Germany invades Denmark and Norway

German 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, Britain, France, and Italy signed an agreement to transfer the Sudeten territories from Czechoslovakia to Germany. The Czechoslovak government was not represented in the negotiations. The...

A state-orchestrated pogrom on the night of 9-10 November destroyed synagogues, shops, homes, and community institutions; Jewish people were murdered and tens of thousands arrested and sent to...

Nazi 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....

When Britain declared war on Germany, Viceroy Linlithgow announced that India was at war without consulting elected Indian representatives. Indian soldiers, workers, taxpayers, and resources would...

Mussolini declared war on Britain and France as Italy’s fascist regime sought territorial expansion in Europe and Africa. Italy’s existing colonies in Libya, Eritrea, Italian Somaliland, and...

British forces attacked French warships anchored at Mers-el-Kébir near Oran, Algeria, after France’s armistice with Germany. More than a thousand French sailors were killed. The port’s North African...

Italian forces crossed from Libya into Egypt, then a British-controlled strategic corridor, in an effort to advance toward the Suez Canal. The campaign turned North African territory and its...

Germany 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...

Ethiopian resistance fighters, known as Arbegnoch, and Allied troops entered Addis Ababa on 5 May, ending the Italian occupation of the capital. Haile Selassie returned after years in exile....