DATE	EVENT
1939/09	Germany invaded Poland, starting the war in Europe.
1940	The Igbo Union was founded to represent the interests of the Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria. When it began to establish links with the National Council of Nigeria and Cameroon, western Nigerians formed the (Yoruba) Egbe Omo Oduduwa association.
1940	African soliders made up roughly nine percent of the French army after the attack by Germany began.
1940/07/03	British sink French fleet at Mers el-Kebir, Algeria.
1940/08	Free French forces captured Libreville, Gabon.
1940/09	Free French forces failed to capture Dakar following resistance by Vichy governor Pierre Boisson.
1940/10/08	De Gaulle arrived in Douala, Cameroon, from Dakar with a British escort. During the next two weeks, he sought French support in FEA and received it from F‚lix bou‚, Governor of Ubangui-Chari.
1940/10/24	The Franco-German peace treaty ended hostilities and initiated the government of Vichy.
1940/10/26	De Gaulle reached Brazzaville and declared it to be the capital of the Free French.
1941/early	The first British landings were made along the Somali coast.
1941/08/14	The Atlantic Charter issued by Britain and the USA listed "the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live" as one of the reasons for opposing facism.
1941/11/10	African mineworkers in Katanga went on strike for two days.
1941/12/04-10	The strike by Katangan mineworkers mushroomed into a general strike.
1941/11/29	Britain completed the conquest of the Italian East Africa.
1942	The Wafd party accepted control of the Egyptian government following Farouk's dismissal of the pro-German minister.
1942	Under British occupation, Ismail al-Azhari formed the National Unionist Party (Ashiqqa) of Somalia.
1942/06/11	First Free French victory at Bir Hakeim in the Fezzan, Libya.
1942/late	British forces from Egypt captured Italian-ocupied Libya.
1942/late	American and British forces landed in Algeria.
1943	In Morocco, the nationalist Indpendence Party (Istiqlal) formed.
1943	Young leaders formed the Somali Youth League in 1943.
1943/01/25	Free French reached Tripoli, Libya and made contact with Montgomery's army.
1943/05/12	Allied forces advancing from Algeria captured the last Italian forces in Tunisia.
1943/09	Italy surrendered.
1944	Sudanese students in Cairo founded the Sudan Movement of National Liberation (SMNL). The SMNL was outlawed, but later it provided the nucleus for the Sudan Communist Party.
1944	The first mass party of the modern era was founded in Nigeria by Herbert Macauley and Nnamdi Azikiwe (president and general secretary), the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC).
1944	The Arab League was founded by Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
1944/01/30	Congress of Brazzaville began.
1944/02/08	Congress of Brazzaville ended.
1944/06/06	D-Day invasion.
1944/09	African troops were excluded from the Liberation of Paris.
1944/12/01	35 African soldiers were killed by French troops at a demobilization camp at Thiaroye (near Dakar, Senegal) when they protested the witholding of pay and other benefits.
1944/09	African soldiers in the Belgian Congo revolted and received support from both peasants and African industrial workers.
1945/05	German surrendered.
1945/06	The United Nations was formed.
1945/08	Japan surrendered.
SELECTED POST WAR EVENTS
1947/04	India and Pakistan became independent from the British Empire.
1947/11	Ceylon became independent.
1948/01	Burma became independent.
1948	Elections in South African were won by the Afrikaner Nationalist Party.
1948/05	Israel became independent.
1949	Mao Tse Tung took over the Chinese government.