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Japan's Invasion of China
Kwantung Army invaded Manchuria immediately after the Mukden Incident and the Japanese established a puppet state called Manchukuo. -
Germany invades Poland
Sparks the beginning of the war, because Germany does this only days after signing the Naz-Soviet Non-Agression pact. -
Battle of Britain
Also known as "The Blitz," Germany declared war on the Britains, hoping to defend themselves through almost all air attacks. They heavily raided metropolitan areas and killed more than 40,000 British people in the process. -
Tripartite Pact
Signed in Berlin, Germany which established the Axis powers (Japan, Germany, and Italy). -
Lend-Lease Act
Material/services provided by the US to its allies during the war. -
Germany takes Leingrad
Prolonged military operation that ended up being one of the longest and most destructive in history. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
Surprise air raid by the Japanese on the US naval base in Pearl Harbor-Hawaii that caused the US to enter the war. -
Wannsee Conference
Meeting of officials of Nazi Germany which decided the "Final Solution." -
Battle of Midway
American aircraft carriers defeated a Japanese fleet in the Pacific. -
German Blitzkrieg on Soviet Union
Germans lost the Battle of Stalingrad after five months of fighting-it is considered to be a major turning point in the war. -
D-Day
Allied forces invaded Northern France through Normandy. -
Yalta Conference
Meeting of the Allied leaders President Franklin D. Roosevelt (US), Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Great Britain), and Premier Joseph Stalin (Soviet Union) in Yalta, Crimea to plan the last defeat of Nazi Germany. -
Iwo Jima/Okinawa
The United States Armed Forces fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Empire -
Hitler’s suicide
Killed himself by gunshot in Berlin after the collapse of the Third Reich. -
VE Day
Allied victory in Europe. -
Potsdam Conference
An allied conference held right outside of Berlin to discuss peace settlements in Europe. The participants included US President Harry S.Truman, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin. -
Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki
US bombings on Japanese ports during the final stages of the war. -
VJ Day
Japan surrenders to the Allies, ending World War II. -
Formation of the UN
The United Nations was formed as a response to World War II, as well as because the League of Nations failed. They wanted to make it more fair and representative. -
Truman Doctrine
Declared by President Harry S. Truman to provide economic and military aid to the governments of Greece (threatened by Communisism) and Turkey (threatened by Soviet expansion). -
Marshall Plan
The US helped rebuild European economies in order to prevent the spread of communism by the Soviets. -
NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organization based on military alliances for defense against aggression. -
Mao Zedong & People's Republic of China
Mao Zedong, a Communist Revolutionary Leader, names himself head of state and proclaims the existence of the People's Republic of China. -
Korean War
North Korea (with Communist China) invaded South Korea (with US), and both sides ended up in a stalemate. -
Stalin’s death; Khrushchev
Stalin died of Cerebral hemorrhage, and later Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. -
Warsaw Pact
A military alliance of Communist nations (Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union) in eastern Europe as a response to NATO. -
Sputnik
An Earth satellite launched by the Soviet Union which began the Space Age. -
Vietnam War
A military struggle between North Vietnam (China and Soviet Union) and South Vietnam (US). -
Bay of Pigs
The site of the failed attempt of invasion by anti-Castro forces in Cuba. -
Berlin Wall
Wall constructed by the German Deomocratic Republic in East Germany to keep its citizens from fleeing to the west. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
Confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union over possible Cuban missiles. -
Gorbachev
General Secretary for the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and eventually president of the Soviet Union who led to the downfall of Communism by democratizing the political system and decentralizing the economic system. He is credited with ending the cold war. -
Soviet Union falls
The Soviet Union falls because of economic instability due to socialism.
