Period 6 Timeline

Transfer of British Hong Kong to China

1997 BCE

Transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong. The transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China, referred to as "the Handover" internationally or "the Return" in China, took place on 1 July 1997.

Collapse of USSR

1991 BCE

On December 25, 1991, the Soviet hammer and sickle flag lowered for the last time over the Kremlin, thereafter replaced by the Russian tricolor. Earlier in the day, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned his post as president of the Soviet Union, leaving Boris Yeltsin as president of the newly independent Russian state

Reunification of Germany

1990 BCE

The German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic (GDR/DDR/East Germany) joined the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG/West Germany) to form the reunited nation of Germany, and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The end of the unification process is officially referred to as German unity, celebrated on 3 October (German Unity Day)

Persian Gulf War

1990 BCE

Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion and occupation of neighboring Kuwait in early August 1990. Alarmed by these actions, fellow Arab powers such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt called on the United States and other Western nations to intervene. Hussein defied United Nations Security Council demands to withdraw from Kuwait by mid-January 1991, and the Persian Gulf War began with a massive U.S.-led air offensive known as Operation Desert Storm.

Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan

1988 BCE

The withdrawal of Soviet combatant forces from Afghanistan began on 15 May 1988 and successfully executed on 15 February 1989 under the leadership of Colonel-General Boris Gromov who also was the last Soviet general officer to walk from Afghanistan back into Soviet territory through the Afghan-Uzbek Bridge.

Iran-Iraq War

1980 BCE

The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq lasting from 22 September 1980, when Iraq invaded Iran, to August 1988. The war followed a long history of border disputes, and was motivated by fears that the Iranian Revolution in 1979 would inspire insurgency among Iraq's long-suppressed Shi'ite majority, as well as Iraq's desire to replace Iran as the dominant Persian Gulf state.

Revolution in Iran

1978 BCE

The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty under Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, who was supported by the United States, and its eventual replacement with an Islamic Republic under the Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the revolution, supported by various leftist and Islamist organizations and student movements.

US troops in Vietnam

1973 BCE

Direct U.S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973. The capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese Army in April 1975 marked the end of the war, and North and South Vietnam were reunified the following year.

Creation of PLO

1964 BCE

The Palestinian National Council convened in Jerusalem on 28 May 1964. Concluding this meeting the PLO was founded on 2 June 1964. Its stated goal was the "liberation of Palestine" through armed struggle.

Construction of Berlin Wall

1961 BCE

The Berlin Wall. During the early years of the Cold War, West Berlin was a geographical loophole through which thousands of East Germans fled to the democratic West. In response, the Communist East German authorities built a wall that totally encircled West Berlin. It was thrown up overnight, on 13 August 1961.

Sino-Soviet Rift

1960 BCE

The Sino-Soviet split was the deterioration of political and ideological relations between the neighboring states of the People's Republic of China and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics during the Cold War.

Castro comes to power in Cuba

1959 BCE

Cuban leader Fidel Castro established the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere after leading an overthrow of the military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959. He ruled over Cuba for nearly five decades, until handing off power to his younger brother Raúl in 2008. During that time, Castro’s regime was successful in reducing illiteracy, stamping out racism and improving public health care, but was widely criticized for stifling economic and political freedoms.

Great leap forward in China

1958 BCE

The Great Leap Forward of the People's Republic of China (PRC) was an economic and social campaign by the Communist Party of China (CPC) from 1958 to 1962. The campaign was led by Chairman Mao Zedong and aimed to rapidly transform the country from an agrarian economy into a socialist society through rapid industrialization and collectivization. However, it is widely considered to have caused the Great Chinese Famine.

Suez Crisis

1956 BCE

On October 29, 1956, Israeli armed forces pushed into Egypt toward the Suez Canal after Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the canal in July of that same year, initiating the Suez Crisis. The Israelis soon were joined by French and British forces, which nearly brought the Soviet Union into the conflict, and damaged their relationships with the United States. In the end, the British, French & Israeli governments withdrew their troops in late 1956 & early 1957.

Uprising in Hungary

1956 BCE

The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 or the Hungarian Uprising of 1956 was a nationwide revolt against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic and its Soviet-imposed policies, lasting from 23 October until 10 November 1956.

Establishment of Warsaw Pact

1955 BCE

The Warsaw Pact, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation, and Mutual Assistance and sometimes, informally, WarPac. was a collective defence treaty among the Soviet Union and seven other Soviet

French defeat at Dien Bien Phu

1954 BCE

The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was the decisive engagement in the first Indochina War (1946–54). After French forces occupied the Dien Bien Phu valley in late 1953, Viet Minh commander Vo Nguyen Giap amassed troops and placed heavy artillery in caves of the mountains overlooking the French camp. Boosted by Chinese aid, Giap mounted assaults on the opposition’s strong points beginning in March 1954, eliminating use of the French airfield.

