23 August: Nazi-Soviet Pact

1 September: Germany invades Poland, beginning of the war in Europe

3 September: The United Kingdom and France declare war on Germany

17 September: Soviet Union invades Poland, Baltic Republics and Finland

27 September: Fall of Warsaw after 20 days of German bombardment

29 September: German-Soviet Partition of Poland

4 November: President Roosevelt signs Neutrality Act of 1939

21 March: Paul Reynaud becomes Prime Minister of France

10 May: War on western front begins with Operation Yellow, the invasion of Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg; Prime Minister Chamberlain resigns, replaced by Winston Churchill

13 May: Germans break through Ardennnes into France

14 May: Dutch government is forced into exile in London

4 June: 338,000 allied troops evacuated from Dunkirk

11 June: French government leaves Paris for Tours

14 June: Germans enter Paris; French government leaves Tours for Bordeaux

21 June: French-German Armistice negotiations begin

25 June: All acts of war between the French and German armed forces officially cease. Prime Minister Churchill says France is not freed of her obligations.

27 June: German troops reach the French-Spanish border

11 July: Marshal Petain replaces President Lebrun and proclaims himself ‘Chief of French State’ of the French Republic. Admiral Raeder, C-in-C of the German Navy expresses his reservations about any invasion of Britain

13 July: Hitler issues Directive No. 15 outlining the details of 'Operation Sea Lion', the German invasion of the British Isles. In advance of the landings, the Luftwaffe is to begin operations against British defensive positions, airfields and radar installations along the southern coast of England on the 15th August with 2.600 aircraft having been earmarked for this purpose

16 July: Hitler issues Directive No.16, orders for the planning of 'Operation Sealion', the invasion of Britain. Twenty divisions are earmarked for the invasion, but the Luftwaffe must gain air superiority first. All plans are to be ready by mid-August

29 July: A German memorandum issued by the OKM states that an invasion of Great Britain will not be possible until the second half of September 1940 and that the prospects for such an invasion seem doubtful

31 July: Hitler appraised the Army plan for the invasion of Britain at a conference of his top Military chiefs. The Navy criticize the plan for being on a too broad a front, requiring 2,500 barges in order to transport the invading forces, which cant be concentrated before the 15th of September at the earliest. The Army refute these arguments, saying that too narrow a front would allow the British to concentrate what forces they possess.

1 August: Hitler signs Directive No.17, requiring the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine to increase their attacks against Britain and her shipping, in preparation for 'Operation Sealion'

12 October: Hitler postpones invasion of Britain until spring 1941

23 October: Hitler meets with Francisco Franco at Hendaye, encouraging the Spanish leader to join him in the war

28 October: Spain declares war on the United Kingdom; Italy invades Greece

5 November: Franklin D. Roosevelt elected to an unprecedented third term

13 November: The Italian fleet is crippled by a British bomber torpedo raid

8 December: German-Spanish siege begins on Gibraltar

27/31 December: Massive German air raid on London

4 January: Royal Marines occupy the Canary Islands

29 January: Large scale British invasion of Morocco, includes troops from South Africa, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and India

4 February: After holding out for almost two months, Gibraltar falls to the German-Spanish alliance

18 March: Spain invades Portugal

19 April: Greece surrenders

1 June: Pro-Allied government installed in Iraq

7 June: Allies invade Syria and Lebanon

18 June: Germany launches a surprise attack on the Soviet Union

22 June: Germans capture Minsk

9 July: Mutual Assistance agreement between Soviet Union and United Kingdom; Germans cross the Dnieper in the Ukraine where they are greeted as liberators.

15 July: British occupy Syria

31 July: Göring instructs Heydrich to prepare for the Final Solution.

17 August: Leningrad comes under siege

15 September: Kiev occupied by the Germans

23 September: Germans turn attention toward Moscow

15 October: Germans reach Moscow, Stalin assumes control of the cities defenses

21 November: Germans break through Soviet defenses, Stalin is killed attempting to flee the city, Moscow falls into German hands

22 November: Hitler proclaims victory in the East is near; Soviet leadership split between Andrei Zhdanov, Lavrenty Beria, and Vyacheslav Molotov in the town of Kuybyshev.

