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August, 1939
The Russians and the Germans sign a non-aggression pact. Adolf Hitler and Hoseph Stalin agree not to invade each other's borders. The two leaders secretly plan to divide Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe between them.
September, 1939: World War II Begins
Employing blitzkrieg (literally, "lightning war") tactics, Germany invades Poland. Polish military forces are unprepared for the ferocity of Germany's attack. When efforts to negotiate a withdrawal fail, Britain and France declare war on Germany. World War II begins.
May, 1940
As Germany marches into Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, Winston Churchill replaces a disgraced Neville Chamberlain, the man responsible for the appeasement of Hitler, as prime minister of Great Britain.
June, 1940
Germany captures Paris, and France surrenders to the Nazis. Exacting revenge for his nation's defeat in the first World War, Hitler forces French officials to sign surrender papers in the same railroad car in which Germans signed the armistice of 1918.
July 10, 1940
The Battle of Britain begins. A three-month battle fought in the skies over Britain will include destructive bombing raids on London and other cities, but by the end of October the British will hand Hitler his first defeat.
March, 1941
President Franklin Roosevelt convinces a largely isolationist Congress to pass the Lend-Lease Act, allowing the U.S. to sell or lend war materials to "any country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States."
July, 1941
Roosevelt freezes German and Italian assets in the U.S.
August, 1941
Emerging from secret meetings conducted on warships off of Newfoundland, Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt unveil the Atlantic Charter. The charter outlines goals concerning "the final destruction of Nazi tyranny," and a pledge to support "the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live."
December 7, 1941: The Attack on Pearl Harbor
The United States is thrust into war when Japan launches a devastating surprise attack on the U.S. Naval fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. President Franklin Roosevelt will ask the Congress to declare war on Japan the following day, December 8th. Three days after that, Germany and Italy will declare war on the U.S.
January, 1942
U.S. troops arrive in Europe. Through March, the number of troops shipped overseas averages about 50,000 per month -- a number that will soar upwards of 250,000 per month in 1944.
August, 1942: Stalingrad
Germany begins its assault on the Russian city of Stalingrad. In a battle that will rage for six months, and take hundreds of thousands of German and Russian lives, the Red Army finally defeats invading Nazis.
The long, bloody battle proves to be a turning point in the war, as Germany begins a retreat from the Eastern Front.
January, 1943
Roosevelt and Churchill hold a conference at Casablanca, Morocco. They affirm their goal of securing the Axis nations' unconditional surrender.
May, 1943
U.S. troops led by Generals Dwight Eisenhower and George S. Patton join forces with British troops under the command of Field Marshal bernard Montgomery to defeat German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in North Africa.
June, 1943
Eisenhower is appointed commander of the U.S. forces in Europe.
July-September, 1943
Allied forces capture Sicily and key spots in southern Italy. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini is overthrown and imprisoned. Hitler dispatches German troops to fend off an Allied advance in what will be a series of hard fought, costly battles.
November, 1943: The Meeting of the Big Three
The "big three," Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin, convene in Teheran, Iran to discuss the invasion of Italy.
It is the first time all three have met.
December, 1943
Eisenhower is named supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe.
February, 1944
German aircraft production centers are the target of a massive bombing campaign by the U.S. Army Air Corps. Shortly thereafter, more than 600 U.S. bombers raid Berlin. Despite the devastation caused by the bombing, Germany is able to maintain weapons and aircraft production levels.
May 30, 1944
The Allied invasion of France commences; troops based in England begin their mobilization to cross the Channel, in a massive effort code-named Operation Overlord. Eisenhower will wait for a good weather forecast to determine the exact day of the invasion.
June 4, 1944
The Allies capture Rome, Italy.
June 5, 1944
Overlord is set into motion. An advance wave of paratroopers flies to drop spots over France late in the evening and descends into enemy territory.
June 6, 1944: D-Day
Over 160,000 Allied troops and 30,000 vehicles are landed along a 50-mile stretch of fortified French coastline and begin fighting on the beaches of Normandy.
July, 1944
The Allies take control of the French port city of Cherbourg. The retreating Germans, however, have left the city badly razed and booby-trapped.
August, 1944
After four years of German occupation, the Allies liberate Paris with the help of French resistance troops led by General Charles de Gaulle.
December 16, 1944: The Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge begins. Hitler sends a quarter of a million troops across an 85-mile stretch of the Allied front, from southern Belgium into Luxembourg. In deadly cold winter weather, German troops will advance some 50 miles into the Allied lines, creating a deadly "bulge" pushing into Allied defenses.
January, 1945
By the end of the month, the Battle of the Bulge ends. Over 76,000 Americans have been killed, wounded, or captured. The Allies regain the territory they held in early December.
February 4-11, 1945: The Yalta Conference
The last meeting of the Big Three -- Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin -- takes place in the Soviet city of Yalta. Roosevelt and Churchill agree to allow Stalin to control the governments of Eastern Europe at war's end, thereby setting the stage for the future Cold War.
March, 1945
U.S. forces cross the Rhine River. The Germans retreat into Germany.
April 30, 1945
As Soviet forces push into Berlin, Adolf Hitler takes shelter in his bombproof bunker. There, he marries his mistress, Eva Braun, before poisoning her and shooting himself. His remains will never be found.
May 7, 1945
General Dwight Eisenhower accepts Germany's unconditional surrender at Reims, France. Germany likewise surrenders to Russia in Berlin.
The little-known story of a deadly 1898 race massacre and coup d’état in Wilmington, North Carolina, when white supremacists overthrew the multi-racial government of state’s largest city through a campaign of violence and intimidation.
La historia poco conocida de la fatal masacre racial y del golpe de estado de 1898 en Wilmington, NC.
When Black neighborhoods across America erupted in violence in the summer of 1967, President Johnson appointed a commission to find the cause for the unrest. Their findings offered an unvarnished assessment of American race relations.
Battle of the Bulge | Article
Perhaps the most notorious figure of the 20th century, Adolf Hitler was the leader of the German Nazi (National Socialist German Workers') party and eventually became dictator over all of Germany.
Battle of the Bulge | Article
Under Bradley's direction, American forces liberated Paris, turned back an aggressive German counter-offensive at the Battle of the Bulge, took control of the first bridgehead over the Rhine River, and linked up with Soviet forces advancing from the east to end the Nazi attempt to conquer Europe.
Battle of the Bulge | Primary Source
Read excerpts from Diane Burke Fessler's No Time For Fear: Voices of American Military Nurses in World War II (1996).
