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Timeline Of World War II (1939)
This is a timeline of events of World War II in 1939, from the start of the war on 1 September 1939. For events preceding September 1, 1939, see the timeline of events preceding World War II. Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, and Britain and France's declaration of war on Germany two days later marks the beginning of World War II. After the declaration of war, western Europe saw very little land or air active military confrontation at first, and the period was termed the "Phoney War". In eastern Europe, however, the agreement between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed on 23 August opened the way in September for the Soviet Union's invasion of eastern Poland, which was divided between the two invaders before the end of the month. The Soviet Union starts a new military offensive by invading Finland at the end of November. September :1: The Republic of China and the Empire of Japan are involved in the early stages of the third year of armed co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Timeline Of Events Preceding World War II
This timeline of events preceding World War II covers the events of the interwar period (1918–1939) after World War I that affected or led to World War II. __NOTOC__ 1910s: 1918 1919 1920s: 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930s: 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 ''Leaders of major participating countries'' File:Mussolini biografia.jpg, Benito Mussolini Fascist Italy1922–1943/45 File:Adolf Hitler Berghof-1936.jpg, Adolf Hitler1933–1945 File:Emperor Showa in dress.jpg, Hirohito1926–1989 File:Chiang Kai-shek（蔣中正）.jpg, Chiang Kai-shek1928–1975 File:Stalin Image.jpg, Joseph Stalin1924–1953 File:FDR in 1933.jpg, Franklin D. Roosevelt1933–1945 File:Neville-Chamberlain.jpg, Neville Chamberlain1937–1940 File:Daladier 1924.jpg, Édouard Daladier France1938–1940 1918 October 28–31 : The Aster Revolution occurs establishing the First Hungarian Republic. October 29 : Start of the German Revolution. November ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a dictatorship. Under Hitler's rule, Germany quickly became a totalitarian state where nearly all aspects of life were controlled by the government. The Third Reich, meaning "Third Realm" or "Third Empire", alluded to the Nazi claim that Nazi Germany was the successor to the earlier Holy Roman Empire (800–1806) and German Empire (1871–1918). The Third Reich, which Hitler and the Nazis referred to as the Thousand-Year Reich, ended in May 1945 after just 12 years when the Allies defeated Germany, ending World War II in Europe. On 30 January 1933, Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany, the head of gove ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German Army (Wehrmacht)
The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the German Air Force, ''Luftwaffe'' (German Air Force). , the German Army had a strength of 62,766 soldiers. History Overview A German army equipped, organized, and trained following a single doctrine and permanently unified under one command in 1871 during the unification of Germany under the leadership of Prussia. From 1871 to 1919, the title ''German Army (German Empire), Deutsches Heer'' (German Army) was the official name of the German land forces. Following the German defeat in World War I and the end of the German Empire, the main army was dissolved. From 1921 to 1935 the name of the German land forces was the ''Reichswehr, Reichsheer'' (Army of the Empire) and from 1935 to 1945 the name ''German Army (We ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bombing Of Wieluń
The bombing of Wieluń is considered by many to be the first major act of World War II, and the Invasion of Poland, September Campaign. After Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 87, air units moved into Second Polish Republic, Polish airspace in the early morning of 1 September, they reached the town of Wieluń by 04:40–45 hours. Around this time, the first Airstrike, strikes on the town were conducted, with a total of 46,000 kg bombs being dropped on civilian targets for 9 consecutive hours. Elsewhere, the Battle of Westerplatte and Defence of the Polish Post Office in Danzig, Danzig skirmishes began around the same time (04:45 h), starting the well-coordinated Invasion of Poland. Located near the Nazi Germany, German Second Polish Republic, border, the town of Wieluń was completely undefended, lacking Anti-aircraft warfare, anti-air capabilities and a military garrison. Despite Wieluń having no military targets, airstrikes continued. German intelligence reports had stated there was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wieluń
Wieluń ( la, Velun) is a town in south-central Poland with 21,624 inhabitants (2021). Situated in the Łódź Voivodeship (since 1999), it was previously in Sieradz Voivodeship (1975–1998). Wieluń has a long and rich history. In the past, it used to be an important urban trade centre of the Kingdom of Poland. Several Polish kings and notables visited the town, but following the catastrophic Swedish Deluge (1655–1660), Wieluń declined and never regained its status. In September 1939, during the invasion of Poland, it was heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe. The Bombing of Wieluń is considered to be the first World War II bombing in Europe. It killed at least 127 civilians, injured hundreds more and destroyed the majority of the town. Origin of the name Wieluń was first mentioned in a 1282 document as Velun (in 1283: Vilin). The exact origin of the name has not been explained. Historians claim that either it comes from a Slavic word "vel" (which means a wetland), or from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of the First World War. The Second Republic ceased to exist in 1939, when Invasion of Poland, Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and the Slovak Republic (1939–1945), Slovak Republic, marking the beginning of the European theatre of World War II, European theatre of the Second World War. In 1938, the Second Republic was the sixth largest country in Europe. According to the Polish census of 1921, 1921 census, the number of inhabitants was 27.2 million. By 1939, just before the outbreak of World War II, this had grown to an estimated 35.1 million. Almost a third of the population came from minority groups: 13.9% Ruthenians; 10% Ashkenazi Jews; 3.1% Belarusians; 2.3% Germans and 3.4% Czechs and Lithuanians. At the same time, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strategic Bombing During World War II
