World War II: Key Events Timeline

# World War II: Key Events ## Causes (Pre-1939) - Treaty of Versailles humiliated Germany - Rise of fascism in Germany, Italy, Japan - Appeasement policy by Britain and France - Great Depression created economic desperation ## Key Events Timeline | Year | Event | |------|-------| | 1939 | Germany invades Poland; WWII begins | | 1940 | Fall of France; Battle of Britain | | 1941 | Germany invades USSR; Japan attacks Pearl Harbor | | 1942 | Battle of Midway; Stalingrad turning point | | 1944 | D-Day: Allied invasion of Normandy | | 1945 | Germany surrenders (VE Day); Atomic bombs on Japan; Japan surrenders (VJ Day) | ## The Holocaust - Systematic genocide of 6 million Jews - Also targeted Roma, disabled people, political opponents - Liberation of concentration camps in 1945 ## Aftermath - 70-85 million total deaths - United Nations founded in 1945 - Cold War begins between USA and USSR - Decolonisation accelerates across Africa and Asia