January: German submarines sink 200,000 tons of British and French merchant ships

April: Britain begins her atomic weapon research

9 April- 9 June: German conquest of Denmark and Norway. The British and French forces sent to Norway are evacuated in June

10 May: Germans invade Belgium, France, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands

13 May: Germans break through at Sedan in the "impassable" Ardennes

26 May-3 June: evacuation of trapped British and French armies at Dunkirk

June: the German U-boat campaign intensifies, sinking 550,000 tons of shipping during the month

10 June: Italy declares war on France and Britain

14 June: the Germans occupy Paris

22 June: France surrenders to Germany

2 July-17 September: The "Battle of Britain" in the air fails to bring Britain to terms. The Germans temporarily give up plans for an invasion of England. The Luftwaffe (air force) continues to bomb cities in Britain, especially London. Only when the United States enters the war will German aerial bombardment of Britain decrease to a tolerable level, to be replaced by the German V-1 and V-2 rockets in 1944 and 1945.

19 July: the US authorizes the "Two-Ocean Navy Expansion Act"

3 August: Italian forces in Abyssinia (Ethiopia) invade British Sudan and Somalia in East Africa

13 September: Italian forces from Libya invade British Egypt

28 October-4 November: Italy's invasion of Greece ends in complete failure; the Greek defenders soundly drub the enemy

12 November: a British naval air attack immobilizes Italian fleet at Taranto for six months

9 December-3 January 1941: British forces drive the Italians from Egypt

The Second World War in Europe Crossing the Big Red Line by Joe Miranda

1939: The Struggle Begins
1940: Germany is Supreme
1941: Axis High Point
1942: Germany Bled White
1943: Beginning of the End
1944: The Final Struggle
1945: Allied Total Victory