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Conflicts in 1940

  • Italian invasion of EgyptIn June 1940, Italy declared war on France and Britain from the coast of Libya. The Italian 10th Army stood ready to cross into neutral Egypt.
  • Dunkirk evacuationGermany invaded Poland in September 1939, triggering a declaration of war from France and the British Empire. The British Expeditionary Force landed at…
  • Italian invasion of British SomalilandOn the 9th of May 1936, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini proclaimed the foundation of Italian East Africa. This new colony combined Italian Eritrea, Italian…
  • Battle of FranceOn the 10th of May 1940, the Wehrmacht armies invaded Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and parts of France. This campaign marked the end of a period…
  • German invasion of Belgium (1940)A pacifist rally gathered in Heysel, near Brussels, in 1936. This scene captured the deep social fracture within Belgium regarding its defense policy.
  • North African campaignOn the 11th of June 1940, British forces launched raids against Italian positions in Libya. This action followed Italy's declaration of war on France and the…
  • Attack on Mers-el-KébirOn the 25th of June 1940, the armistice between France and Nazi Germany came into effect. This agreement left the French Navy intact but under a new…
  • German invasion of the NetherlandsOn the 10th of April 1940, Britain and France repeated their request that the Dutch enter the war on their side. The government of the Netherlands refused…
  • 1939–1940 Winter OffensiveThe Chinese National Revolutionary Army launched a multi-front counter-offensive in the winter of 1939. This operation marked the first major coordinated…
  • German invasion of Denmark (1940)On the 4th of April, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, chief of the Abwehr and a man involved in the German resistance to Nazism, warned the Danes of an imminent…
  • Japanese invasion of French IndochinaJapan moved troops into southern Guangxi and Longzhou County in early 1940. Their goal was to seize the eastern branch of the Kunming, Hai Phong Railway at…
  • Battle of BritainWinston Churchill spoke to the House of Commons on the 18th of June, 1940. He declared that the Battle of France was over and that the Battle of Britain was…
  • Winter WarOn the 30th of November 1939, Soviet forces invaded Finland with 21 divisions totaling 450,000 men. This attack came three months after the outbreak of World…
  • Italian invasion of FranceBenito Mussolini stood before the Fascist Grand Council on the 30th of November 1938 and declared that Italy needed to reclaim territories like Corsica…
  • Balkans campaign (World War II)The Italian invasion of Greece began on the 28th of October 1940. Italian forces crossed the border and made limited gains in the initial days.
  • Operation WeserübungBy the spring of 1939, the British Admiralty began to view Scandinavia as a potential theatre of war in a future conflict with Nazi Germany.
  • East African campaign (World War II)On the 9th of May 1936, the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini proclaimed the formation of Italian East Africa from Ethiopia after the Second Italo-Abyssinian…
  • Greco-Italian WarOn the 4th of February 1939, Benito Mussolini addressed the Fascist Grand Council and declared Greece to be a vital enemy of Italy.
  • Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern BukovinaIn 1812, the Treaty of Bucharest transferred Bessarabia from the Ottoman Empire to the Russian Empire. This region had been a vassal state of the Ottomans as…
  • Siege of Malta (World War II)In June 1940, the British Crown Colony of Malta held a population of around 250,000 people. Most lived within two miles of Grand Harbour, where density…
  • Battle of TarantoThe Mediterranean Sea became a deadly choke point in 1940. British convoys traveling from Gibraltar to Egypt faced constant threats from Italian naval forces.
  • Bombing of ChongqingThe first Japanese air raid on Chongqing struck the city on the 18th of February 1938, marking the start of a campaign that would last until December 1944.
  • Hundred Regiments OffensiveIn the summer of 1940, Japanese forces in North China tightened their grip on anti-Japanese base regions through a strategy known as the prison cage policy.
  • Phoney WarAn 8-inch howitzer sat silent in France during the autumn of 1939. This image captures the stillness that defined the first eight months of World War II.