WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO AUGUST 1940
Find out what all happened January to August 1940

World War II: Battle of Cape Spada – The Royal Navy and the Regia Marina clash; the Italian light cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni sinks, with 121 casualties. (19. July 1940)

Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands flees her country to Great Britain after the German invasion. Princess Juliana takes her children to Canada for their safety. (13. May 1940)

World War II: Germany's conquest of France begins as the German army crosses the Meuse. Winston Churchill makes his "blood, toil, tears, and sweat" speech to the House of Commons. (13. May 1940)

World War II: Italy declares war on France and the United Kingdom. (10. June 1940)

World War II: Rotterdam is bombed by the German Luftwaffe. (14. May 1940)

World War II: sinking of the RMS Lancastria by the Luftwaffe near Saint-Nazaire, France. At least 3,000 are killed; Britain's worst maritime disaster. (17. June 1940)

In Mexico City, Mexico exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is fatally wounded with an ice axe by Ramón Mercader. He dies the next day. (20. August 1940)

World War II: Royal Marines land in Namsos, Norway in preparation for a larger force to arrive two days later. (14. April 1940)

World War II: the British Army's 11th Hussars assault and take Fort Capuzzo in Libya, Africa from Italian forces. (17. June 1940)

Igor Sikorsky performs the first successful single-rotor helicopter flight. (24. May 1940)

World War II: The Soviet Union formally annexes Latvia. (5. August 1940)

World War II: the Vichy government is established in France. (10. July 1940)

World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler surveys newly defeated Paris in now occupied France. (23. June 1940)

John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath. (6. May 1940)

World War II: The Battle of the Netherlands ends with the Netherlands surrendering to Germany. (14. May 1940)

Winter War: Finland signs the Moscow Peace Treaty with the Soviet Union, ceding almost all of Finnish Karelia. Finnish troops and the remaining population are immediately evacuated. (12. March 1940)

World War II: France officially surrenders to Germany at 01:35. (25. June 1940)

McDonald's opens its first restaurant in San Bernardino, California. (15. May 1940)

World War II: Axis Powers – Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet at the Brenner Pass in the Alps and agree to form an alliance against France and the United Kingdom. (18. March 1940)