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Japan’s invasion of China
Japan invaded China beginning the Second Sino-Japanese War, both sides recieved assistance from other countries and the battle became a part of WWII. -
Germany invades Poland
Germany invaded Poland, attacking from land and air and using strategies such as extensive bombing and the destructions of railroads and other methods of communication. The Polish military was far less advanced and stood little chance against the Germans. -
Battle of Britain
Battle in which the British defended themselves from German air raids and were victorius. -
Tripartite pact
Germany, Italy, and Japan signed a treaty forming a military alliance that was later joined by Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, and Yuogoslavia. -
Lend-Lease Act
This act allowed the United States president to send money, suplies and military aid to countries in order to protect their own interests without overextending their military. -
German Blitzkrieg on Soviet Union
Germany invaded the soviet union , killing or injuring 150,000 Soviet soldiers in the first week. By October, three million Soviet soldiers were prisoners of war, but Stallin ordered soldiers and citizens to stand their ground, and, under threat of ececution, they obeyed. Eventually The German army began running out of supplies, and was basically chased out of Russia by soviet military forces. -
Leningrad blockade
The German army surrounded Leningrad, limiting supplies. They attempted to starve out the citizens and make them surrender and many of them did die from the lack of food, heating, and electricity, but they refused to give in. Eventually the blockade was broken, and on January 27, 1944 it was lifted completely. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Japanese military attacked Pearl Harbor, a U.S. naval base on Oahu Island, bringing the United States into the war on the side of the Allies. -
Wannsee Conference
A conference was called to ensure the cooperation of all military departments with the plans of the Nazi party. Leaders shared their plan to kill all the Jews in German occupied Europe and explained the process by which the would achieve this goal. The violenc toward Jews that began when the Nazi party came into power was going to reach its apex with the Nazi's plan to herd the Jewish people together and transport them to concentration camps, where they would be systematically slaughterred. -
Battle of Midway
Advances in code breaking allowed the United States to be one step ahead of the Japanese and were able to counter the planned attack on the remaining U.S. aircraft carriers. This victory turned the tables, placing the U.S. and its allies in an offensive position. -
D-Day
This was the first day of the Battle of Normandy. Allied forces landed on five beaches in France, covering a 50 mile stretch of land, and defeated the Germans, liberating France. -
Yalta Conference
Allied leaders met to decide what reparations Germany should pay and to discuss the division and occupation of the country. -
Iwo Jima/Okinawa
The Japanese army fought against the USMC until Japanese soldiers were all dead or wounded. Also known as "Operation Detachment". -
Hitler’s suicide
On April 28th Adolf Hitler recieved word that a surrender was beng discussed and was outraged. That night Hitler married Eva braun in his private sitting room. When they finished it was early morning on April 29th. Hitler gave his last political statement to a secretary and orderred that cyanide pills were to be tested on his dogs. That night he recieved news that Berlin would be lost to Russia. The next day Hitler and his wife both took cyanide pills, and Hitler shot himself in the head. -
VE Day
Victory in Europe day- or VE day- was the publicly celebrated holiday that marked the Allies' formal acceptance of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender. -
Potsdam Conference
A conference of the WWII Allies held in Potsdam Germany. Winston Churchill, Harry S. Truman, and Joseph Stalin all atended to discuss reparation and peace settlements in Europe. -
Atomic bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki
The first atomic bomb was deployed and dropped by a United States B-29 bomber onto the Japenese city Hiroshima, killing 80,000 people. Three days later, another US B-29 dropped a second atomic bomb on another Japanese city- Nagasaki. This bomb killed about 40,000 people. Less than a week later Emperor Hirohito announced the unconditional surrender of Japan. -
VJ day
Japn surrendered unconditionaly to the Allies. -
Formation of the U.N.
An international organization, similar to the League of Nations, formed with the purpose of creating peace and communication accross the globe, particularly after the damage and chaos of WWII. -
Truman Doctorine
U.S. President, Harry Truman, made a declaration that the U.S. would immediately send aid to Greece, Turkey, and any other countries threatend by communism. Congress then set asside $400,000,000 for this purpose. -
Marshall Plan
The United states woked to aid Europe after WWII and sent $17 billion in economice support. -
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed among the United States ans several Western European countries. It was a military alliance that required members to provide military aid to any member that was attacked by an outside party. This was essentialy an effort to provied security against the growing communist powers to the East. -
Mao Zedong &People’s Republic of China
Mao Zedong establishes a communist government that he calls the People's Republic of China and appoints himself chairman. -
Korean War
North Korea- backed by the USSR- invaded South Korea, and the United States military sent forces to contribute on the Southern side, their justification being that they were fighting a war against communism itself. The fighting resulted in many casualties, but no real progress was made on either side. -
Stalin’s death; Khrushchev
73-year-old leader of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stallin, died of a cerebral hemorrhage. A massive powere struggled ensued, and, in 1958, Nikita Krushchev became the first secretary of the Communist party. He was responsible for the progress of the Soviet space program as well as several benefical and shockingly liberal reforms. He denounced the previous leader and is credited with "de-stallinizing" Russia. In 1964, he was removed from office by fellow members of the communist party. -
Vietnam War
The war consisted of the Soviet supported North Vietnamese military and their Southern allies, the Viet Kong, fighting against the South Vietnamese military and their allies, the United States. The Southern front's traditional methods could not compete with the Viet Kong's Geurrilla tactics. U.S. citizens were angry and wanted their relatives back home. Eventually the U.S.military was forced to withdraw. North Vietnam won, and the North and South were unified under communist rule. -
Warsaw Pact
West Germany was made a member of NATO and was allowed to remilitarize. Soviet leaders saw this as a direct threat and responded by foming the Warsaw Pact. The pact, signed is Warsaw, Poland, was a treaty calling for the military alliance of the Soviet Union with Albania, Poland, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria and established a central military rule under Marshal Ivan S. Konev of the Soviet Union. -
Sputnik
A series of Satelites created and launched by the Soviet, beginning the space age. -
Bay of Pigs
A military group trained by the United States' CIA invaded Cuba in an effort to derail the country's communist government. -
Berlin Wall
The Soviet Communist government of East Germany built a wall between East and West Germany. They stated that its purpose was to keep out "Western fascists", but it mostly served to prevent citizens of East Germany from Immigrating West. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The USSR installed nuclear missiles in Cuba, leading to a thirteen day standoff between U>S. and Soviet leaders. It was eventually agreed that the Soviet Union would remove the missiles if the United States agreed not to invade Cuba. Secretly, President Kennedy also agreed to remove the U.S. missiles installed in Turkey. -
Gorbachev
Gorbachev was presidend of the Soviet Union and made many large improvments to the country by seeking to repair the economy and expanding personal rights and freedoms, as well as agreeing with US president Ronald Reagan to destroy all existing stocks of nuclear weaponry. -
Soviet Union falls
President Mikhail Gorbachev made many radical reforms in an attempt to improve the United Soviet Socialist Republic. Regardless, all but one of the Soviet republics declared their independence and became a commonwealth of independent states. President Gorbachev then resigned and dissolved his position, officially dissolving the Soviet Union.