26 November: The RAF bombs Soviet oil fields in the Caucasus Region to prevent them from falling to the Nazis.

27 November: Outraged by the bombing of the oil fields, Hitler pressures Turkey to allow German troops access through Anatolia and into Iraq.

7 December: The Empire of Japan launches a surprise attack on the United States Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Japan declares war on the US, and British Commonwealth.

8 December: The United States declares war on the Empire of Japan

12 December: Germany, Italy and Spain declare war on the United States

19 December: Hitler takes complete control of the German military

26 January: First American forces arrive in the United Kingdom

April: Japanese-Americans sent to relocation centers

26 May: Rommel begins offensive against the Gazala Line

June: Mass murder of the Jews begin in Auschwitz

3 June: Japan invades northern Sakhalin island

7 June: Japan lays siege to Vladivostok

11 June: Vladivostok falls to Japanese occupation

12 June: The United States Marines occupies the Soviet Far East

14 June: Japanese troops easily conquers Mongolia, establishing a puppet Khanate

18 June: Rommel captures Tobruk

25 June: German advance to Baghdad stopped by allies at Samarra

1 July: Rommel reaches El Alamein near Cairo, Egypt, Battle of El Alamein begins

2 July: Germans take Leningrad and Sevastopol

6 July: Germans begin drive towards Stalingrad

24 July: Battle of El Alamein ends with German victory

31 July: Germans take control of the Nile River

5 August: General Montgomery takes command of Eight Army in North Africa

9 August: Germany offers Turkey an ultimatum for allowing Germany to pass through its territory

10 August: Turkey rejects the German ultimatum, Germany responds with a declaration of war

14 August: German air raids on Stalingrad begins

15 August: Civilians from Istanbul begin fleeing to Anatolia

17 August: First all-American Air Attack in Europe

19 August: Germany invades Turkey, Edirne falls with in the first two hours

22 August: Istanbul comes within sight of the Wehrmacht, several small skirmishes between the Germans and Turks result in a high loss of life for the Turks

24 August: Following France's lead, the Republic of Turkey declares Istanbul an open city

25 August: German troops enter Istanbul

9 September: Battle of Stalingrad begins, Soviet remnant appeals to the western allies to open a new front in Europe.

12 September: German troops invade the Levant and Mesopotamia.

18 September: Omar Bradley arrives in Iraq to take command of the Allied Forces

29 November: US forces are defeated by Rommel at the Battle of the Nile; US General Fredendall is replaced by Patton

17 December: British Foreign Secretary Eden tells the British House of Commons of mass executions of Jews by Nazis; U.S. declares those crimes will be avenged

24 December: 250,000 strong Red Army leads a surprise attack on Stalingrad

26 December: Caught off-guard the 75,000 German defenders are defeated with 40k being taken prisoner, the others KIA or wounded

27 December: Patton flanks Rommel, surrounding the German Army

28 December: Hitler calls for an additional 500,000 men to occupy the Soviet Union

30 December: Battle of Barents Sea beween German and British Navy

9 January 1943: Rommel surrenders his army and is taken captive

19 January: Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill hold a war conference at Havanna

27 January: Montgomery leads his Army to victory at Tripoli

4 February: Free French forces, armed with American equipment and supported by the US Army and Royal Navy launch Operation Guillotine, the invasion of Algeria. Vichy French forces at first resisted, later joined the allied cause

March: The war in the Middle East and North Africa ends

April: Germans launch a major assault on the Soviet Union

14 April: The Germans attack Zhukov's forces at Stalingrad

19 April: Germany assaults the de facto Soviet capital of Kuibyshev; the Soviet leadership abandons the city and flees to Omsk in Siberia

23 April: The 85,000 Allied troops launch an invasion of the Iberian Peninsula at Alemia beach

29 April: Germans forced to divert troops intended for the Soviet offensive to Iberia

1 May: Soviet-Japanese Treaty ends hostilities between the Empire of Japan and Soviet Union, the USSR surrenders the Far East and Sakhalin Island

2 May: Gibraltar liberated by US Army

May-June: Major Allied Air raids on Spain from Morocco and Algeria

30 June: The Canadian Army liberates Lisbon

9 July: US Army captures Madrid

24 July: Portugal completely liberated by the Allies, Portuguese Provisional Government sides with the allies giving whatever assistance it can.