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Period: to
Allies Invade North Africa
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The US Navy defeats the Japanese navy at the Battle of Midway
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The Allies invade and take the island of Sicily
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Period: to
Allies Invade Italy
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Italy surrenders to the Allies
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D-Day
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Paris is liberated from German control
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The Germans launch a large attack in the Battle of the Bulge
They lose to the Allies sealing the fate of the German army -
F. Roosevelt's fourth inauguration
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US Marines invade the island of Iwo Jima
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The US Third Army under General Patton crosses the Rhine River
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US President Franklin Roosevelt dies
He is succeeded by President Harry Truman -
Adolf Hitler commits suicide
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Germany surrenders to the Allies
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First atomic bomb is detonated at Alamogordo, N.M
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The United States drops the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima
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Another atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasak
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Japan surrenders to US General Douglass MacArthur and the Allies
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United Nations is established
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The Philippines become independent
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CIA is established
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Soviets begin blockade of Berlin
The first major crisis of the cold war -
U.S. and Great Britain begin airlift of food and fuel to West Berlin
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Truman's second inauguration
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North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is established
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Soviets end blockade of Berlin
Air support continues until September 30 -
North Korean communists invade South Korea
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President Truman commits American troops to battle
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Twenty-Second Amendment to the Constitution is ratified
Limits the president to two terms -
President Truman removes Gen. Douglas MacArthur as head of U.S. Far East Command
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President Truman speaks in first coast-to-coast live television broadcast
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Puerto Rico becomes a U.S. commonwealth
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First hydrogen bomb is detonated by the U.S. on Eniwetok
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Dwight Eisenhower is inaugurated as the 34th president
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Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are executed for passing secret information about U.S. atomic weaponry to the Soviets
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Armistice agreement is signed in Korea