World War II (1939–1945) involved sustained strategic bombing of railways, harbours, cities, workers' and civilian housing, and industrial districts in enemy territory. Strategic bombing as a military strategy is distinct both from close air support of ground forces and from tactical air power. During World War II, many military strategists of air power believed that air forces could win major victories by attacking industrial and political infrastructure, rather than purely military targets. Strategic bombing often involved bombing areas inhabited by civilians, and some campaigns were deliberately designed to target civilian populations in order to terrorize them and disrupt their usual activities. International law at the outset of World War II did not specifically forbid the aerial bombardment of cities – despite the prior occurrence of such bombing during World War I (1914–1918), the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), and the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabteilung'' of the Imperial Navy, had been disbanded in May 1920 in accordance with the terms of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles which banned Germany from having any air force. During the interwar period, German pilots were trained secretly in violation of the treaty at Lipetsk Air Base in the Soviet Union. With the rise of the Nazi Party and the repudiation of the Versailles Treaty, the ''Luftwaffe''s existence was publicly acknowledged on 26 February 1935, just over two weeks before open defiance of the Versailles Treaty through German rearmament and conscription would be announced on 16 March. The Condor Legion, a ''Luftwaffe'' detachment sent to aid Nationalist forces in the Spanish Civil War, provided the force with a valuable testing grou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 10°E to 30°E longitude. A marginal sea of the Atlantic, with limited water exchange between the two water bodies, the Baltic Sea drains through the Danish Straits into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, Great Belt and Little Belt. It includes the Gulf of Bothnia, the Bay of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland, the Gulf of Riga and the Bay of Gdańsk. The " Baltic Proper" is bordered on its northern edge, at latitude 60°N, by Åland and the Gulf of Bothnia, on its northeastern edge by the Gulf of Finland, on its eastern edge by the Gulf of Riga, and in the west by the Swedish part of the southern Scandinavian Peninsula. The Baltic Sea is connected by artificial waterways to the White Sea via the White Sea–Baltic Canal and to the German ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Free City Of Danzig
The Free City of Danzig (german: Freie Stadt Danzig; pl, Wolne Miasto Gdańsk; csb, Wòlny Gard Gduńsk) was a city-state under the protection of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) and nearly 200 other small localities in the surrounding areas. Overview The polity was created on 15 November 1920 in accordance with the terms of Article 100 (Section XI of Part III) of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles after the end of World War I. In line with the treaty provisions, the entity was established under the oversight of the League of Nations. Although predominantly German-populated, the territory was bound by the imposed union with Poland covering foreign policy, defence, customs, railways and post, while remaining distinct from both the post-war German Republic and the newly independent Polish Republic. In addition, Poland was given certain rights pertaining to port facilities in the city. In the 1920 Const ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Westerplatte
The Battle of Westerplatte was the first battle of the German invasion of Poland, marking the start of World War II in Europe. It occurred on the Westerplatte peninsula in the harbour of the Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland). In the mid-1920s, the Second Polish Republic established the Poland, Polish Military Transit Depot (, WST) on the Westerplatte peninsula in the Free City of Danzig. Beginning on 1 September 1939, the German ''Wehrmacht'' and Free City of Danzig Police, Danzig Police assaulted the WST. Despite initial assessment on both sides that the Polish garrison might hold out for several hours before being reinforced or overwhelmed, the Poles held out for seven days and repelled thirteen assaults that included dive bomber, dive-bomber attacks and naval shelling. The defence of the Westerplatte was an inspiration for the Polish Army and people in the face of German advances elsewhere and is still regarded as a symbol of resistance in modern Poland. The Polish g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Westerplatte
Westerplatte is a peninsula in Gdańsk, Poland, located on the Baltic Sea coast mouth of the Dead Vistula (one of the Vistula delta estuaries), in the Gdańsk harbour channel. From 1926 to 1939, it was the location of a Polish Military Transit Depot (WST), sanctioned within the territory of the Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk). It is famous for the Battle of Westerplatte, which was the first clash between Polish and German forces during the invasion of Poland and thus the beginning and the first battle of World War II. History Resort The resort was established on the Westerplatte peninsula around 1830 which had a beach, a forested park, a seaside bath complex and health spa facilities. The transit depot Following the reestablishment of Polish independence in the aftermath of World War I, much of the surrounding region became a part of the Second Polish Republic. The city of Danzig (present day Gdańsk), a historically important port city, at that time predominantly ethnica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
