- Europe
Second German invasion
Germany again invaded neutral Belgium on 10 May 1940, this time thrusting through the Ardennes, and rapidly overwhelmed the defending Belgian, French and British forces.
Era: The Two World Wars and the Gains of Versailles
Sources: German Invasion of Western Europe, May 1940 · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Belgium: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Surrender of King Leopold III
After eighteen days of fighting Leopold III surrendered the Belgian army without consulting his government, beginning four years of German occupation and a political crisis over the king's conduct.
Era: The Two World Wars and the Gains of Versailles
Sources: German Invasion of Western Europe, May 1940 · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Belgium: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Brazzaville, capital of Free France
After French Equatorial Africa rallied to General de Gaulle in 1940, Brazzaville became the effective capital of Free France, a base for organising resistance against Vichy and the Axis powers.
Era: French Equatorial Africa, forced labour, and the Congo-Ocean Railway
Sources: French Equatorial Africa · Wikipedia, The Brazzaville Conference, 1944 · BlackPast.org, Republic of the Congo · Encyclopædia Britannica
- Europe
German occupation of Denmark
Germany invaded on 9 April 1940 and Denmark surrendered within hours; a policy of negotiation gave way in August 1943 to direct German control and an active resistance movement.
Era: Occupation, the Welfare State and the Modern Realm
Sources: German occupation (1940-1945) · National Museum of Denmark, A Guide to the History of Recognition, Diplomatic, and Consular Relations: Denmark · U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian
- Europe
Soviet occupation and annexation
The Red Army occupied Estonia on 16-17 June 1940 and, after a staged election, the country was annexed into the Soviet Union in August, ending the independent republic.
Era: Occupation, Annexation and the Long Night
Sources: Estonia: Independence lost (Soviet occupation, World War II) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Estonia in the grip of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact · Estonian World
- Europe
Moscow Peace Treaty cedes Karelia
The Winter War ended in March 1940 with Finland keeping its independence but ceding much of Karelia, including Viipuri; the inhabitants of the lost lands were evacuated into the rest of Finland.
Era: The Winter War, the Continuation War and the Loss of Karelia
Sources: Russo-Finnish War (Winter War) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Finland during World War II · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
British occupation of Iceland
After Germany occupied Denmark, British forces occupied strategically vital Iceland in May 1940 to forestall a German move, severing Iceland's last constitutional ties to its monarch.
Era: Occupation, the Republic and NATO
Sources: History of Iceland from 1944 · nordics.info (Aarhus University), Iceland: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Italy enters the Second World War
Italy declared war on Britain and France, entering the Second World War as Germany's Axis ally, a decision that brought defeat, occupation and devastation.
Era: Liberal Italy, Fascism, War and the Republic
Sources: Italy (Fascism, racial laws and the Second World War) · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia, Italy (country overview and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Soviet occupation and annexation
The Red Army occupied Latvia in June 1940; after a staged election a puppet parliament requested incorporation, and the Soviet Union annexed the country in August 1940.
Era: Occupation, War and the Holocaust
Sources: About the Museum · Museum of the Occupation of Latvia, History of Latvia · Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia, United States Non-Recognition Policy · Wilson Center Digital Archive
- Africa
- Europe
Soviet occupation and annexation
The Soviet Union occupied Lithuania in June 1940 and annexed it in August as the Lithuanian SSR, an incorporation never recognised as lawful by the United States and most Western states.
Era: War, Soviet Occupation and the Partisan Struggle
Sources: German-Soviet Pact · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, History of Lithuania · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Second German invasion and annexation
The Wehrmacht overran Luxembourg on 10 May 1940; the government and Grand Duchess fled into exile, and the territory was placed under a German civil administration aimed at its full integration into the Reich.
Era: Two World Wars and the End of Neutrality
Sources: Occupation and Annexation during the Second World War: the Case of Luxembourg · Occupation Studies, Maastricht University (FASoS), Luxembourgers general strike against Nazi occupation, 1942 · Global Nonviolent Action Database, Swarthmore College
- Europe
The siege of Malta
From 1940 Malta, lying between Sicily and Axis North Africa, was subjected to relentless Italian and German bombing and a near-starvation blockade while its forces struck at Axis supply convoys.
