Curated playlist
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 methodical dismemberment, stretching across seven years and carried out in stages…
- 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 western border in September 1939, while the Polish cities burned. Against them…
- 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 of Danzig. Within hours, bombers were striking cities. By morning, three separate…
- 1939–1940 Winter OffensiveThe 1939-1940 Winter Offensive pitted the National Revolutionary Army against the Imperial Japanese Army in the Second Sino-Japanese War. It marked the first time Chinese forces struck back on multiple fronts at once. The attack fell short…
- 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. A newly created republic, less than six months old, was already marching into its…
- 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. Factories were operating. A French Navy ship loaded with Renault R35 tanks was sailing…
- 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. Within hours, bombers struck Helsinki, killing around 100 civilians and leveling more than 50 buildings.…
- Battle of Changsha (1939)The First Battle of Changsha opened on the 17th of September 1939. It came roughly two weeks after Germany's invasion of Poland had begun what the world would call World War II. That timing made it one of the first significant engagements…
- 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 southeastern Europe. On the 7th of April 1939, General Alfredo Guzzoni led…
- 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 grassland to find grazing for their horses. Within days, what started as a skirmish over…
- 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 carried out the strategic bombing of cities. Aircraft also delivered the only…
- 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 China endured 268 air raids. Some brought a few dozen aircraft. Others brought over…
- 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. Two of the world's great powers had declared war on Nazi Germany. Their armies sat fully…