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World War II occupied territories

  • German occupation of Estonia during World War IINazi Germany invaded Estonia between July and December 1941, marking the start of a three-year occupation. Most Estonians initially greeted German troops as…
  • German occupation of AlbaniaOn the 8th of September 1943, Italy signed an armistice with Allied forces. This event triggered a rapid shift in power across Albania.
  • Italian occupation of FranceOn the 10th of June 1940, Italy declared war against France and Britain. Ten days later, Italian troops crossed into French territory.
  • Anglo-Soviet invasion of IranIn 1940, Britain faced a war with Germany in North Africa and grew deeply concerned about German access to the Persian Gulf.
  • Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet UnionEarly in the morning of the 24th of August 1939, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed a ten-year non-aggression pact.
  • BizoneWorld War II ended with Germany divided into four distinct occupation zones. The Americans controlled the southern lands while the British held the western…
  • Allied-occupied GermanyOn the 5th of June 1945, the Berlin Declaration dissolved the German government entirely. No sovereign authority remained to negotiate with the Allies.
  • Axis occupation of GreeceThe early morning hours of the 28th of October 1940 marked the beginning of a catastrophic chain of events for Greece. Italian ambassador Emanuele Grazzi…
  • Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–1945)Germany's economy faced a severe crisis in 1937 as the Four-Year Plan strained foreign exchange reserves. The German government needed to import raw…
  • Protectorate of Bohemia and MoraviaAdolf Hitler stood inside the historic walls of Prague Castle on the 16th of March 1939 to declare a new political reality.
  • SudetenlandThe word Sudetenland did not exist as a unified territory before 1938. It emerged from the German language compound of Sudeten, referring to the mountain…
  • Italian East AfricaBenito Mussolini stood before the Blackshirts in Rome on the 24th of October 1922. The March on Rome marked the beginning of his fascist regime and a new era…
  • Soviet occupation zone in GermanyOn the 2nd of August 1945, the Soviet Union established control over a specific middle portion of Germany through the Potsdam Agreement.
  • Occupation of JapanOn the 2nd of September 1945, a formal surrender ceremony took place aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. General Douglas MacArthur stood before…
  • Syria–Lebanon campaignOn the 1st of April 1941, Iraq fell under the control of nationalists led by Rashid Ali al-Gaylani. This regime appealed for support from Italy and Germany.
  • Allied-occupied AustriaOn the 29th of March 1945, Soviet commander Fyodor Tolbukhin's troops crossed the former Austrian border at Klostermarienberg in Burgenland.
  • Battle of MadagascarDiego-Suarez is a large bay with a fine harbour near the northern tip of Madagascar. It has an opening to the east through a narrow channel called Oronjia…
  • General GovernmentOn the 8th of October 1939, Adolf Hitler issued a decree that claimed the Polish government had completely collapsed. This document served as the legal basis…
  • Occupation of the Baltic statesEarly in the morning of the 24th of August 1939, the Soviet Union and Germany signed a ten-year non-aggression pact. This agreement contained a secret…
  • World War II in YugoslaviaWorld War II in Yugoslavia was not one war but several, all happening at the same time. On the 6th of April 1941, the German Luftwaffe bombed Belgrade, and…
  • German military administration in occupied France during World War IIGerman soldiers marched past the Arc de Triomphe on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris during June 1940. This moment marked the beginning of a military…
  • 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…
  • German-occupied EuropeGermany and its Axis partners governed more than half of Europe's population by 1942. This vast territory stretched from Franz Josef Land in the Soviet Union…