Era: The George Cross Island and the European Republic
Sources: George Cross awarded to the island of Malta · Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund
- Europe
Soviet annexation of Bessarabia
Acting on the secret protocol of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the Red Army occupied Bessarabia after an ultimatum to Romania, ending more than two decades of Romanian rule.
Era: Soviet Moldavia: Annexation, Famine and Deportation
Sources: Bessarabia's Annexation: Impact and Legacy of the USSR Ultimatum · Radio Moldova (public broadcaster), Moldova: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
German invasion and occupation
Nazi Germany invades the neutral Netherlands; after the bombing of Rotterdam the country surrenders, beginning five years of occupation.
Era: The World Wars, Decolonisation and the Modern Netherlands
Sources: The Netherlands (Holocaust Encyclopedia) · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Europe
German invasion and the Quisling regime
Germany invaded on 9 April 1940; the king and government went into exile while Vidkun Quisling proclaimed a government, beginning five years of occupation and collaboration.
Era: Independence, Polar Sovereignty and the Second World War
Sources: Vidkun Quisling's illegal government in Oslo 1940 · Government of Norway (regjeringen.no), Norway: World War II · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Auschwitz-Birkenau and the Holocaust on Polish soil
Germany operated its largest concentration and extermination camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, where some 1.1 million people, overwhelmingly Jews, were murdered as part of the genocide carried out across occupied Poland.
Era: The Second Republic, the Second World War and the Nazi-Soviet Catastrophe
Sources: Auschwitz Birkenau German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940-1945) · UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Polish Victims · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Europe
Soviet seizure of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina
The Soviet Union demanded and took Bessarabia and northern Bukovina from Romania, the first of the 1940 territorial losses; Bessarabia, largely Romanian-speaking, became the core of the later Republic of Moldova.
Era: Dismemberment, the Second World War and communist rule
Sources: Romania · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Moldova and Romania: A Long and Complicated Relationship · Origins (Ohio State University / Miami University)
- Europe
Romania joins the Axis
After the loss of King Carol II's throne, General Ion Antonescu took power and brought Romania into the Axis, later joining the war against the Soviet Union and presiding over the murder of hundreds of thousands of Jews and Roma.
Era: Dismemberment, the Second World War and communist rule
Sources: Romania · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Ion Antonescu · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Italian occupation and British reconquest
Italy overran the protectorate in 1940; British forces retook it in 1941 and went on to capture Italian Somaliland, placing the region under British administration for a period.
Era: The British Somaliland Protectorate
Sources: British Somaliland · Wikipedia, British Somaliland: The Protectorate on the Horn of Africa · World History Encyclopedia
- Europe
Armed neutrality in the Second World War
Encircled by the Axis, Switzerland mobilised under General Henri Guisan, who rallied the army on the Rütli and adopted the Alpine Réduit defence; the country stayed unoccupied but later faced reckoning over refugees and looted assets.
Era: Neutral Switzerland: World Wars, Sovereignty and the Modern Confederation
Sources: Henri Guisan · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Neutrality · Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (aboutswitzerland.eda.admin.ch)
- Europe
Nazi occupation and mass death
The German occupation killed a quarter to a third of the population; the people of Belarus fell from about 9.2 million before the war to roughly 6.3 million by late 1944, with cities like Minsk left in ruins.
Era: Reunification, the Nazi Catastrophe and Soviet Belarus
Sources: Aftermath of the War · Archives of Belarus (archives.gov.by), History of Belarus · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Axis invasion and the NDH
The Axis dismembered Yugoslavia and incorporated Bosnia into the Ustaša-led Independent State of Croatia, whose terror against Serbs, Jews and Roma helped ignite a brutal multi-sided civil war.
Era: The Second World War and Socialist Bosnia
Sources: World War II and the establishment of ZAVNOBiH · Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
Japanese occupation begins
Japanese forces land at Kuala Belait and quickly occupy Brunei, seizing the strategically vital Seria oil fields; the occupation lasts until 1945.
Era: Oil, the Japanese Occupation, and the Road to Self-Government
Sources: History of Brunei · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Bulgaria joins the Axis
Bulgaria adhered to the Tripartite Pact in March 1941 and joined the German-led attack on Yugoslavia and Greece, occupying parts of Macedonia and Thrace it had long claimed.
