1. Hitler escapes prison.
   Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany.
2. Hitler joins a Buddhist monastery.

On Jan. 30, 1933, Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, thanks largely to President Paul von Hindenburg. The Nazi Party continued its rise to power.

1. United States
   Ethiopia
2. Mexico

Oct. 3, 1935, is a vital date in the WWII timeline, as it marks Italy's invasion of Ethiopia. It was some of the first real European violence since WWI, and it created a de facto green light for the violence that followed.

1. Vietnam
   USSR
2. Japan

On July 7, 1937, Imperial Japan attacked China and began the Second Sino-Japanese War. In the end, this conflict became one of the bloodiest areas of all of WWII.

1. Spain
   Poland
2. Austria

It's a date that most historians mark as the beginning of WWII -- Sept 1, 1939. On that day Axis forces swept into Poland, beginning their westward march across the continent.

1. 2 days
   2 months
2. 2 years

Britain and France both had standing alliances with Poland. Two days after Germany invaded, they declared war … but it would be a long time before British and French troops took the field.

1. Denmark
   USSR
2. Norway

After a winter lull, the Germans went on the move again, invading Denmark and Norway in early April. Things were about to get seriously ugly.

1. France
   United States
2. Canada

It was the attack that had long been feared. On May 10, the Nazis swooped into France. The blitzkrieg savaged French units all across the country.

1. George Washington came back from the dead to fight the Nazis.
   Churchill became prime minister.
2. Disneyland opened.

On May 10, Winston Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlin as prime minister of Britain. Churchill went on to become one of the most effective political leaders of the Allied war effort.

1. Peru
   Sudan
2. Italy

On June 10, after much hemming and hawing, Mussolini decided to join the Germans in the plundering of Europe. It was a decision that, years later, he'd come to regret.

1. Berlin
   Paris
2. London

It took the Germans just a few weeks to blast through French defenses. On June 14, they rolled into Paris, which had surrendered rather than be blown to smithereens.

1. Battle of Midway
   Battle of Okinawa
2. Dunkirk evacuation

Stuck between the ocean and the Nazis at Dunkirk, Allied forces were in danger of annihilation. Then, the British government called for everyone who had a boat to cross the Channel and save whoever they could. The Dunkirk evacuation saved 340,000 soldiers, who would later fight again.

1. Battle of Amiens
   Battle of Britain
2. Battle of the Bands

The German Luftwaffe began its air assault on Britain on July 10, 1940. British fighter planes swarmed into the air and shot down the Nazis by the hundreds during the Battle of Britain.

1. Japan
   Germany
2. Portugal

The Tripartite Pact was an ominous agreement creating the alliance of Germany, Italy and Japan, the three core nations of the Axis. Their names are forever linked to the historical shame of WWII atrocities.

1. Case White
   Operation Barbarossa
2. Operation Overlord

In 1941. as the British refused to surrender, Hitler's little mustache began trembling in rage. In exasperation, he turned his attention to Operation Barbarossa, an enormous attack on the USSR … the very country that helped Germany conquer Poland at the war's start.

1. June 2, 1940
   Dec. 7, 1941
2. Nov. 23, 1912

On Dec. 7, 1941, President Roosevelt gave a bleak announcement to America -- the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. He swore it was a date that would "live in infamy," and he was right.

1. bonfire
   party
2. budget

In early January, a month after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt announced the biggest expansion to the federal budget in history. After all, beating the Nazis and Japanese wouldn't be cheap.

1. Battle of Iwo Jima
   Battle of Stalingrad
2. Battle of Anzio

Hitler coveted Stalingrad, a major Soviet city, and he attacked in August 1942. For months, the Germans tried to bomb the Soviets into submission, but instead, the Red Army reared up and delivered the Nazis a resounding defeat in February 1943.

1. Moscow
   Gazala
2. Midway

Half a year after Pearl Harbor, American troops yeared for vengeance against the Japanese. At the Battle of Midway, they got it, sinking all four of Japan's large aircraft carriers during the ferocious assault.

1. Japan
   Germany
2. Italy

On Sept. 8, with Mussolini on the run, Italy surrendered and bowed out of the war. Italy granted the Allies access to the southern peninsula, and they soon landed there with the aim of pushing out the Germans.

1. Warsaw
   Rome
2. Cairo

After the fall of Mussolini, Italy became an easier target for the Allies. On June 5, they rolled into Rome, greeted by delirious citizens.

1. Ireland
   Algeria
2. Normandy

June 6 saw the start of Operation Overlord, the attempted Allied liberation of Europe. The attacks started with an amphibious landing on the beaches of Normandy in France.

1. Battle of Anzio
   Battle of the Bulge
2. Battle of the Coral Sea

The Nazis were all but beaten when they initiated a surprise attack on Dec. 16, 1944. Frozen American troops were shocked by the assault but dug in for a fight that made headlines around the world.

1. A plot to kill Hitler
   A plan to bomb Berlin
2. A plot of land near Moscow

On July 20, 1944, some of Hitler's men tried to kill him. Instead, Hitler miraculously survived … and thousands of people were punished as a result.

1. 6 months
   20 weeks
2. 4 years

Paris fell in June 1940. It wasn't liberated until August 1944, after four long years of German occupation.

1. Duplicity
   Trinity
2. Shorty

On July 16, the United States initiated Trinity, the first atomic bomb test, conducted in the desert of New Mexico. The successful test created a gigantic fireball and paved the way for wartime use.

1. United States
   China
2. USSR

Early January saw the liberation -- at last -- of the Auschwitz concentration camp, where the Nazis had murdered countless innocent people. The Soviets were greeted as heroes.

1. Joseph Stalin
   President Roosevelt
2. Winston Churchill

After years of declining health, President Roosevelt died on April 12. Harry S. Truman took his place and wound up making some of the most important decisions of the war.

1. Germany surrendered.
   Canada attacked Berlin.
2. America withdrew from the war.

On May 2, 1945, more than half a decade after starting the worst war in history, Germany surrendered. Hitler killed himself a day earlier. Sadly, for America, the war was far from over.

1. Fiji
   China
2. Japan

In early August, America dropped atomic bombs on Japan, one on Hiroshima and one on Nagasaki. After the second bomb, Japan's leaders feared the obliteration of their country.

1. True
2. False

Sept. 2, 1945 was V-J Day (Victory over Japan Day). Finally, the Japanese realized that there was no way forward. They surrendered on a battleship named the USS Missouri … and WWII came to an official end.