Japanese forces invade Malaya as European empires weaken

Delegates from 32 countries met at Evian to discuss the growing refugee crisis after Nazi persecution and Germany’s annexation of Austria. Many expressed sympathy but refused to expand admission....

The British government announced a policy limiting Jewish immigration and land purchases in Palestine while promising eventual independence under conditions that Palestinian Arabs and Zionist...

The Viceroy announced India was at war with Germany on the same day Britain entered the conflict. Indian political leaders and the legislature had not been consulted. The decision exposed the limits...

Governor Félix Éboué and military commander Pierre Marchand declared Chad’s alignment with Charles de Gaulle’s Free French movement. Chad became its first African territorial base, and other French...

Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill issued the Atlantic Charter, declaring that peoples should be able to choose their form of government and that sovereign rights should be restored. Churchill...

After Japanese troops crossed from Malaya onto the island, British forces surrendered at the Ford Motor Factory. Singapore entered nearly four years of Japanese occupation, marked by scarcity,...

The All-India Congress Committee adopted the Quit India resolution in Bombay, calling for British withdrawal and mass nonviolent resistance. The colonial government immediately arrested Gandhi and...

Subhas Chandra Bose announced the Provisional Government of Azad Hind in Singapore. Supported by Japan, it claimed authority over a future independent India and was associated with the Indian National...

Japanese forces launched a coup against the French administration, disarming French troops and ending the arrangement under which Vichy France had administered Indochina under Japanese pressure. Japan...

On the day France celebrated victory over Nazi Germany, Algerian demonstrators in Sétif, Guelma, and nearby towns called for rights and independence. Police violence and attacks on civilians were...