Era: The Balkan Wars, the World Wars and the Saving of the Jews
Sources: Bulgaria: World War II · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Bulgaria · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
- Europe
The Independent State of Croatia (NDH)
Following the Axis invasion, Germany and Italy set up the Independent State of Croatia, a puppet state run by the fascist Ustase under Ante Pavelic, embracing Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Era: Yugoslavia, the Ustase Catastrophe and Socialist Croatia
Sources: Independent State of Croatia · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Ustasa (Croatian fascist movement) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
The Jasenovac camp
The Ustase regime operated its largest camp complex at Jasenovac, where it murdered an estimated 77,000 to 99,000 people, among them tens of thousands of Serbs, Jews and Roma, between 1941 and 1945.
Era: Yugoslavia, the Ustase Catastrophe and Socialist Croatia
Sources: Jasenovac · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Ustasa (Croatian fascist movement) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
British defeat Italy at Keren
Allied forces overcome Italian troops at the Battle of Keren; Asmara and Massawa surrender, ending Italian rule and beginning British military administration.
Era: Italy's First-Born Colony
Sources: Battle of Keren · Wikipedia, British Military Administration (Eritrea) · Wikipedia
- Europe
The Continuation War
Allied with Germany after its 1941 invasion of the USSR, Finland fought the Continuation War to recover Karelia, but a Soviet offensive in 1944 forced it to seek an armistice.
Era: The Winter War, the Continuation War and the Loss of Karelia
Sources: Finland during World War II · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Russo-Finnish War (Winter War) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Axis occupation of Greece
After resisting Italy in 1940, Greece was occupied by Germany, Italy and Bulgaria from 1941 to 1944, enduring a devastating famine and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians.
Era: The Modern Greek State
Sources: Axis occupation of Greece · Wikipedia, Greece (country overview and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- North America
Greenland under U.S. protection
With Denmark occupied, the Danish minister Henrik Kauffmann signed the Agreement Relating to the Defense of Greenland with the United States, placing the island under American protection and opening it to U.S. bases.
Era: War, the Cold War and the End of Colony
Sources: A Guide to the History of Recognition, Diplomatic, and Consular Relations: Denmark · U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, The history of US presence in Greenland · Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
- Europe
Hungary enters the war as an Axis ally
Seeking to keep and extend the lands restored by the Vienna Awards, Hungary joined Germany's war and took part in the invasion of the Soviet Union.
Era: The Second World War and the Holocaust in Hungary
Sources: The Holocaust in Hungary · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Europe
United States assumes Iceland's defence
By agreement with the Icelandic government, the United States took over the island's defence in 1941, building a substantial military presence in the North Atlantic.
Era: Occupation, the Republic and NATO
Sources: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1949, Vol. IV (Iceland and the North Atlantic Treaty) · U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, Iceland: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
Attack on Pearl Harbor
Japan attacks the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor, bringing the United States into World War II and opening the Pacific War.
Era: Meiji and Empire: Revolution from Above
Sources: Pacific War · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
The Rumbula massacre
Under the Nazi occupation, SS units led by Friedrich Jeckeln shot about twenty-five thousand Jews, chiefly from the Riga ghetto, in the Rumbula forest, among the largest single massacres of the Holocaust.
Era: Occupation, War and the Holocaust
Sources: Riga · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Europe
The Great Patriotic War
Nazi Germany's invasion of 22 June 1941 begins the war's deadliest theater; after the siege of Leningrad and the decisive victory at Stalingrad, Soviet forces reach Berlin in 1945 at a cost of roughly 27 million Soviet dead.
Era: The Soviet Union
Sources: Battle of Stalingrad · Encyclopaedia Britannica, The Eastern Front: The German War against the Soviet Union · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, World War II casualties of the Soviet Union · Wikipedia
- Europe
Axis invasion and occupation
Germany and its allies invaded and dismembered Yugoslavia in April 1941, placing Serbia under occupation and unleashing a multi-sided war of resistance and civil conflict.
Era: The Birth of Yugoslavia and the World Wars
Sources: Josip Broz Tito · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Serbia: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Axis partition of Slovenia
Following the invasion of Yugoslavia, the Axis powers carved up the Slovene lands among Germany, Italy and Hungary, while a Liberation Front founded in Ljubljana launched armed resistance.
