allied bombing raid create firestorm in Hamburg, Germany
AUG 12-17 --- Axis forces withdraw from Sicily
AUG 17 --- USAF suffers steep losses in bombing run on ball-bearing plants at Regensburg and Schweinfurt, Germany
AUG 23 --- Red Army retakes Kharkov
SEP 8 --- New Italian government announces Italy's surrender
SEP 9 --- Allied forces land in Salerno and Taranto, Italy
SEP 11 --- German Army occupies Italy
SEP 12 --- Nazi commandos rescue Mussolini
SEP 23 --- Fascist government re-established in Italy
OCT 1 --- Allies take Naples
NOV 6 --- Red Army recaptures Kiev
NOV 28 --- "Big Three" of Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill meet at Tehran
DEC 24-26 --- Soviets begin large offensive in Ukraine
1944
JAN 6 --- Red Army advances into Poland
JAN 22 --- Allied forces land at Anzio, Italy
JAN 27 --- Red Army breaks 900-day siege of Leningrad
JAN 31 --- American forces invade Kwajalein
FEB 16 --- German 14th Army counter-attacks at Anzio
FEB 18-22 --- American forces take Eniwetok
APR 8 --- Red Army begins offensive in the Crimea
MAY 9 --- Soviet troops recapture Sevastopol
MAY 12 --- German forces in the Crimea surrender
JUN 5 --- Allied forces enter Rome
JUN 6 --- D-Day: invasion of Europe begins with Allied landings at Normandy
JUN 9 --- Red Army advances into Finland
JUN 13 --- Germans begin launching V-1 rockets against London
JUN 15 --- American marines invade Saipan
JUN 19-20 --- "Marianas Turkey Shoot" results in destruction of over 200 Japanese aircraft
JUN 22 --- Red Army begins massive summer offensive
JUN 27 --- American forces liberate Cherbourg
JUL 3 --- Soviet forces recapture Minsk
JUL 9 --- American troops liberate Caen
JUL 18 --- American troops liberate St Lo
JUL 20 --- Hitler survives assassination attempt
JUL 24 --- Soviet forces liberate concentration camp at Majdanek
JUL 25-30 --- Allied forces breakout of Normandy encirclement in "Operation Cobra"
JUL 28 --- Red Army recaptures Brest-Litovsk
AUG 1 --- Polish Home Army begins revolt against Nazis in Warsaw
AUG 15 --- Allies invade Southern France
AUG 19-20 --- Soviet forces invade Romania
AUG 23 --- Romania capitulates to Soviets
AUG 25 --- Paris liberated
AUG 31 --- Red Army takes Bucharest
SEP 3 --- Brussels liberated
SEP 4 --- Antwerp liberated
SEP 8 --- Soviets and Finns sign peace treaty
SEP 13 --- American troops reach the Siegfried Line in western Germany
SEP 26 --- Red Army occupies Estonia
OCT 2 --- Nazis brutally crush revolt in Warsaw; Allies advance into Germany
OCT 5 --- British invade Greece
OCT 14 --- British liberate Athens; Rommel forced to commit suicide for alleged involvement in July assassination plot against Hitler
OCT 20 --- Belgrade, Yugoslavia falls to Soviet forces
OCT 23-26 --- U.S. naval forces destroy remnants of Japanese Navy at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval engagement in history
NOV 7 --- Roosevelt elected to fourth term
DEC 3 --- Civil war erupts in Greece; Japanese retreat in Burma
DEC 15 --- American forces invade Philippine island of Mindoro
DEC 16 --- German Army launches "Battle of the Bulge" offensive on the Western Front
DEC 17 --- Waffen SS executes 81 American prisoners of war in "Malmedy Massacre"
1945
JAN 9 --- American forces invade Philippine island of Luzon
JAN 16 --- Battle of the Bulge ends in German defeat
JAN 17 --- Red Army liberates Warsaw
JAN 19 --- German lines on Eastern Front collapse; full retreat begins
JAN 20 --- Hungary signs armistice with Allies
JAN 26 --- Soviets liberate Auschwitz
JAN 27 --- Red Army occupies Lithuania
FEB 4-11 --- Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin meet at Yalta Conference
FEB 13-14 --- Allied incendiary raid creates firestorm in Dresden
FEB 19 --- American forces land on Iwo Jima
MAR 3 --- American forces liberate Manila in the Philippines; Finland declares war on Germany
MAR 7 --- Allies capture Cologne; Ludendorff Rail Bridge on Rhine River captured intact at Ramagen
MAR 9 --- Tokyo firebombed
MAR 16 --- Japanese resistance on Iwo Jima ends
MAR 21 --- Allies take Mandalay, Burma
MAR 30 --- Red Army liberates Danzig
APR 1 --- American troops encircle German forces in the Ruhr
APR 12 --- Franklin Delano Roosevelt dies of stroke; Harry Truman becomes president; Allies liberate Belsen and Buchenwald concentration camps
APR 16 --- Red Army launches Berlin offensive; Allies take Nuremburg
APR 18 --- German forces in the Ruhr capitulate
APR 28 --- Mussolini hanged by Italian partisans; Venice falls to Allied forces
APR 29 --- Dachau concentration camp liberated
APR 30 --- Adolf Hitler and wife Eva Braun commit suicide in Chancellery bunker
MAY 2 --- All German forces in Italy surrender
MAY 7 --- Unconditional surrender of all German forces
MAY 8 --- Victory in Europe (VE) Day
MAY 23 --- SS Reichfuhrer Heinrich Himmler commits suicide
JUN 5 --- Allies divide Germany into occupation zones
JUN 26 --- United Nations World Charter signed in San Francisco
JUL 16 --- First U.S. atomic bomb tested at Los Alamos, New Mexico; Potsdam Conference begins
JUL 26 --- Clement Attlee becomes British Prime Minister
AUG 6 --- First atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
AUG 8 --- Soviet Union declares war on Japan; Soviet forces invade Manchuria
AUG 9 --- Second atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
AUG 14 --- Unconditional surrender of Japanese forces
AUG 15 --- Victory over Japan (VJ) Day
SEP 2 --- Japanese delegation signs instrument of surrender aboard battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay
NOV 20 --- Nuremburg War Crimes Tribunal begins
1946
JAN 7 --- United Nations meets for first time in London
OCT 16 --- Hermann Goering commits suicide; 11 other war criminals hanged