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Mao Zedong heads the Long March
From 1930 to 1949, Nationalists and Communists fought a bloody civil war in China. In 1933, Jiang Jieshi, the leader of the Nationalists, surrounded the Communists' mountain stronghold. Outnumbered and about to be defeated, 100,000 Communist forces fled their capital and commenced the Long March, a 6,000-mile journey to flee Nationalist forces. Though 2/3 of the fleeing Communists died from hunger, cold, and battle wounds, the Long March DID help the Communists gain supporters. -
Germany invades Poland; France and Great Britain declare war on Germany
After WWI, the Allies cut out the Polish Corridor from German territory to give Poland access to the sea. But in 1939, Hitler demanded that the Polish Corridor be returned to Germany. And after signing a nonaggresion pact with the USSR , Hitler moved ahead with his plans for Poland. On September 1, 1939, German tanks + trucks crossed the Polish border while the luftwaffe began bombing of Poland’s capital, Warsaw. On September 3, France and Britain declared war on Germany, but Poland had fallen. -
Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor
On the morning of December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. In total, 19 ships were sunk/damaged (including 8 battleships), 2300 men killed, 1100 wounded (Americans). And on December 8, 1941, President Roosevelt addressed Congress and they accepted his request of war on Japan and its allies. Roosevelt declared that 12/7/1941 would be “a date which will live in infamy." -
Germany surrenders
During March 1945, the Allies crossed the Rhine River and in April, they were approaching (from all directions) Berlin, Germany's capital. By April 25, 1945: Soviets surrounded Berlin.
Hitler prepared for his end as Soviets bombed city and first married Eva Branu then committed suicide. On May 7, 1945, Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender of Third Reich from German military. After six years of fighting, the war in Europe was over. -
Allies use atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Truman and his advisers decided that using new weapon, the atomic bomb (A-bomb), would bring the war to the quickest possible end. The bomb developed by the top-secret Manhattan Project headed by General Leslie Groves & chief scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer.President Truman then warned the Japanese that unless they surrendered they would receive a “rain of ruin from air” but they didn’t reply. Therefore, on August 6, 1945, the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and a second bomb on Nagasaki. -
United Nations formed
In 1945, after World War II, representatives from 50 countries met in San Francisco at the United Nations Conference on International Organization to draw up the United Nations Charter. The Charter was signed on June 26, 1945 by the representatives of the 50 countries, and Poland shortly after. The United Nations officially was created on October 24 1945, when the Charter had been ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and other nations.