Era: Into Yugoslavia: War, Partition and Contested Borders
Sources: Slovenia since 1918 · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of Slovenia · Government of Slovenia (gov.si)
- Europe
Babyn Yar massacre
German SS and police units shot 33,771 Jews at the Babyn Yar ravine outside Kyiv over two days; in all some 100,000 people were murdered there during the occupation.
Era: Soviet Ukraine, the Holodomor and the Second World War
Sources: Mass Shootings at Babyn Yar (Babi Yar) · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Babi Yar massacre site · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- North America
Attack on Pearl Harbor
Japan's surprise attack on the U.S. naval base in Hawaii brought the United States into the Second World War.
Era: Reconstruction, industrial rise, and the World Wars
Sources: Joint Address to Congress Leading to a Declaration of War Against Japan (1941) · U.S. National Archives
- Oceania
Bombing of Darwin
Japanese aircraft bombed Darwin during the Second World War, the largest attack ever mounted on Australia, prompting Australia to turn increasingly toward the United States for security.
Era: The world wars, immigration, and the twentieth century
Sources: Australia (country) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Djibouti rallies to Free France
After a period under Vichy control and blockade during the Second World War, the colony joins the Free French forces.
Era: The Railway and the Colony of French Somaliland
Sources: Djibouti (country and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of Djibouti · Wikipedia
- Asia
Japanese occupation of the Indies
Japan conquers the Dutch East Indies, ending Dutch rule; its occupation brings forced labour and hardship but also mobilises and arms Indonesian nationalists.
Era: Japanese Occupation, Independence and the Revolution
Sources: Indonesia (toward independence; Japanese occupation; after Suharto) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies · Wikipedia
- Europe
Conscription and the general strike
When the occupier imposed German citizenship and Wehrmacht conscription in August 1942, a general strike spread from 31 August, the first in Nazi-occupied Europe; the Germans declared martial law and executed twenty-one strikers.
Era: Two World Wars and the End of Neutrality
Sources: Luxembourgers general strike against Nazi occupation, 1942 · Global Nonviolent Action Database, Swarthmore College, Occupation and Annexation during the Second World War: the Case of Luxembourg · Occupation Studies, Maastricht University (FASoS)
- Asia
Japanese occupation and the fall of Singapore
Japanese forces overrun Malaya and capture Singapore on 15 February 1942, beginning a three-and-a-half-year occupation that shatters British prestige and deepens communal divisions.
Era: Occupation, the Emergency and Merdeka
Sources: Malaysia: Political transformation (occupation, federation, NEP) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Singapore falls to the Japanese, 1942 · National Library Board, Singapore
- Europe
Malta awarded the George Cross
King George VI awarded the George Cross to the whole island of Malta to honour its heroism and endurance under siege, the only time the decoration has been given to an entire population.
Era: The George Cross Island and the European Republic
Sources: George Cross awarded to the island of Malta · Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund
- Europe
The Holocaust in the Netherlands
From July 1942 the occupiers and Dutch collaborators deport some 107,000 Jews, mostly to Auschwitz and Sobibor; about 104,000 Dutch Jews are murdered, the highest proportion in Western Europe.
Era: The World Wars, Decolonisation and the Modern Netherlands
Sources: The Netherlands (Holocaust Encyclopedia) · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, The Netherlands: the greatest number of Jewish victims in Western Europe · Anne Frank House
- Oceania
The Kokoda Track campaign
Australian and Papuan troops halted the Japanese advance over the Owen Stanley Range toward Port Moresby and drove them back; over 600 Australians were killed in arguably Australia's most significant campaign of the war.
Era: The Second World War: Kokoda and Bougainville
Sources: Kokoda · Australian War Memorial, Australians in the Kokoda Track Campaign, 21 July to 16 November 1942 · Anzac Portal, Australian Department of Veterans' Affairs
- Oceania
Papuan carriers and soldiers
Papuan carriers moved supplies and the wounded across the mountains, and soldiers of the Papuan Infantry Battalion fought alongside Australian forces throughout the New Guinea campaigns.
