World War 2:
Chronology
POLITICAL AND DIPLOMATIC DEVELOPMENTS OF
THE WAR AND POSTWAR PERIODS
1939
Sept. 3-Great Britain and France declare war on Germany.
Sept. 28-Germany and the USSR revise nonaggression pact.
1940
March 12-Finland capitulates, signing Treaty of Moscow.
May 10-Winston Churchill becomes prime minister of Great Britain.
June 10-Italy declares war on France and Great Britain (effective June
11).
June 15-The USSR begins seizure of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia (ends
Aug. 6).
June 22-German-French armistice is signed (fighting ends June 25 after
signature of Italo-French armistice June 24).
June 28-USSR seizes Bessarabia and northern Bucovina.
July 25-United States begins embargo on shipment of strategic materials
to Japan.
Sept. 3-United States trades 50 destroyers for naval base sites in British
possessions.
Sept. 16-President Roosevelt signs first American peacetime Selective
Service Act.
Sept. 22-Japanese begin occupation of northern French Indochina.
Sept. 26-United States imposes total embargo on, scrap shipments to
Japan.
Sept. 27-Japan joins Axis (Tripartite Pact).
Nov. 20-Hungary joins Axis.
Nov. 22-Rumania joins Axis.
1941
March 1-Bulgaria joins Axis.
March 11-Congress passes Lend-Lease Act.
March 25-Yugoslavia joins Axis.
March 26-27-Anti-Axis coup d'etat takes place in Yugoslavia.
April 13-Japan and the USSR sign neutrality pact.
May 27-Roosevelt proclaims unlimited national emergency.
June 14-German and Italian assets in the United States are frozen.
June 22-Germany, Italy, and Rumania declare war on the USSR.
June 26-Finland declares war on the USSR.
June 27-Hungary declares war on the USSR.
July 23-Japan occupies southern Indochina.
July 25-Japanese assets in the United States are frozen.
Aug. 14-Roosevelt and Churchill issue Atlantic Charter.
Sept. 17-British and Soviet troops occupy Teheran, Iran.
Dec. 8-Japan declares war on the United States and Great Britain; the
United States and Great Britain declare war on Japan.
Dec. 9-China declares war on Japan, Germany, and Italy.
Dec. 11-Germany and Italy declare war on the United States, which then
declares war on them.
Dec. 24-British-American Arcadia conferences open in Washington (end
Jan. 14, 1942).
1942
Jan. 1-Declaration by United Nations is signed by 26 countries.
April 8-Bolero Conference begins in London (ends April 14).
Oct. 22-To clear way for Operation Torch (Allied invasion of French
North Africa), Maj. Gen. Mark W. Clark lands from submarine for secret
meeting with pro-Allied French officers.
Dec. 24-Admiral Darlan is assassinated.
1943
Jan. 14-British-United States conference opens at Casablanca
(ends Jan. 24).
May 12-Trident Conference opens in Washington (ends May 25).
July 25-King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy proclaims fall of Mussolini,
replacing him with Marshal Pietro Badoglio.
Aug. 14-Quadrant Conference opens in Quebec, Canada (ends Aug. 24).
Sept. 3-Italian government signs armistice (effective Sept. 8).
Oct. 13-Italy declares war on Germany.
Nov. 22-Sextant Conference opens at Cairo, Egypt (recesses Nov. 26).
Nov. 28-Eureka Conference opens at Teheran, Iran (closes Dec. 1).
Dec. 1-Cairo Declaration is issued.
Dec. 3-Sextant Conference reopens at Cairo (closes Dec. 7).
1944
July 20-Attempt to assassinate Hitler fails.
Aug. 21-Dumbarton Oaks Conference opens (ends Oct. 7).
Aug. 23-Rumania surrenders unconditionally.
Aug. 25-Rumania declares war on Germany.
Aug. 26-Bulgaria opens negotiations for surrender with Allies.
Sept. 5-The USSR declares war on Bulgaria.
Sept. 8-Bulgaria declares war on Germany.
Sept. 9-The USSR grants Bulgaria an armistice.
Sept. 12-Rumania signs armistice; Octagon Conference opens in Quebec
(ends Sept. 16).
Sept. 19-Allied-Finnish armistice is signed.
Oct. 23-Great Britain, the USSR, and the United States grant de jure
recognition to French provisional government headed by Gen. Charles
de Gaulle.
1945
Jan. 30-Preliminary Anglo-American phase (Cricket) of
Argonaut Conference begins at Malta (ends Feb. 2).
Feb. 4-Second phase (Magneto) of Argonaut Conference opens at Yalta
(ends Feb. 11).
March 3-Finland declares war on Germany.
March 10-Japanese place French Indochina under direct military administration.
April 5-The USSR notifies Japan that it intends to denounce their 1941
neutrality pact.
April 12-President Roosevelt dies.
April 23-Heinrich Himmler's offer to surrender German forces to Western
Allies is rejected.
April 25-San Francisco Conference opens (adopts United Nations Charter
June 26).
April 28-Mussolini is captured and killed by Italian partisans.
April 30-Hitler commits suicide.
May 7-German High Command surrenders all forces unconditionally at Reims.
July 17-Terminal Conference begins at Potsdam, Germany (ends Aug. 2).
July 26-Terminal Conference issues Potsdam Declaration, presenting surrender
ultimatum to Japan.
July 28-Japanese announce that they will reject surrender ultimatum
(rejected July 30 ).
Aug. 8-The USSR declares war on Japan (effective Aug. 9).
Aug. 10-Japan offers to surrender.
Aug. 14-Japan surrenders.
Sept. 2-Japanese representatives sign instrument of surrender aboard
the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Sept. 11-Big Four foreign ministers'
meeting opens in
London (ends Oct. 2).
Dec. 16-Foreign ministers' meeting opens in Moscow ( ends. Dec. 26)
.
1946
April 25-Foreign ministers' meeting opens in Paris (ends
May 16).
June 15-Foreign ministers' meeting reconvenes in Paris, reaching substantial
agreement on treaties for Italy, Bulgaria, Rumania, Hungary, and Finland
(ends July 12).
July 16-Peace conference opens in Paris (ends Oct. 15).
Nov. 4-Foreign ministers meet in New York to complete treaties (meeting
ends Dec. 12).
1947
Feb. 10-Italian, Bulgarian, Rumanian, Hungarian, and
Finnish peace treaties are signed in Paris.
Sept. 15-Five peace treaties come into force.
1950
June 25-Korean War begins.
1951
Sept. 4-Conference meets in San Francisco to draw up
Japanese Peace Treaty.
1952
April 28-Japanese Peace Treaty comes into force.
1953
July 27-Armistice ends Korean War.
1954
Oct. 5-Free Territory of Trieste is divided between
Italy and Yugoslavia.
1955
May 15-Austrian State Treaty is signed in Vienna. July
27-Austrian treaty comes into force.
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