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Japan invades Manchuria
Started Japanese aggression. Japan wanted to create a sphere of economic domination. The US limited imposing trade. -
Munich Pact
Britain and France allowed Hitler to take more land in exchange for Hitler not to seek more land after concession. Hitler broke the pact which led to the end of the European policy. -
Kristallnacht
Also known as the night of broken glass. Nazis in Germany torched synagogues, vandalized Jewish homes, schools, and businesses, and killed close to 100 Jews -
Germany invades Poland
It led to France and Britain declaring war on Germany. Germany used the blitzkrieg strategy. They launched air raids on Britain. -
Neutrality Acts of 1939
It allowed nations at war to buy goods from the US, but only if they paid with cash. They also had to carry their own merchandise on their own ships. -
Exec Order 8022
Executive Order 8802, prohibiting ethnic or racial discrimination in the nation's defense industry. -
Lend-Lease Act
Roosevelt had to “sell, transfer title to, exchange, lease, lend or dispose of to any government and defense articles. -
Atlantic Charter
FDR and the British prime minister signed it. It endorsed self-determination and an international system of general security. It also showed FDR's commitment to opposing German and Japanese aggression. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
It was a surprise attack by the Japanese against the Pearl Harbor naval base. Japan attacked because of the US's use of embargoes. -
Atlantic Conference
A broad statement of US and British war aims. It endorsed self-determination and an international system of general security.
It showed FDR’s commitment to opposing German and Japanese aggression -
Executive order 9066
Executive Order 9066 authorized the internment of Americans of Japanese descent and resident aliens from Japan. Japanese residents and Americans of Japanese descent were ordered to sell their property & belongings and report for deportation to camps in the inland deserts. -
Battle of Midway
The US's strategy was island hopping. Victory at Midway stopped the Japanese advance and put them on the defensive. Japanese wasn't going to give in. -
Operation Torch
The invasion of North Africa was launched to free the Mediterranean Sea from German control and protect the oil fields in the Middle East. -
Korematsu v. United States
Fred Korematsu was a Japanese American who refused to leave his house for the executive order 9066. He then took his case to court, which he lost. -
D-Day (invasion of Normandy)
The invasion of Normandy on D-Day finally provided the long-awaited western front. Germany was now engaged on three fronts and had to divert resources to a western front. -
Battle of the Bulge
Battle of the Bulge was the last German offensive and the beginning of the end for the Nazis -
Yalta Conference
Conference between Churchill, FDR, and Stalin. The final plans for the defeat of Europe & began a discussion of post-war European Plans. -
Bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki
President Truman dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to prevent the necessity for landing and fighting on the Japanese home islands. Which also resulted in many Americans' lives being lost. -
United Nations is created
The United Nations is the intergovernmental organization tasked to promote international cooperation and to create and maintain international order. The idea based on the League of Nations was originally proposed by Woodrow Wilson. -
Nuremberg Trials
It established the precedent that individuals are responsible for their own actions. The precedents set by the Nuremberg Trials and the conviction of Nazis has not brought an end to genocide throughout the world. -
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine pledged to contain communism in Europe and was first applied when the United States supplied military and financial aid to Greece and Turkey to resist the communist-backed rebel forces there. -
Israel is established
The US supported the self-determination of the Jewish people with the creation of the Jewish state of Israel. The US supported Israel. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan also known as the economic recovery plan of 1948, was proposed by Sec. of State George Marshall. The US offered financial aid to promote economic rebuilding and prevent the fall of European countries to communism. -
Berlin Airlift
The Berlin Airlift was when the US supplied the people of Berlin with food, water, and other supplies by airdrops. -
US establishes NATO
US established NATO also known as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It established a military alliance aimed at the Soviet Union, and In 1955, the Soviet Union organized the Warsaw Pact. -
Soviet Union test an atomic bomb
The Soviet Union tested an atomic bomb which led the United States to accelerate the development of the hydrogen bomb and began a nuclear arms race. -
Korean Conflict
Communist North Korea invaded South Korea. Truman's administration thought this invasion had been planned by the Soviet Union and urged the United Nations to take action. The United Nations voted unanimously to demand a ceasefire and support ‘police action’ to defend South Korea. -
Soviet Union launched Sputnik
The space race took off when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik. As a result, the US Congress passed the National Defense Education Act. -
Eisenhower Doctrine
President Eisenhower intervened in Suez Crisis and extended containment to the Middle East. Suez Crisis was when Israeli troops pushed into Egypt towards the Suez Canal after Egypt nationalized it -
National Defense Education Act
US Congress passed the National Defense Education Act to
promote science and math skills. To counteract the fear that consumerism had made Americans less competitive and less likely to win the arms race -
Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall became a symbol of the Cold War to separate East & West Germany and keep people of the eastern block from escaping to freedom in the west through Berlin. -
Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan
The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to prop up a friendly government. The US-supported Afghan resistance movement secretly because of the containment policy. -
Fall of Berlin Wall
The fall of the Berlin Wall is considered to be the end of the Cold War.