Era: The Second World War: Kokoda and Bougainville
Sources: Kokoda · Australian War Memorial, Australians in the Kokoda Track Campaign, 21 July to 16 November 1942 · Anzac Portal, Australian Department of Veterans' Affairs
- Asia
Japanese occupation
Japan occupies the Philippines during the Second World War; guerrilla resistance and the campaign to retake the islands leave over a million Filipinos dead and Manila in ruins.
Era: Japanese Occupation, Independence and the Marcos Dictatorship
Sources: July 4, 1946: The Philippines Gained Independence from the United States · The National WWII Museum
- Europe
Deportation of Slovak Jews
Slovakia became the first Axis partner to consent to the deportation of its Jews; between March and October 1942 some 57,000 Slovak Jews were deported to German-occupied Poland, with more than 60,000 of Slovakia's Jews murdered overall.
Era: Czechoslovakia, the Slovak State and the Uprising
Sources: The Holocaust in Slovakia · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Jozef Tiso · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Oceania
US landings on Guadalcanal
US Marines land on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the first major American amphibious offensive of the war, seizing the future Henderson Field.
Era: Guadalcanal and the Turning of the Pacific War
Sources: Solomon Islands Campaign: Guadalcanal (collection) · Australian War Memorial, The Battle of Guadalcanal · The National WWII Museum, New Orleans
- Asia
Alliance with Japan in World War II
Phibun's government allies Thailand with Japan and declares war on Britain and the United States, while the Free Thai movement under Pridi resists covertly.
Era: Constitutional Revolution, the Name Thailand, and the World Wars
Sources: Thailand · Encyclopædia Britannica, Pridi Phanomyong · Encyclopædia Britannica
- Oceania
U.S. wartime bases on Efate and Santo
American forces built major bases in the islands during the Pacific War, flooding them with goods and personnel and transforming local society.
Era: The Anglo-French Condominium
Sources: Vanuatu — History (Melanesian, Colonization, Independence) · Encyclopædia Britannica
- Europe
The Khatyn massacre
German forces and auxiliaries burned the village of Khatyn with its inhabitants, one of hundreds of Belarusian villages annihilated in anti-partisan reprisals and a lasting symbol of the occupation's brutality.
Era: Reunification, the Nazi Catastrophe and Soviet Belarus
Sources: Aftermath of the War · Archives of Belarus (archives.gov.by)
- Europe
Deportations and the rescue of Bulgaria's Jews
Bulgaria deported over 11,000 Jews from occupied Thrace and Macedonia to Treblinka, but protests led by Dimitar Peshev and the Orthodox Church forced Tsar Boris III to cancel the deportation of the roughly 48,000 Jews of Bulgaria proper, who survived.
Era: The Balkan Wars, the World Wars and the Saving of the Jews
Sources: Bulgaria · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia, Bulgaria: World War II · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Rescue of the Danish Jews
Warned of a German round-up, Danes spirited more than 7,000 Jews across the sound to neutral Sweden, saving the great majority of the country's Jewish population from deportation.
Era: Occupation, the Welfare State and the Modern Realm
Sources: German occupation (1940-1945) · National Museum of Denmark
- Europe
Mussolini's fall and the armistice
Mussolini was ousted in July 1943 and Italy signed an armistice with the Allies on 8 September; Germany then occupied the north, and a violent civil war and Resistance followed.
Era: Liberal Italy, Fascism, War and the Republic
Sources: Italy (Fascism, racial laws and the Second World War) · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia, Italy (country overview and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Oceania
Japanese evacuate Guadalcanal
After a six-month seesaw campaign, Japan withdraws its forces; Guadalcanal becomes a turning point of the Pacific War.
Era: Guadalcanal and the Turning of the Pacific War
Sources: Battle of Guadalcanal · Encyclopædia Britannica, The Battle of Guadalcanal · The National WWII Museum, New Orleans
- Europe
Soviet reoccupation
After three years of Nazi occupation, the Soviet Union reconquered Estonia in 1944, beginning a second occupation marked by further mass deportations and armed 'Forest Brother' resistance.
Era: Occupation, Annexation and the Long Night
Sources: Estonia: Independence lost (Soviet occupation, World War II) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Commemoration in Tallinn of victims of the deportations of June 1941 · Government of the Republic of Estonia (valitsus.ee)
- Europe
Moscow Armistice and cession of Petsamo
The Moscow Armistice ended the Continuation War, restoring the 1940 border, returning Petsamo to the Soviet Union, leasing Porkkala as a naval base, and imposing reparations.