Algerian War of Liberation

1954 BCE

Korean War

1950 BCE

On June 25, 1950, the Korean War began when some 75,000 soldiers from the North Korean People’s Army poured across the 38th parallel, the boundary between the Soviet-backed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the north and the pro-Western Republic of Korea to the south. This invasion was the first military action of the Cold War. By July, American troops had entered the war on South Korea’s behalf.

Establishment of NATO

1949 BCE

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949.

Establishment of People's Republic of China

1949 BCE

Following the Chinese Civil War and the victory of Mao Zedong's Communist forces over the Kuomintang forces of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, who fled to Taiwan, Mao declared the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949.

Arab-Israeli War

1948 BCE

The Arab-Israeli War of 1948 broke out when five Arab nations invaded territory in the former Palestinian mandate immediately following the announcement of the independence of the state of Israel on May 14, 1948. In 1947, and again on May 14, 1948, the United States had offered de facto recognition of the Israeli Provisional Government, but during the war, the United States maintained an arms embargo against all belligerents.

Creation of Israel

1948 BCE

On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion, the head of the Jewish Agency, proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel. U.S. President Harry S. Truman recognized the new nation on the same day.

Apartheid in South Africa

1948 BCE

Apartheid was a political and social system in South Africa while it was under white minority rule. This was in use in the 20th century, from 1948 to 1994. Racial segregation had been used for centuries but the new policy started in 1948 was stricter and more systematic.

Partition of India

1947 BCE

The Partition of India split the former British province of Punjab between India and Pakistan. The mostly Muslim western part of the province became Pakistan's Punjab province; the mostly Sikh and Hindu eastern part became India's East Punjab state.

Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

1945 BCE

The United States dropped nuclear weapons on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively, during the final stage of World War II.

Capture of Berlin by Soviet Forces

1945 BCE

The Battle of Berlin, designated the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, was the final major offensive of the European theatre of World War II. Following the Vistula–Oder Offensive of January–February 1945, the Red Army had temporarily halted on a line 37 mi east of Berlin.

Division of Berlin and Germany

1945 BCE

At the Potsdam Conference (17 July to 2 August 1945), after Germany's unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945, the Allies divided "Occupation Zone Germany" into four military occupation zones — France in the southwest, Britain in the northwest, the United States in the south, and the Soviet Union in the east.

Establishment of United Nations

1945 BCE

The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization to promote international cooperation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations, the organization was established on 24 October 1945

D-Day, Allied invasion at Normandy

1944 BCE

The Normandy landings (codenamed Operation Neptune) were the landing operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 (termed D-Day) of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II.

Soviet victory at Stalingrad

1942 BCE

The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in Southern Russia, on the eastern boundary of Europe.

German invasion of USSR

1941 BCE

Operation Barbarossa was the codename for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II. It was launched on Sunday, the 22nd of June in the year 1941.

Invasion of Poland by Germany

1939 BCE

The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, or the 1939 Defensive War in Poland and alternatively the Poland Campaign or Fall Weiss in Germany (Case White), was a joint invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, the Free City of Danzig, and a small Slovak contingent, that marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week after the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.

German Anschluss with Austria

1938 BCE

mage result for german anschluss with austria summary
In 1938, Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg, bullied by Hitler during a meeting at Hitler's retreat home in Berchtesgaden, agreed to a greater Nazi presence within Austria. On March 12, 1938, German troops marched into Austria.

Cardenas Nationalizes Oil Industry in Mexico

1938 BCE

On March 18, 1938, Mexican President Lázaro Cárdenas signed an order that expropriated the assets of nearly all of the foreign oil companies operating in Mexico. He later created PEMEX, a state-owned firm that held a monopoly over the Mexican oil industry, and barred all foreign oil companies from operating in Mexico.

Stalin's "Great Purge" in USSR

1936 BCE

The Great Purge or the Great Terror was a campaign of political repression in the Soviet Union It involved a large-scale purge of the Communist Party and government officials, repression of peasants and the Red Army leadership, and widespread police surveillance, suspicion of "saboteurs", imprisonment, and arbitrary executions.

Long March by Chinese Communists

1935 BCE

The Long March was a military retreat undertaken by the Red Army of the Communist Party of China, the forerunner of the People's Liberation Army, to evade the pursuit of the Kuomintang (KMT or Chinese Nationalist Party) army.

Hitler is ruler in Germany

1934 BCE

In 1932, German President Paul von Hindenburg, old, tired, and a bit senile, had won re-election as president, but had lost a considerable portion of his right/conservative support to the Nazi Party. Those close to the president wanted a cozier relationship to Hitler and the Nazis.

Sandino is murdered in Nicaragua

1934 BCE

On February 21, 1934, Sandino, together with his father, brother Socrates, two of his favorite generals, Estranda and Umanzor and the poet Sofonías Salvatierra attended a new round of talks with Sacasa. On leaving Sacasa's Presidential Palace, the six men were stopped in their car at the main gate by local National Guardsmen and ordered to leave their car. The Guardsmen brushed aside Sandino's father and Salvatierra.

