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Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated
The political objective of the assassination was to break off Austria-Hungary's South Slav provinces so they could be combined into a Yugoslavia. -
Paris Peace Conference
The Paris Peace Conference was an international meeting convened in January 1919 at Versailles just outside Paris. -
Mussolini’s March on Rome
The March on Rome was an organized mass demonstration in October 1922 which resulted in Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party ascending to power in the Kingdom of Italy. -
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution across the territory of the Russian Empire. -
Adolf Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch
Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party led a coalition group in an attempt to overthrow the German government. -
Stalin’s First Five Year Plan
In the Soviet Union, the first Five-Year Plan, implemented by Joseph Stalin, concentrated on developing heavy industry and collectivizing agriculture, at the cost of a drastic fall in consumer goods. -
Germany violates the Treaty of Versailles by reoccupying the Rhineland
Nazi leader Adolf Hitler violates the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Pact by sending German military forces into the Rhineland, a demilitarized zone along. -
Second Italo-Ethiopian War
Graziani bombed the city of Harar and two days later the Italians won a decisive victory in the Battle of Maychew, which nullified any possible organized resistance of the Ethiopians. -
Rape of Nanjing/Nanking in China
An episode of mass murder and mass rape committed by Imperial Japanese troops against the residents of Nanjing, at that time the capital of China, during the Second Sino-Japanese War. -
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War was a civil war in Spain fought from 1936 to 1939. Republicans loyal to the left-leaning Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic, in alliance with anarchists, of the communist and syndicalist variety, fought against a revolt by the Nationalists, an alliance of Falangists, monarchists, conservatives and traditionalists, led by a military group among whom General Francisco Franco soon achieved a preponderant role. -
Germany’s blitzkrieg on Poland
The SS, in collusion with the German military, staged a phony Polish attack on a German radio station. -
France surrenders to the Axis Powers
The French government signed an armistice with Nazi Germany just six weeks after the Nazis launched their invasion of Western Europe. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
The Attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, just before 08:00, on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941. -
Battle of Guadalcanal
The World War II Battle of Guadalcanal was the first major offensive and a decisive victory for the Allies in the Pacific theater. -
Battle of Stalingrad
In the Battle of Stalingrad, Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in Southern Russia. -
Battle of El Alamein
The Battle of El Alamein marked the culmination of the North African campaign between the forces of the British Empire and the German-Italian army commanded in the field by Erwin Rommel in World War II. -
D-Day
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. -
MacArthur’s Plan for Japan
The primary purpose of the occupation was to disarm Japan and to punish the war criminals so that Japan would never again be a menace to the Allied countries. -
Potsdam conference
The last of the Big Three meetings during World War II. It was attended by Premier Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union, the new American president, Harry S. -
Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The United States detonated two nuclear weapons over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively. -
United Nations formed
The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization that aims to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations. -
Marshall Plan
A U.S. program providing aid to Western Europe following the devastation of World War II. It was enacted in 1948 and provided more than $15 billion to help finance rebuilding efforts on the continent. -
NATO formed
An intergovernmental military alliance between 30 European and North American countries. -
Warsaw Pact formed
The Soviet Union formed this alliance as a counterbalance to the NATO, a collective security alliance concluded between the United States, Canada and Western European nations in 1949. The Warsaw Pact supplemented existing agreements.