Era: The Winter War, the Continuation War and the Loss of Karelia
Sources: Finland during World War II · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Draft Peace Treaty with Finland (Paris Peace Treaty terms) · U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian (FRUS)
- Europe
- Europe
German occupation of Hungary
German forces occupied Hungary to keep it in the war and to deport its Jews, then the largest surviving Jewish community in Europe, numbering some 760,000 to 780,000 people.
Era: The Second World War and the Holocaust in Hungary
Sources: The Holocaust in Hungary · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Europe
The Forest Brothers' partisan war
Thousands of Lithuanians fought a guerrilla war against the returning Soviet forces; the partisan movement controlled much of the countryside before being crushed by the early 1950s.
Era: War, Soviet Occupation and the Partisan Struggle
Sources: Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania · Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania (genocid.lt), History of Lithuania · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Liberation and the Battle of the Bulge
Allied forces liberated Luxembourg in September 1944, but the German Ardennes offensive launched on 16 December 1944 overran the north of the country, which had to be liberated a second time before war's end.
Era: Two World Wars and the End of Neutrality
Sources: The Battle of the Bulge · The National WWII Museum, Luxembourgers general strike against Nazi occupation, 1942 · Global Nonviolent Action Database, Swarthmore College
- Oceania
The Bougainville campaign
More than 30,000 Australians fought a long campaign of patrols and small actions on Bougainville, with over 500 killed, until the Japanese garrison surrendered in August 1945.
Era: The Second World War: Kokoda and Bougainville
Sources: Bougainville's Hard Slog (1944–45 campaign) · Australian War Memorial, Australians in the Kokoda Track Campaign, 21 July to 16 November 1942 · Anzac Portal, Australian Department of Veterans' Affairs
- Europe
The Warsaw Uprising
The Polish Home Army rose against the German occupiers in Warsaw; after 63 days the rising was crushed, much of the city was destroyed and tens of thousands of civilians were killed.
Era: The Second Republic, the Second World War and the Nazi-Soviet Catastrophe
Sources: Polish Victims · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Europe
The bombing of San Marino
Despite the republic's neutrality, a British air raid on 26 June 1944, based on faulty intelligence later admitted, killed about sixty people in the small state.
Era: The Arengo, Fascism and the World Wars
Sources: World wars and fascism in San Marino, 1922-1945 · SanMarinoSite, San Marino in World War II · World War II Database
- Europe
Slovak National Uprising
The Slovak National Uprising broke out at Banská Bystrica against the Tiso regime and German occupation; after two months of fighting the rising was crushed on 27 October 1944 amid brutal reprisals.
Era: Czechoslovakia, the Slovak State and the Uprising
Sources: The Slovak National Uprising of 1944 · The National WWII Museum, New Orleans, History of Slovakia · Slovakia.travel (official tourism portal)
- Europe
Wartime neutrality and the liberation of Rome
Vatican City kept to neutrality under Pius XII during the Second World War; though Rome was occupied and then liberated by the Allies on 4 June 1944, the Vatican itself was not occupied.
Era: The Lateran Treaty and the Birth of Vatican City
Sources: Pius XII: World War II and the Holocaust · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
Allied liberation
Australian troops land in Brunei Bay during the Borneo Campaign, ending the Japanese occupation; the capital and much of the country lie in ruins from the fighting and must be rebuilt after the war.
Era: Oil, the Japanese Occupation, and the Road to Self-Government
Sources: History of Brunei · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Bandar Seri Begawan · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
Japan ends French rule; Sihanouk proclaims independence
Japan removes the French administration in the closing months of the war, and King Sihanouk briefly proclaims Cambodian independence before France returns.
Era: Decline, Foreign Pressure, and the French Protectorate
Sources: Cambodia Gains Independence from France · EBSCO Research Starters, Cambodia: World War II and its aftermath · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Unconditional surrender
Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, ending the Second World War in Europe and the Nazi regime amid the ruin of the country.
