Sept. 1, 1939: Germany invades Poland.
Sept. 3, 1939: Britain and France declare war on Germany.
Sept. 10, 1939: Canada declares war on Germany.
Sept. 17, 1939: Russia (a.k.a. Soviet Union or USSR) invades eastern Poland.
June 17, 1940: Almost all of Europe is under Germany’s control (France surrenders).
Sept. 1940: Battle of Britain begins and Italian troops attack Egypt.
Dec. 1940: British drive Italians out of Egypt.
June 22, 1941: Hitler breaks his non-aggression pact and invades Russia.
Dec. 7, 1941: Japan bombs Pearl Harbour. U.S. declares war.
Aug. 19, 1942: Canada fails in an attempt to liberate Dieppe, France.
Feb. 2, 1943: Germany surrenders at Leningrad in the Soviet Union.
May 1943: German and Italian troops surrender in Africa.
Aug. 7, 1943: Allies invade Italy.
June 6, 1944: D-Day. Allies land at Normandy, France.
Aug. 25, 1944: Allies enter Paris.
Feb. 4-11, 1945: Big Three meet at Yalta, Soviet Union (Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin) to decide how Europe should be divided up.
In the weeks to come, Canada helps liberate Belgium and Holland.
Apr. 30, 1945: Hitler commits suicide.
May 8, 1945: VE (Victory in Europe) Day. All German forces surrender.
Aug. 6, 1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
Aug. 9, 1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki.
Aug. 14, 1945: Japan surrenders.
"In loss of lives, World War II was the costliest war in history. No adequate figures exist, and estimates can be only roughly approximate. Probably between 15 and 20 million military personnel were killed in action. Among the Axis powers, Germany suffered about 3.5 million battle dead, Japan 1.5 million, and Italy 200,000. Among the Allies the USSR had the heaviest battle casualties, as many as 7.5 million dead. China lost 2.2 million combatants from July 1937. The British lost more than 300,000 dead, the United States 292,000, and France 210,000.
Civilian dead numbered approximately 25 million. The USSR lost more than 10 million, China at least 6 million, France 400,000, the United Kingdom 65,000, and the United States 6,000. On the Axis side, Germany suffered the loss of 500,000 civilians, Japan 600,000, and Italy 145,000. In addition, about 6 million Jews, mostly from eastern Europe, were put to death by the Nazis.
Expenditures for war materials and armaments totaled at least $1.154 trillion. The United States alone spent about $300 billion on its war effort, Germany about $231 billion. Added to these enormous costs incurred by governments was the tremendous material damage done to property of all kinds, any estimate of which would be futile".
Source: Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc. 1995.