From the Invasion of Poland (1939) to Hiroshima (1945)
Study the decisive moments of the Second World War: the German Blitzkrieg, the Battle of Britain, the Holocaust, Operation Barbarossa, the D-Day landings and the atomic bombs on Japan. Multiple-choice exam based on the official curriculum.
The Second World War (1939–1945) was the largest and deadliest conflict in history, with over 60 million dead. It pitted the Allies (Britain, France, the USSR and the United States) against the Axis powers (Hitler’s Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan). It began with the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 and ended in 1945.
It was a total, global war, fought across Europe, North Africa, the Atlantic and the Pacific. It saw milestones such as the German Blitzkrieg, the Battle of Britain, Operation Barbarossa against the USSR, the D-Day landings and the Holocaust, the systematic extermination of six million Jews.
Its consequences shaped today’s world: the founding of the UN, the division of Europe and the start of the Cold War. Revise its chronology, battles and key figures with the games below.
1 Sep 1939
Germany invades Poland; Britain and France declare war.
1940
Fall of France and the Battle of Britain.
22 Jun 1941
Operation Barbarossa: Germany invades the USSR.
7 Dec 1941
Japan attacks Pearl Harbor; the USA enters the war.
1942–43
Battle of Stalingrad, the turning point on the Eastern Front.
6 Jun 1944
D-Day landings in Normandy.
1945
Germany surrenders (May) and atomic bombs fall on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August): the war ends.
Revise the subject with our interactive games and exams:
Write the exact year of each key event within a margin of error. Ideal for mastering the chronology.
Play →Place events in chronological order without seeing the year. Pure historical intuition.
Play →Read real newspaper headlines from the period and decide if they are true or false.
Play →Guess the secret historical figure using logical clues.
Play →Contemporary World History · Secondary, Sixth Form
The Treaty of Versailles as the seed of conflict, the rise of Nazism, and the Cold War as a direct consequence. WWII does not arise from nowhere and does not end without repercussions.
Hitler, Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Rommel. The exam places each figure in their context and on their side.
Western Front, Eastern Front, Pacific. Understanding where things happened is essential for remembering why they happened.
"A Year 12 student who always confused Operation Overlord with Operation Barbarossa understands the difference after seeing the question alongside a map of Europe."
Tricks and techniques to master this topic faster:
Basic timeline: invasion of Poland (Sept. 1939) → fall of France (1940) → Barbarossa (1941) → Pearl Harbor (Dec. 1941) → D-Day Normandy (Jun. 1944) → VE Day (May 1945) → Hiroshima (Aug. 1945).
Allies: USA, UK, USSR, France. Axis: Germany, Italy, Japan.
The Holocaust: 6 million Jews murdered. Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Sobibor are the most commonly mentioned extermination camps in exams.
For Sixth Form: causes include the Treaty of Versailles (1919), the Great Depression (1929) and the failure of the League of Nations.
If you are studying World War II — History Exam, these curriculum topics complement each other:
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