Era: Weimar, the Third Reich and the Second World War
Sources: The Holocaust and World War II: Key Dates · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Europe
The siege of Budapest
The months-long battle for the capital between German-Hungarian and Soviet forces destroyed much of historic Budapest, including the castle and the Danube bridges, as the Red Army completed its conquest of Hungary.
Era: The Second World War and the Holocaust in Hungary
Sources: Budapest, including the Banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter and Andrássy Avenue · UNESCO World Heritage Centre, The Holocaust in Hungary · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Asia
The Indonesian National Revolution
Indonesians wage a four-year armed and diplomatic struggle against Dutch attempts to reimpose colonial rule, enduring two major Dutch offensives and heavy losses.
Era: Japanese Occupation, Independence and the Revolution
Sources: Indonesia Regains Its Independence (Research Starters) · EBSCO
- Asia
Atomic bombings and surrender
The United States drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9; Japan announces surrender, formalized on September 2, ending World War II.
Era: Meiji and Empire: Revolution from Above
Sources: Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Pacific War · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
Japanese occupation and the Lao Issara
Japan ousts the French administration in March 1945; after Japan's surrender, the nationalist Lao Issara (Free Lao) forms a provisional government to resist the return of French rule.
Era: The French Protectorate
Sources: Lao Issara · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Laos: Under foreign rule · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
Chinese Civil War resumes; Communist victory
After Japan's surrender, full-scale civil war between Nationalists and Communists resumes, ending in 1949 with Communist victory and the retreat of Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government to Taiwan.
Era: The Fall of the Empire: Republic, Warlords, and War
Sources: China · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Greek Civil War
Following liberation, a civil war between communist and government forces tore the country apart until 1949, an early conflict of the Cold War that left lasting political divisions.
Era: The Modern Greek State
Sources: The Greek Civil War, 1944–1949 · The National WWII Museum, New Orleans, Greece (country overview and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
First Indochina War
War between France and the Viet Minh ends with the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu on 7 May 1954, terminating French colonial rule in Vietnam.
Era: The Wars: Independence, Division, and Reunification
Sources: First Indochina War · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Dien Bien Phu and the Fall of French Indochina, 1954 · U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian
- Africa
The Malagasy Uprising
A nationalist insurrection from March 1947 is suppressed with great loss of life; estimates range up to roughly 90,000 dead.
Era: French Conquest & Colony
Sources: Malagasy Uprising · Wikipedia, In Madagascar, People Remember One of the Deadliest French Colonial Wars in History · Global Voices
- South America
La Violencia
Partisan warfare between Liberals and Conservatives ravages the countryside, killing an estimated two hundred thousand or more Colombians.
Era: La Violencia and the National Front
Sources: History of Colombia · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Colombia: A Country Study · U.S. Library of Congress, Federal Research Division
- North America
Figueres leads the civil war
Jose Figueres Ferrer leads an armed uprising in support of president-elect Ulate; the two-month war kills about 2,000 people before the government surrenders.
Era: Civil War and the Abolition of the Army
Sources: Jose Figueres Ferrer · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
The Malayan Emergency
After the Malayan Communist Party launches a guerrilla insurgency, the government declares a state of emergency on 18 June 1948, beginning a counterinsurgency that lasts until 1960.
Era: Occupation, the Emergency and Merdeka
Sources: Malayan Emergency · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
The Nakba
During the war surrounding Israel's establishment, around 700,000 Palestinians were expelled or fled and, per UN figures, more than 500 villages were depopulated and destroyed.
Era: The British Mandate and the Nakba
Sources: About the Nakba · United Nations (Question of Palestine), Nakba · Wikipedia, Palestine - region, history · Encyclopaedia Britannica
War & Rupture in the 1940s
Every event in the Terralore archive tagged war and rupture — wars, invasions, conquests, battles and armed conflict, narrowed to the 1940s — 85 of them, drawn from 56 nations, running from 1940 to 1948. Each entry keeps the sources it was verified against and links back to the chronicle it came from.
- Events
- 85
- Nations
- 56
- Earliest
- 1940
- Latest
- 1948
- Europe
- 53
- Asia
- 15
- Oceania
- 7
- Africa
- 6
- North America
- 3
- South America
- 1
Every entry below is the same record, with the same sources, as the one on its nation’s chronicle.