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Japanese invasion of China
Chinese attempts to recapture Manchuria spark the Second Sino-Japanese War,becoming one the bloodiest conflicts of the Pacific theater -
German invasion of Poland
The Germans rapidly invade Poland as part of an initiative to retake Eastern Europe from the "racially inferior" Slavs -
Battle of Britain
The British Royal Air Force decisively defeats the German Luffwaffe over the English Channel. -
Tripartite Pact
Germany, Italy, and Japan agree to cooperate with and aid each other to bring "peace",forming the Axis powers. -
Lend Lease Act
Congress agrees to aid the Allies by letting them borrow arms and giving industrial and agricultural goods. -
German blitzkrieg of Soviet Union
Germany betrays its peace agreement and invades Russia to eliminate the Communist threat and round up Russia's Jews. -
Leningrad Blockade
The German army surrounds Leningrad and blocks off all of its supply routes, beginning one of the bloodiest and most destructive sieges in history. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
Japan launches a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii to destroy the American Pacific fleet . -
Wannsee Conference
Nazi bureaucrats enact “the Final Solution”,a plan to round up and kill all the Jews of Europe -
Battle of Midway
The American navy cripples the Japanese navy by destroying the Japanese air carrier fleet. -
D-Day
Thousands of Allied troops, aircraft, and boats invade the heavily fortified beaches of Normandy, France to oust the Germans out of Northwest France. -
Yalta Conference
The heads of state of Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States discuss the future of Eastern Europe and East Asia. -
Iwo Jima
American Marines begin the capture of Iwo Jima for use as a refueling and repair station. -
Okinawa
American and Japanese infantry and seacraft clash in one of the largest battles of the Pacific theater for control of one of the largest and closest islands to Japan. -
Bombing of Nagasaki
Not too long after Hiroshima, the Americans drop an implosion-type plutonium bomb on the port of Nagasaki, causing over 30,000 deaths -
Hitler's suicide
In his underground bunker, Hitler kills himself by swallowing a cyanide pill and then shooting himself. -
VE Day
Germany unconditionally surrenders to the Allies. -
Potsdam Conference
Josef Stalin, Henry Truman, and Winston Churchill gathered in Potsdam, Germany to discuss the borders of Europe after World War II -
Bombing of Hiroshima
The Americans drop the uranium gun-type atomic bomb on Hiroshima, causing over 90,000 deaths -
VJ Day
The Empire of Japan surrenders to the United States -
Formation of the United Nations
Members of the Allies form the United Nations as a replacement for the League of Nations. -
Truman Doctrine
In the light of the Greek Civil War, Truman vows that the United States will provide political, military, and economical assistance to any democracy under threat from authoritarian/communist forces. -
Marshall Plan
The United States gives $47 billion of dollars in aid to Western Europe to alleviate its economic recessions and to deter it from considering communism. -
Formation of NATO
In light of tensions and Communist revolution across Europe,Canada, the United States, and various Western European nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty,promising to protect and defend each other in case of attack -
Mao Zedong and the People's Republic of China
Mao Zedong establishes the People's Republic of China not too long after Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalists flee China for Taiwan. -
Korean War
North Korean soldiers invade South Korea to unite the peninsula under one single communist government, beginning one of the first proxy wars of the Cold War. -
Stalin's death
Stalin dies from a stroke from high blood pressure, supposedly after a purge of doctors. -
Khrushchev's rise to power
Nikita Khrushchev takes over as General Secretary(read: actual leader since the secretary directly staffs more "important" positions) of the Communist Party. -
Warsaw Pact
The Soviet Union allies with numerous Slavic (except Albania) states to provide for a common, unified defense in case of an invasion by NATO members. -
Sputnik 1
The Soviet Union successfully launches the first ever artificial satellite, 3 months before the U.S. launches the Explorer 1 -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
An American-backed and aided force of Cuban exiles attempt to retake Cuba and overthrow Castro, but the preemptive air strike against the Cuban airforce fails, and the exiles meet heavy fire as soon as they land. -
Berlin Wall
The Soviet Union walls off East Berlin from West Berlin to keep defectors and refugees contained. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
American spy planes photograph missile bases being installed over Cuba,causing tensions that nearly begun nuclear war. -
Vietnam War
Congress authorizes use of conventional military force in Vietnam in response to clashes between the Vietnamese and American navy in the Gulf of Tonkin -
Gorbachev
Gorbachev becames General Secretary of the Communist Party,enacting the policies glasnost ("openness", transperancy and accountablity in the Soviet government) and perestroika ("restructuring", more independence for government minstries and a more efficient economy) -
Soviet Union falls
Gorbachev resigns as president of the USSR, not too long after the Communist Party is dissolved and numerous USSR satellites declare independence.
