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Conflicts in 1939

  • Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–1945)On the 1st of October 1938, German troops crossed into the Sudetenland, and Czechoslovakia began to disappear. What followed was not a sudden conquest but a…
  • Saar OffensiveThe Saar Offensive begins with a number that tells you almost everything: 110. That was the count of French and British divisions stationed along Germany's…
  • Invasion of PolandAt 04:45 on the 1st of September 1939, the old German battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire on a Polish military depot at Westerplatte, in the Free City…
  • 1939–1940 Winter OffensiveThe 1939-1940 Winter Offensive pitted the National Revolutionary Army against the Imperial Japanese Army in the Second Sino-Japanese War.
  • Slovak invasion of PolandThe Slovak invasion of Poland began at 5:00 a.m. on the 1st of September 1939, in the same opening hours as Nazi Germany's larger assault to the north.
  • Soviet invasion of PolandOn the morning of the 17th of September 1939, Polish schools were still open across the six easternmost voivodeships of Poland. Rail lines were running.
  • Winter WarThe Winter War began on the 30th of November 1939, when the Soviet Union sent 21 divisions and 450,000 men across the Finnish border.
  • Battle of Changsha (1939)The First Battle of Changsha began on the 17th of September 1939, just two weeks after Germany invaded Poland. This timing was no accident for the Japanese…
  • Italian invasion of AlbaniaThe Italian invasion of Albania lasted only days in April 1939, yet its consequences rippled through the Second World War and reshaped the political map of…
  • Battles of Khalkhin GolThe Battles of Khalkhin Gol began on the 11th of May 1939, with a patrol of Mongolian cavalry, somewhere between 70 and 90 men, riding into disputed…
  • World War IIWorld War II killed between 60 and 75 million people, making it the deadliest conflict in history. Tanks and aircraft reshaped the battlefield, and aircraft…
  • Bombing of ChongqingThe Bombing of Chongqing began on the 18th of February 1938 and did not end until the 19th of December 1944. For nearly seven years, the wartime capital of…
  • Phoney WarThe Phoney War lasted eight months, from September 1939 to May 1940, and it may be one of the strangest intervals in the history of modern warfare.