January
Finnish forces inflict casualties on the Soviets

February
The war in Finland continues

March
Finland is defeated by the Soviet Union and is forced to accept peace terms

April
Germany invades Denmark and Norway

May
Germany invades Holland and Belgium

June
France surrenders

July
Local Defence Volunteers, later called the Home Guard is formed

August
Southern England is attacked by Nazi warplanes

September
The Battle of Britain is fought in the air over London and the south east of England

October
Battle begins for control of the Atlantic Ocean

November
Roosevelt wins United States Presidential election once again

December
Britain prepares for Christmas

January
Commonwealth troops capture Tobruk in north Africa

February
Rommel's Afrika Korps arrive in Tripoli

March
The United States announces the Lend-Lease Pact in order to aid Allied states

April
Yugoslavia falls to the Germans

May
The Bismarck is sunk

June
Germany invades the Soviet Union

July
American troops land in Iceland to protect it from the Germans

August
Atlantic Charter agreed

September
Wehrmacht arrives at Lenningrad

October
Wehrmacht nears the gates of Moscow

November
Ark Royal sunk by the Italian navy

December
Japan bombs the US navy at Pearl Harbor; the USA joins the war

January
Nazis agree the 'Final Solution'

February
Singapore falls to Japan

March
RAF begins bombing campaign in Germany

April
Japan bombs Ceylon

May
Red Army foils Nazi spring offensive

June
USA routs Japan in the Battle of Midway

July
German advance in north Africa is halted at El Alamein

August
American victory in the Solomon Islands

September
The Battle for Stalingrad rages on

October
The Battle of El Alamein begins

November
The Red Army counter attacks at Stalingrad

December
The Beveridge Report, proposing a welfare state, is published

January
Soviet victory at Stalingrad

February
A Soviet advance captures the cities of Kursk and Rostov from the Nazis

March
The RAF bombs German industry

April
Germans uncover a grave of 4,000 Polish officers killed by the Red Army

May
The Dambusters Raid

June
The island of Pantelleria near Sicily is taken by the Allies

July
Allied forces land on Sicily; Mussolini deposed

August
Hamburg bombed

September
Italy signs an armistice

October
Italy declares war on Germany

November
Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill meet at the Tehran Conference

December
The German battleship Scharnhorst is sunk

January
Allied forces land at Anzio near Rome

February
Allies bomb the monastery at Monte Cassino

March
British coal miners stage an unofficial strike

April
The Red Army enters Crimea

May
The Allies cross Monte Cassino line in Italy

June
The D Day landings

July
Hitler survives an assassination attempt

August
The Allies arrive in Paris

September
Allied troops reach Germany

October
The Allies reach the German town of Aachen

November
Roosevelt wins fourth term of office as US president

December
Civil war in Greece

January
The Red Army liberates Auschwitz Concentration Camp

February
The bombing of Dresden

March
The Allies cross the Rhine

April
The Red Army arrives in Berlin

May
Germany surrenders

June
Campaigning starts for the UK general election

July
Labour wins the UK general election

August
Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; Japan surrenders

September
Foreign ministers' conference is held in London

October
Juan Perón elected President of Argentina

November
Illingworth looks at post war problems

December
The United States agrees a loan to Britain

January
The UN holds its first session

February
Fears of civil war in India

March
Churchill delivers the 'Iron Curtain' speech

April
International Summit meeting in Paris

May
Bread rationing begins in Britain

June
The USA test a nuclear bomb in Bikini Atoll

July
A bomb explodes at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem

August
Britain prevents Jewish refugees from arriving in Palestine

September
Nehru elected Prime Minister of India

October
Nazi leaders are executed at Nuremberg

November
Discussions held on India's constitution

December
Plans are published to nationalise railways and ports in Britain

January
National Coal Board established

February
Blizzards cripple Britain

March
Discussions take place on the future of Germany

April
Taxes rise in the UK budget

May
The British cabinet agrees to the partition of India

June
The Marshall Plan offers aid to rebuild western Europe

July
The Soviet Union rejects the Marshall Plan

August
A financial crisis hits Britain

September
Britain announces that it is withdrawing from Palestine

October
De Gaulle calls a general election in France

November
Prince Philip marries Princess Elizabeth

December
The Allies agree a plan for Germany's future

January
Gandhi is assassinated; Doctors oppose the setting up of the National Health Service

February
Communists seize power in Czechoslovakia

March
The government announces a purge of communists in the civil service

April
The Soviet Union stops road and rail traffic to Berlin

May
Israel proclaims its independence

June
The Berlin airlift begins

July
The NHS begins operation

August
Western Powers excluded from the Danube River Authority

September
The Berlin airlift continues

October
Members of the Commonwealth meet in London

November
Harry S Truman wins the US Presidential election

December
The Berlin airlift continues

January
Trouble continues in Palestine

February
The Berlin airlift continues

March
Plans for NATO published

April
Ireland and India become republics

May
Allied sectors unite to form West Germany

June
George Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-four' is published

July
Dockers in Britain go on strike

August
The Council of Europe meets for the first time

September
Sterling is devalued by 30%

October
East Germany established

November
China proclaims itself a communist republic

December
Goods are still in short supply in Britain