Invasion of China by Japan

1931 BCE

The Chinese-Japanese dispute in July 1931 was followed by the Mukden Incident, on September 18, 1931. The same day as the Mukden Incident, the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, which had decided upon a policy of localizing the incident, communicated its decision to the Kwantung Army command. However, Kwantung Army commander-in-chief General Shigeru Honjō instead ordered his forces to proceed to expand operations all along the South Manchurian Railway.

Japanese invasion of Manchuria

1931 BCE

The Japanese invasion of Manchuria began on September 18, 1931, when the Kwantung Army of the Empire of Japan invaded Manchuria immediately following the Mukden Incident.

Civil disobedience movement in India

1930 BCE

Civil disobedience movement in India (1930)
On March 12, 1930, Indian independence leader Mohandas Gandhi begins a defiant march to the sea in protest of the British monopoly on salt, his boldest act of civil disobedience yet against British rule in India. Britain’s Salt Acts prohibited Indians from collecting or selling salt, a staple in the Indian diet.

US stock market crash

1929 BCE

During the 1920s, the U.S. stock market underwent rapid expansion, reaching its peak in August 1929, after a period of wild speculation. By then, production had already declined and unemployment had risen, leaving stocks in great excess of their real value. Among the other causes of the eventual market collapse were low wages, the proliferation of debt, a struggling agricultural sector and an excess of large bank loans that could not be liquidated.

First Soviet Five-Year Plan

Period: 1928 BCE to 1938 BCE

The first five-year plan of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was a list of economic goals, created by General Secretary Joseph Stalin and based on his policy of Socialism in One Country.

Lenin's New Economic Policy

1922 BCE

The New Economic Policy was an economic policy of Soviet Russia proposed by Vladimir Lenin, who described it as a progression towards "state capitalism" within the workers' state of the USSR. Lenin characterized “state capitalism” and his NEP policies in 1922 as an economic system that would include “a free market and capitalism, both subject to state control” while socialized state enterprises were to operate on “a profit basis.

First meeting of the League of Nations

1920 BCE

The League held its first council meeting in Paris on 16 January 1920, six days after the Versailles Treaty and the Covenant of the League of Nations came into force. On 1 November 1920, the headquarters of the League was moved from London to Geneva, where the first General Assembly was held on 15 November 1920.

Paris Peace Conference

1919 BCE

The Paris Peace Conference, also known as Versailles Peace Conference, was the meeting of the Allied victors, following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918.

May Fourth Movement in China

1919 BCE

The May Fourth Movement was an anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement growing out of student participants in Beijing on May 4, 1919, protesting against the Chinese government's weak response to the Treaty of Versailles, especially allowing Japan to receive territories.

Mussolini launches fascist movement in Italy

1919 BCE

Benito Mussolini, an Italian World War I veteran and publisher of Socialist newspapers, breaks with the Italian Socialists and establishes the nationalist Fasci di Combattimento, named after the Italian peasant revolutionaries, or “Fighting Bands,” from the 19th century.

Republic of Turkey

1919 BCE

Atatürk's Reforms were a series of political, legal, religious, cultural, social, and economic policy changes that were designed to convert the new Republic of Turkey into a secular, modern nation-state and implemented under the leadership of Mustafa

Civil War in Russia

1918 BCE

The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war in the former Russian Empire immediately after the Russian Revolutions of 1917, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future.

Ataturk Proclaims Republic of Turkey

1918 BCE

Facing defeat after World War I, The Ottoman Empire, together with her allies, was compelled to sign the Mondros Armistice on October 30, 1918, which granted the victors total control in their redesign of the Ottoman State. Among the terms of the armistice was a provision that the entente powers could occupy areas deemed to be of strategic importance. These powers began to occupy Anatolia on November 1, 1918.

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

1918 BCE

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between the new Bolshevik government of Soviet Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire), that ended Russia's participation in World War I.

Bolshevik Revolution

1917 BCE

The Russian Revolution took place in 1917 when the peasants and working class people of Russia revolted against the government of Tsar Nicholas II. They were led by Vladimir Lenin and a group of revolutionaries called the Bolsheviks. The new communist government created the country of the Soviet Union.

Gallipoli campaign

1916 BCE

The Gallipoli Campaign, also known as the Dardanelles Campaign, , was a campaign of the First World War that took place on the Gallipoli peninsula in the Ottoman Empire between 25 April 1915 and 9 January 1916. The peninsula forms the northern bank of the Dardanelles, a strait that provided a sea route to the Russian Empire, one of the Allied powers during the war.

German resumption of Unrestricted Submarine Warfare

1915 BCE

Unrestricted submarine warfare was first introduced in World War I in early 1915, when Germany declared the area around the British Isles a war zone, in which all merchant ships, including those from neutral countries, would be attacked by the German navy.

Japan makes Twenty-one Demands on China

1915 BCE

Primary Documents - '21 Demands' Made by Japan to China, 18 January 1915. Seizing the opportunity effected by the onset of war in 1914, and by its status as an Allied power, Japan presented China with a secret ultimatum in January 1915 designed to give Japan regional ascendancy over China.

Assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand

1914 BCE

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, occurred on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo when they were shot dead by Gavrilo Princip.