Historical Organization
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Details
Organization Timeline
Germany annexes Austria in the Anschluss
đź“… 12 March 1938German forces entered Austria and the Nazi government annexed it. Austrian Jews were immediately exposed to a wave of public humiliation, dispossession, and coercive emigration; expansion carried Nazi...
Nazi Germany annexes Austria in the Anschluss
đź“… 12 March 1938German troops crossed into Austria after Hitler coerced the Austrian government and forced the cancellation of a planned vote on independence. The annexation was followed immediately by terror against...
Germany occupies Bohemia and Moravia
đź“… 15 March 1939German troops occupied the Czech lands and established the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Jewish residents came under Nazi rule; expansion of the Reich exposed more communities to discriminatory...
Germany and the Soviet Union sign the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
đź“… 23 August 1939The public non-aggression treaty included secret protocols dividing spheres of influence in Eastern Europe. It gave both governments room to pursue expansion and exposed smaller states to decisions...
Germany invades Poland, opening the European war
đź“… 1 September 1939Nazi Germany invaded Poland on 1 September, claiming fabricated border incidents as pretext. The invasion combined conventional warfare with terror against civilians and plans for racial conquest....
The Red Army enters eastern Poland
📅 17 September 1939After Germany invaded Poland, Soviet forces crossed the eastern border under the pact’s secret arrangements. Polish territory was divided between two occupying powers; residents faced arrests,...
Germany invades Denmark and Norway
đź“… 9 April 1940German forces occupied Denmark and invaded Norway to secure strategic sea routes and access to Swedish iron ore. Occupation brought collaboration, resistance, and coercion into northern Europe. This...
Axis forces invade Yugoslavia and Greece
đź“… 6 April 1941Germany and its allies invaded Yugoslavia and Greece, opening occupation regimes that relied on local collaborators and faced armed resistance. Yugoslav partisans and Greek resistance networks...
Nazi Germany invades the Soviet Union
đź“… 22 June 1941Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, opening a war of annihilation across Soviet territory. Occupation, mass shootings, starvation, forced labor, and the Holocaust devastated civilians; Soviet...
Nazi Germany invades the Soviet Union
📅 22 June 1941The invasion opened a war of annihilation across Soviet territory. Stalin’s government had failed to prepare effectively despite warnings; civilians and soldiers endured occupation, mass killing,...
Nazi Germany launches the invasion of the Soviet Union
đź“… 22 June 1941Operation Barbarossa began as a war of annihilation, not simply a military campaign. German plans tied conquest to racial hierarchy, mass starvation, enslavement, and the murder of Jews and Soviet...
German forces complete the encirclement of Leningrad
📅 8 September 1941The siege cut the city’s main land connections and subjected civilians to starvation, bombardment, cold, and disease. Stalin’s wartime leadership did not remove the immense human cost; Leningraders’...
Allied governments publicly condemn the mass murder of Jews
📅 17 December 1942The Allied declaration of 17 December condemned Nazi Germany’s mass murder of Europe’s Jews and promised punishment. It acknowledged reports of systematic killing but did not produce an immediate...
Allied forces land in Normandy
đź“… 6 June 1944The Normandy landings opened a major western front against Nazi Germany. Allied forces included soldiers from occupied and colonized societies, while French resistance networks supported the campaign....
Nazi Germany surrenders in Europe
📅 8 May 1945Germany’s unconditional surrender took effect, ending the war in Europe. The victory was made possible by a global coalition that included millions of soldiers, workers, and resistance fighters from...